Refine Your Thinking…

What is behind those eyes? A young Pal girl decorated her face with some paint…

Car or Sedan?

Truck or pickup? Notebook or Laptop? Mobile or Cell? Stove or Range?  O.K. Now stop, drop, and tell someone next to you the difference between any pair of those.  Why you may ask? Well, we choose specific words to communicate specific meaning. We tailor our communication to our audience… (intensity, specificity, personal interest etc. all help shape what words we say to communicate a specific thought.)

For instance – If I was talking with my dad – I would use the specific word ‘sedan’ when talking about a car because he knows that term  and cares about that detail. If I was talking to Elizabeth, ‘car’ would almost always suffice. (Now if I were talking to our sons whose penchant for detail re: all things mechanical is off the charts; I’d be getting off easy if I only included 4 or 5 more specific details.)

So what is the point? Well… try describing to yourself in a few words the difference between wisdom and discernment. Finished? alright. That is great. Now, for the sake of neuron trauma lets suppose that you’d like to translate ‘A man with wisdom and discernment…’ into Pal…

Helpful hint:  (or not so helpful)  according to my language helper – after nearly a half-hour of describing the difference to him,  a wise man is ‘umata kebu nat’ and a discerning man is ‘umata kebu nat’. He understood the difference in the concepts when I explained them, but there is no simple way  to transfer the full fine detail of that meaning into Pal.

Pray! As we dive into translation of God’s Word here in Pal, we are feeling very much our inadequacy and the need for His strength to keep His Word intact. We so desire His Word to speak directly to the hearts of our friends.

Nate and Chris work... Friends wait for the fun to begin…

Thanks so much for keeping us here and working.

Nate for us 5