God of love and mercy, rain down Your grace on this dear reader; in Jesus' precious and holy name, amen.
I love languages and I have a regret that I don't speak more. I find that when people are speaking in a language I don't understand I am intrigued and wish I had learned their language. One summer my Dad got me a job where he worked. Those were great days of being "grown-up." My Mom would wake me early, I'd shower and dress, then Dad and I would ride to work together. We'd get to the plant, park and have our breakfast together. Homemade tortilla tacos and a thermos of hot, very well sugared coffee. That particular summer I was assigned to work with a man named Charlie Kucera. My job was to help in the washing, with freon (terrible on the eyes!) the mother boards that would go into the huge computer cabinets that this company was making for oil exploration trucks. I failed to mention these were the early 70s and we were still about 15 years or so away from the introduction of personal computers. Charlie was Czech and he taught me a few Czech words and I wish I had had more time to learn the entire language. Charlie was a very shy, proper man and I learned from one of his co-workers that a week prior to his wedding day, Charlie's intended was killed in a automobile-train accident. Charlie never recovered so he never married. His joy was his work and taking care of his mother, then it became teaching me a little Czech. Oh, the doors that has opened to me!
One General Conference I was standing by an elevator and saw that the gentleman next to me was a delegate from Czechoslovakia. I said good morning to him in Czech and you would have thought that I had told him he had won the lottery. After an extended period of time from being away from home and probably after having to hear the headsets our out-of-country brothers/sisters wore to understand our English, to hear someone greet him in his own language was a blessing. He started sharing with me in Czech things I did not understand and I smiled and told him so. He, thankfully, spoke English, and so he told me he never expected someone in America to speak Czech. I told him I wished I knew the entire language and explained to him about Charlie and how in Texas there are communities where some of the elderly there have grown up without ever having learned English. What a blessed experience that I will never forget.
We're doing a sermon series called Yoked and it's a quick study in the Book of Acts. The logo our graphic artist developed is a fried egg with the yoke showing the reflection of the cross. What we've shared is that by being in relationship with God and being "yoked" with the Holy Spirit, we are empowered to do what God intended. The first result of that yoking was that God sent the Holy Spirit as "tongues of fire" and the power shared with the apostles was to speak in other languages, to tell of the good works of God in other languages.
God wants us to reach the world. We should become "all things for all people" to reach them and tell them of God's great love for them. Never should we assume an attitude of "Well, if they can't speak English, that's their tough luck or their loss!" No. God cares enough for us as well and as much as God cares for others who will never learn English. And I personally believe it goes beyond just our spoken languages; God can use music, yes, of all times, included that we call "Contemporary," realizing that "O For A Thousand Tongues" to sing once was a "contemporary" song, based on a bar song, written to reach all people for God.
PRAYER: Loving God of all people, forgive my ignorance of other langauges and forgive my attitude at times when I judge others and their seeming lack of that which they need to be like me; let me be like them, use me to reach them. Teach me new languages, new music, new art, new poems, new and wonderful expressions of Your great love. I ask this in Jesus' Name, amen.
Mít jeden celek a blažený čas do člen určitý Hospodin!
Eradio Valverde
