Moved By Light

God seems to be guiding me into the role of teacher and a toolmaker. I probably won’t get to do a new translation; I just get to “sharpen quills and make parchment,” so to speak, for those that do.

One of my ongoing tasks it to improve a tool that spell checks languages without a dictionary. It also helps hyphenate them.

I don’t always get to hear about people using these tools, but after the conference in Bangkok, there is a lot of request in using SpellingTool to prepare Bibles for Khmer, Nepali, and several languages of Burma.

Brian just got back from there, so I need to hear more

Traveling the continents and working on Bible Translation projects around the globe seemed to be the theme for the year. There were many long flights in the past twelve months as I made six separate trips to South America, working with projects in Colombia, Guyana, Brazil, and Chile. Some translations like Nasa Yuwe in Colombia are just getting started and others like Romane in Chile are nearing completion. Africa was also a destination for me and Donna as we spent three weeks there helping with a translation conference held in Mombasa, Kenya. Over one hundred translators from around the world attended this conference. Then in November I was off to Indonesia and Thailand working on publishing projects in the Asia Pacific region. Checking and then publishing the Bible in languages like Thai, Khmer, and Nepali is a real challenge and I love it!

(Brad posting for Brian, who is in Bangkok for a couple weeks, teaching translation workers.)

The days are really full here and we have another meeting that will be starting soon, so better go. We are about to look the issues associated with Khmer. Every night we have been looking at various languages and the challenges in each. Really unbelievable the challenges.

Dear Friends,

I love this work! Wish you could come with me!

All around the world, common people make Bibles. Why? Because they want to be disciples, and they want to grow disciples.

And it’s such a Spirit thing. You can’t point to a center. You can’t point to one place. You can name people, but you can’t find a chief. It’s a ferment, it’s like Jesus said:

This last month I’ve devoted to training four guys in Asia.

Twice a week, at 5:30am my time, 5:30pm (or so) theirs, we meet. We pray. We catch up, then we get to work.

I wish I could share their names, but I never now if that will jeopardize their work. I wish you could come with me and visit them —a little whirlwind tour of Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Indonesia.

They’ve worked hard. They’ve had one month to cover a semester’s worth of material. They’ve had translation work to keep up with. And families.

God has been speaking to me lately about how the approval and disapproval of others means to me.

In short, I think I hear God saying, “Yes, I want you to learn to live in harmony with others. Yes, it feels good when people appreciate what you’re doing. Yes it’s nice when people urge you on.

“But I need servants that aren’t addicted to approval. I need disciples that aren’t easily manipulated by opinion. I need you to be part of community, but strong enough to act—and keep acting—by faith.

“I can teach you those things…but only by sending times that test your resolve and break you

Leaking the courage God already gave you.

See also: Where you’re at when…

• You disappoint yourself
• You dream of quitting
• You quit dreaming

• You forgot God’s faithfulness. Again.

So many bad reasons for doing good work, but each one a way for faith to grow…

This morning I teach translating skills to four people.

The topic: a computer language called Python that we use extensively for checking and cleaning translations.

The place: China, Indonesia, Vietnam.

That’s why I wince a little when people ask me where I work. I ate breakfast in Michican and sat down at my desk. But my service today is to translations in the Asia-Pacific region.

Later today I will work on a tool used mostly by our African translating teams.

Where do I work?

Back home now after two weeks in Ontario. I already miss my colleagues. It’s so refreshing to work shoulder-to-shoulder for awhile. Now it’s back to email and phone to tie us together.

And don’t forget the Spirit, I tell myself. The deepest tie spans time and space, lives in our heart, resists malware, is always connected.

Spirit, hear my prayer. Go out with my brothers and sisters, anywhere hearts serve you. We see, we taste this new thing you are doing on the earth. Work through us.

And now for laundry and catch up on bills, all the little prices we pay after a trip.

Last full day. We’re talking about the future.

Money is tight and will no doubt get tighter. If you were to take away the people in this room, many Bible projects in the world would languish…or fail.

The biggest question—and worry—I have, is what would happen if the group disappeared…

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But how do I describe these people? How do I describe myself? What I do? What we do?

There are translators. There are Bibles. There are printers and audio ministries. But we aren’t those.

We are the people in between.