It can be rather unnerving to be at the mercy of someone from another country. Pilots. Taxi Drivers. Cooks. Translators. Hmmm. Translators. All around me people speak a language I do not understand. Oh, maybe every 100th word or less. And when I speak I realize just how difficult English truly is for the non-native speaker. We certainly use a ton of idioms! It must take me a minute or two to attempt to tear them down to an explainable level. What does “Get a life” mean???? How about “Hit the nail on the head”? Those that have an elemental grasp of English take my words at their literal value. Forget sarcasm. Forget puns. I must be very deliberate in my word choice and sentence structure. Even then it’s a struggle. That’s where the translator come in. No, we don’t hire professional translators. Mine is Mark, a 14 year old who was thrown into the position of translator when the scheduled person couldn’t make it. He is doing an incredible job considering he has to help navigate the labyrinth of rules which inhabit the improv games, games he has never played before. Astoundingly, one of my classes understands the games with little to no instructions.
Can we make a parallel with the way we teach others about Christ? Can others divine the nature of Christ through our actions? Are we credible “translators” of Christ? And that begs the bigger question – do they know the “Who” and the “Why” behind our actions? It all starts with our actions, our character.
As you can see from the photo, I inhabit a classroom painted with Pepto-Bismal pink walls. I feel like I’m living inside a piece of bubble gum. And for your photographers, imagine the white balance issues!