Sharing The Word With Others – Even Though Who Are Different
Word-Of-The-Day: ‘<God said,>”(6) And foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant—(7) these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”’ (Isaiah 56:6-7)
In traveling as a government contractor, and before that as a soldier in the US military, I’ve been in a lot of big cities, and some I’ve lived in; Pittsburgh, Honolulu, Norfolk/Virginia Beach (technically two cities), and to a smaller degree, Sarasota. I’ve also spent considerable time in others; Hong Kong, Tokyo, San Francisco, Washington D.C., Tampa, and Boston.
Before I retired, I spent (on and off) some time in Miami, in total about eight months. Miami to me has always been a bit different than other American cities in that predominantly it is Spanish-speaking rather than English.
Fortunately most of the Miamians are bilingual, while I’m still attempting to master the American tongue. Coming from Pittsburgh. I speak ‘yinzer’, an American dialect primarily confined to Western Pennsylvania.
I like the more quiet confines of North Port, where we finally settled into, although honestly it’s starting to get into the early stages of ‘metro life’ (traffic jams, packed stores) but it’ll be many years before it reaches suburban Tampa. But all need similar things, such as love, respect, purpose. They just may say it in a way that I don’t understand unless I get me one of those pocket translator apps on my smartphone.
Despite the differences in people (languages, skin tone, age, hobbies, and the rest one can think of), we are all very similar. Things that bring us joy in the US will bring joy to someone in Africa or Australia (catching fish, the birth of a baby). We laugh at jokes and cry at funerals. We must all eat and drink water to survive. There is more in common with others than is realized.
On one of the national Christian channels, as I was doing my normal ‘flip’ of the channels, I stopped to hear a Korean man, in Korean, give the Gospel to Americans as spoken through his English interpreter. It was clear who was preaching (the Korean man speaking Korean) and who was doing the translating (the Korean man speaking American English).
Other than pauses to allow his interpreter to give the English translation, it was fiery and expressive to the plain Gospel message of Salvation. I soon realized this gentleman (whose name I unfortunately did not catch) was evangelizing to Americans, using TV to be a remote missionary to the US.
When I think of missions inside the US, I think of churches (like ours) sending out members to plant churches and evangelize elsewhere, like those in Hungary or more close to home, Utah. But here was a man, from South Korea, preaching the Gospel to us in the US.
A fleeting thought I had initially was one of ‘why would he think we need a Korean from Korea to evangelize in America’, but the Spirit nudged me and I realized he was doing what God had led him to do, that he was doing what we all should be doing; sharing the Word to others regardless who they are.
We need Christ more than ever, especially in America! Praise God for those who listen to the calling God has given them! There are Christians in almost every part of the world, and many are hungry to hear the Word and there are Christians who are willing there to provide it.
Those who are persecuted in China and North Korea, oppressed in the Middle East, ignored in Europe. In the US who will provide the message to those who want to hear it? If not us Christians who also call ourselves Americans, praise be that a Korean has stepped up!
