Washday in the jungle was an event, not just a necessity! It required a trip to the river with two little ones under three years of age in tow, a washtub (like great-grandma used) full of clothes, diapers, sheets, etc., a bar of soap and a washboard. Finding a rock that wasn’t already being used was the next challenge, after descending the 12’ bank to reach the river’s edge! The swirling river was the agitator and the most difficult part of the whole exercise was wringing the dripping clothes tight enough, so they would dry after being hung.
The Kuna women would laugh at me, while their little ones entertained mine by chasing, splashing, and diving around us. Those were the “good old days”. One blessing, and there were many, was that my girls learned to swim like little fish very early, against the raging current!
If it was dry season, the wash would dry in 2 hours. During rainy season we might hang the clothes two times, or more, in one day. Most garments were mildewed and never really dried completely until dry season returned!
One spring day, my clothes carried in an unwanted visitor inside the house. We had open wooden shelves and as I lifted the last folded clean sheet, I caught something moving in my peripheral vision. Now…let me be understood…I will take a snake, any size, over a spider…any day.
This particular arachnid was a creature of undeniable presence!! I screamed so loud that half the village came streaming through my front door. One look at the intruder and my husband and Arturo, our neighbor, told us all to get out! Apparently, this venomous feral spider was dangerous! I could not understand their hesitation in just eliminating it! I wanted that trespasser DEAD…I did not want him alive for an encore another day…
Earlier that month, our cat found a huge, and I mean huge, scorpion under our bed. I picked up Ralph’s size 14 army boot, stretched under the bed with one hand and squashed its 12” body dead, in one fell swoop, as our 8-month-old daughter came rapidly crawling into the room! Now…“hear me roar” …I’m not kidding…I REALLY wanted that spider DEAD!
Fear is our friend…it is an emotion induced by a threat, which causes a change in brain and organ function and ultimately…a change in behavior. My husband, Ralph, used to tell me, “Courage is being scared to death…and still walking through the door of fear to victory”.
In the book “Hinds Feet in High Places” I would clearly be “little “Much Afraid”. Shortly after being challenged to carry the name of Christ to unreached tribal people, I read in Luke 10: 19 where Jesus sent out the seventy-two with the promise, “I have given you authority to trample snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you”!
That verse came pounding into my consciousness and I claimed that promise, given to those who take the gospel into uncharted territories. As jungle living became my daily experience, I would often return to those precious words that brought peace that day, and over and over again during those years of the unforeseen and unexpected…I would claim its truth when I was tempted to yield to fear and panic.
Not too much has changed over the years.
These days, in this asphalt jungle, events seem to fall into
the same category of unforeseen and unexpected events.
We can fret and panic in defeat or
we can claim the promises and maintain our peace…
~Jackie Johnson - I am a former tribal missionary to the Kuna Indians on the Colombian border in Central America. Fluent in several languages, my husband and I currently pastor a Spanish-speaking church in Southern California. My passion is mentoring and equipping dedicated young women for life, marriage, motherhood, and beyond. I am the mother of two daughters and the grandmother of three Princesses and four young Knights.
