A note from Joe: I first met Billy Mitchell a couple weeks before Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans when he was leading a group of NOBTS students to survey the French Quarter for a church restart. I didn’t meet him again until this past January in New Orleans at a Reproducing Churches Network gathering. After the storm Billy moved to Florida, and he has been planting churches there ever since. As the Church Planting Strategist for Suncoast Baptist Association, he now resides in St. Petersburg. Billy tweets here.
In 1972 a Uruguayan rugby squad struggled to survive after their plane crashed into the Andes Mountains. A few years ago one of the two heroes that journeyed to find some help finally told his story. It took Nando Parrado many, many years to come to grips with what happened to his friends and to put his story down on paper. When he did, what emerged was a fascinating story of tragedy, courage, and the power of brotherhood.
Near the end of the book, “Miracle in the Andes”, Nando describes the bond that had formed between himself and a young man named Roberto Canessa. They were starving, exhausted, and emotionally numb from seeing dozens of friends die horribly in just a few weeks. They had tried to escape the crash site before but the mountains seemed too big to overcome. Finally, after coming to a point where they were willing to slowly suffer no longer, they set out to find a rescuer. It was life or death. They climbed up the impossible mountain and when they were at the peak they made this declaration to each other…
“Roberto,” I said, “can you imagine how beautiful this would be if we were not dead men?” I felt his hand wrap around mine. I knew he was as frightened as I was, but I drew strength from our closeness. We were bonded like brothers. We made each other better men.
In the morning, we stood on the summit. “We may be walking to our deaths,” I said, “but I would rather walk to meet my death than wait for it to come to me.”
Roberto nodded. “You and I are friends, Nando,” he said. “We have been through so much. Now let’s go die together.”
What an amazing picture of two guys on mission together. Not only are they sent out to save their own lives, but also the lives of fourteen teammates starving and sick at the crash site. Their friends lives were on their heads.
This is pure speculation, but I can’t help but think that this mission would not have ended well if one of the men had to go it alone. Nando would not have found the rescuer without Roberto (or vice versa). I believe each man needed the other. This is a hard truth for me to grasp at times. I have been trained, like most American males to think like an individual. At times my ultimate value seems to be self-preservation or at best the preservation of my immediate family. Thankfully, God has been slowly changing that however.
As someone who has helped start some churches I’ve learned the value of someone grabbing my hand and saying, “Let’s go die together.” Other then the call of God I don’t think there is anything more powerful as authentic brotherhood. There was a time when I prayed for equipment to start a church. I spent hours praying for favor within the community. Neither of those are bad, but today I find myself praying most often for a friend like Roberto. Not just someone to laugh with, not just someone who has some shared interests, but a brother walking beside me to do WHATEVER it takes to accomplish the ultimate mission in front of us. With a brother like this, no mountain seems too big anymore.