SQJ Taipei

On June 29th 2000, I sent out an email update… I was preparing to preach for the first time in Chinese and shared many thoughts about that new and exciting experience and also shared the following prayer requests:

1. I would be able to finish the translation
2. I would find time to practice
3. my mind to think clearly about this task
4. my tongue, lips, throat, cheeks, etc etc… to function in a way that makes my Chinese easy to hear and easy to understand.
5. for my attitude… if you are a perfectionist yourself, you know how unbearably difficult it can be to intentionally put yourself into humbling situations where you will almost certainly make mistakes…
6. for my family… as I will demand some time alone in the next few days…
7. that the church members would resist all urges to compare my Chinese with anyone else’s on our team.
8. whatever else you think of… consider it to be Holy Spirit led and pray hard about it!

My sermon went great and I attribute it to the fact that many were praying.

My teammate Jon Ralls (WEBSITE) is preaching in Mandarin at our Chinese church this week. He has spoken for a few minutes at our church before… sharing some of his plans for the future… and he has Bible studies in Chinese… but this is the first time to “officially” preach using Mandarin. I’m sure that he would appreciate any of you lifting him up according to those requests I mentioned above. He’ll do fine, I’m sure, as he is a great language student… but even our best efforts seem to often fall short if not preceeded in prayer.

One of our supporting churches at the time of my first Chinese sermon was Christ’s Church of Germantown. This church has now merged with a new church work and is called Journey’s Crossing (WEBSITE). Mary Jones was a member of the church in Germantown and as she prayed for me and for the battles in the heavenly realms she wrote this poem and emailed it to me. I think of it almost every time I speak in Chinese and thought you might like to read it as you pray for Jon and for all of the missionaries learning Mandarin. We are still learning too!

A Time to Speak, A Time to Love, A Time to Laugh - by Mary Jones

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When you stand before the crowd
and fear cuts you like a knife
You could chose to follow
the usual speech giving advice…Relax, Be confident, Be strong
Picture yourself above the crowd,
or the way the Brady Bunch said to overcome
picture the crowd with only undergarments on.
(I wouldn’t suggest that one)

Or, if I could encourage you
here’s what I would suggest to do…

As you stand before the crowd
remember Whose children they are!
God’s word will be heard with more than ears
but with their spirits they will truly hear!

Not only the language that you speak
but the heart of love you share,
That you would work to learn Chinese
will help them hear the Love you’re offering.

The Love of Jesus Christ our Lord
Who will love them until the very end,
And who knows each of them by their name
and understands the prayers they pray.

And if you should stutter or
translate something wrong,
Remember to laugh, and have fun,
and show your children that they can…

Give God the best they have
and leave the rest in His hands,
That serving him isn’t about perfection
but enjoying Him…and it is fun.

A great cloud of witness will see you that day
and they won’t be worried about the Chinese you say,
They will rejoice in praise to God above
for in you they will see His perfect love!