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The Words You Want to Say

Can I just start by saying that I walked on the treadmill for 30 minutes today.

Applause, everyone?

I don’t know what you do to pass 30 minutes on a treadmill, but I watched a sermon, with a Spanish translator, that had been filmed at a pastor’s conference in the Dominican Republican. I mean, the pastor had a translator not that I was watching the sermon with a Spanish translator.

(Language matters.)

Have you ever spoken to a group with the help of a translator? I had help when I shared about Christ in Kampala, Uganda. It’s weird. You say something, and then the person next to you says twice as many words as you did. It requires a lot of trust. One time I was telling a story to people about my dad and a bunny he brought home. The interpreter mimicked my voice and did the same hand gestures I had done when I talked about the bunny. Oh wow. Did I really sound and look like that?

Not the best quality picture, but this is me on a rickety platform surrounded by Africans:

What do your words get across?  -christyfitzwater.com

So on the treadmill I’m puffing through a 3 incline at 2.5 miles per hour, and I’m watching this Spanish interpreter speak his own native words but work to match exactly the meaning and tone of what the pastor is saying.

And I think –that’s what I want to be in relationship to the Lord. Me with a voice. Him with the content.

Paul says:

Be imitators of God. (Ephesians 5:1)

Translators imitate. They listen closely, which is hard work. They watch hand gestures, and the best interpreters not only present to others an exact match in word meaning but bring depth of meaning through their body language and facial expression. We can be this person.

One sentence at a time.

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