December 2003

Breaking the Sound Barrier

            Our granddaughter was looking at our pictures after we returned from a trip to San Diego, California.  She finally came to a picture I had taken of Sue walking on the beach.  “It is sandy there!  So that’s why they call it Sandy Eggo!”  Then she wanted to know if they would have just called it Eggo if it had not been so sandy. 

            Isn’t it amazing how children take in things?  It is like the little girl I heard about who thought she was singing about a bear named Gladly, when they sang in church: “Gladly, the cross I’d bear.”  In her ear it sounded like they were singing about, “Gladly, the cross-eyed bear.” 

            I keep thinking of the children I saw in Honduras.  What kind of things do they see and hear?  How does their world influence the way they understand the Gospel of Christ.  What sound barriers do they have?  I was amazed as I watched the Hansen children playing with the Honduran children.  You would never have known there was a language barrier.  They made up games and played together as though they understood every word the other was saying.  It is amazing how youth and play transcend language barriers.  It is wonderful how love breaks down all barriers. 

            It was obvious that the men I worked with loved Christ and he had profoundly changed their lives.  Chacho had been an alcoholic, among other things, but Jesus had transformed him.  Don Israel was a wise and cheerful friend.  We had a love for each other because we had a common love for Christ, and it tore any barriers down.  I became very close to these hard working men.  We learned new words from each other.  They would try to speak the few English words they knew, and I would try to speak the few Spanish words I knew.  Sometimes we laughed at each other, and at other times we just looked at each other quizzically.  Hand motions would fly until we finally got what the other one was saying. 

            How wonderful it is be with people from another culture, another country, another race, and learn to love each other.  I have more in common with these people, even though I can’t understand their language, than I have with many people in my own country who do not know Christ.  When our hearts are open to Christ they become open to each other.  John wrote: “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers” (1 John 3:14). 

Hasta mañana,

Rod