Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: WIN (02/14/19)
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TITLE: Finish Line | Previous Challenge Entry
By Marlene Custer
02/20/19 -
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Linda smiled, “Good Morning. Did you get any interesting mail today?”
Thumbing through the store ads and a few pieces of mail, Kari answered, “I see I got a new Finish Line report.”
Linda raised her eyebrows. “Finish Line? Are you into racing?”
Kari chuckled. “Not hardly! This Finish Line is about racing to finish translating the Bible into every language. It’s a race worth winning.”
“Doesn’t everyone already have access to the Bible?”
“If you have a few minutes we can sit over here on this bench and I’ll tell you more about it,” Kari nodded with her head in the direction of the white bench in the common area.
Linda hesitated a moment, reaching into her mailbox, then answered. “Sure. I have a few minutes before I need to start supper.” She locked her mailbox and followed Kari.
When both were settled on the bench, Kari took a deep breath and began, “There are about 7000 languages in the world—some don’t even have an alphabet yet. Tremendous progress has been made in the past 75 years, but there are about 2,000 languages still without any Scripture. That means 250 million people do not have one word of the Bible in their heart language!”
“What do you mean ‘heart language’?” Linda asked, looking at Kari intently.
“In many countries the people speak two, three, or more languages. Their ‘heart language’ is the one they learned as a child. Anthropologists have determined that people learn and understand best when they are taught in their heart language.”
“Very interesting,” marveled Linda. “I have always been interested in languages.”
“Language is very important to people.” Kari shifted and continued, “It used to take thirty or forty years to do one New Testament translation, but now computers, cell phones, and other technology have enabled the translation process to be speeded up tremendously. Hopefully, in the next five or six years there will be a translation at least started in the remaining 2000 languages.”
Linda’s eyes widened. “That is incredible! It sounds like a lot of work. Do you think it will happen?”
“Yes! I’m expecting a win as I pray and give to speed translation to the finish line! If you are interested, I can give you a couple of websites to check out.”
“I’d like that. I think this is something I can get excited about, too.” Linda looked at her watch and stood up. “I need to hurry and start supper. Thanks for sharing.”
How exciting to be a part of seeing that everyone has Scripture in the language they understand best! Whole villages have been changed for the better when they got the Bible in their own language. The Finish Line is in sight. The Apostle Paul said it well, “...being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion...” (Philippians 1:6. NIV).
NIV
Wycliffe.org.uk
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