Lost in translation

     Tonight, Dad was working on his material for his Bible Study, and I was listening to him go through it.  He was putting together stuff for a discussion over Romans 13, where it talks about being submissive to governing authorities.  We got to talking about how that passage is so often misread today, and is taken to mean that Christians should not ever go against anyone who is in a governing position.  But that is not what the passage is saying, nor is that assumption true.  When Paul wrote it, the general idea among Christians was that since Christ was their King, they did not have to respond at all to Caesar.  But since we do still live in a fallen world, we need to obey the governing authorities, so long as those authorities stay in line with what Christ has said.  Romans 13 is not saying that anyone in a governing position is the highest authority.  Christ is, and it is His will that we must follow.  If someone in a governing position is not in line with Christ, then we as Christians should not follow it, and must rebel against it if that is the only course left.
     But during our discussion, I was reminded of what one of my professors had talked about one day in class.  He had talked about the differences in different Bible translations, and how some are closer hermaneutically than others.  Basically, he explained it like this:

So through all of this, my prayer for tonight is to always ask God to give me discernment when I'm looking for the meaning in His word.

The Jeweler's Wares

            “Our jeweler is the best.  No one in the world can match his skill,” crowed Ruby to her friends.  “I was talking the other day to my new friend Diamond.  She’s from some other shop, and she said that she got sent here so that real perfection could be achieved.  She says that our Andy’s work is so legendary, people say that he creates all of us out of nothing.  Any time he makes one of us, we’re absolutely perfect, just the way he wants us to be.”

            “I heard,” cut in Pearl, “that he doesn’t even have to find materials to make us either.  He just goes into his workshop, and comes out again, with a new perfect gem in his hands.”

            “I love how each of us is made unique.  No cut is the same, no shape the carbon copy of the next one.  I can’t imagine how Andy can do it. He’s made so many of us, and has never used the same design twice.  Wow,” Emerald sighed contentedly.

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            Ladomar grimaced as he walked past the gems’ shelf.  They were at it again.  Talking about their favorite subject.  Andy.  It was all they talked about as they awaited their purpose.  It was always ‘Andy this’ and ‘Andy that’.   Ladomar was sick of it.  Everywhere he went, it was Andy’s name that he heard.  No one ever mentioned his name; no one talked about who was always in Andy’s shadow.  Everyone forgot that Andy had an assistant.  Ladomar thought that even Andy himself forgot now and then.  He tried to tune out what the jewels were saying as he went about his work in the shop, cleaning up, straightening everything, making it all perfect.  But no matter how he tried to drown out the jewels’ voices, their words were always grating against his ears.  And the worst of it was that it was all true.  There was no one who could even come close to claiming the skill that Andy possessed.  Ladomar still had no idea how Andy was able to create so many unique, perfect pieces.  In all his years working for him, Ladomar still hadn’t learned the secret.  And that’s what cut the deepest.

            At first, he was content to remain in the shadows, was thrilled to be so close to the one who could do so many fantastic things.  He had been in utter awe of Andy.  But as time went on, he got used to the wonders, until they ceased to be wonderful to him.  He began hoping that Andy would start treating him like an apprentice, start teaching him how to make such wonderful jewels.  But with each passing day, Andy kept up his work, saying only a few words to Ladomar, and never invited him into his private workshop.  Ladomar had even tried bringing up the matter to Andy, and ask him to teach him.  But on every occasion, Andy had walked by preoccupied, not hearing him, or had not answered the question, and one time told him a solitary “No.”  Ladomar couldn’t believe it.  He had worked for Andy for so long, and had asked for nothing else, and Andy wouldn’t even teach him?  All Ladomar wanted was to be as great of a jeweler as Andy was.  Surely that wasn’t too much, right?  He deserved the chance to be Andy’s apprentice.  Assisting him just wasn’t enough.  So Ladomar began to feel resentment against Andy, began to hate the sound of his name, began to long for the day when his name would be praised just as highly- no, higher- than Andy’s name.

            So here he was again, running the jewel shop, hearing the gems go on and on about their maker, and still no closer to becoming a great jeweler himself than he had been on his first day.  He couldn’t take it anymore.  Ladomar waited until Andy left, and went into his private workshop.  He hoped, at the very least, that the room would hold all of the secrets of great jewel-making.  His whole being jittered with anticipation as he closed his fingers on the knob, turned the handle, and pushed open the door.  The room was black as he entered, and Ladomar fumbled around a bit before finding the light switch.  Finally, he could learn as much as Andy knew, and then he could leave, and start his own jewelry shop.  He could- …do nothing!  A single bulb lit up the room, revealing a wood floor and green walls.  Nothing was in that room.  Not even dust bunnies.  Ladomar couldn’t believe it.  He started looking around for a trap door.  There had to be something.  Surely Andy didn’t actually make the gems out of nothing.  There had to be a process that Ladomar could duplicate.  He had to be better than Andy.  He- … Ladomar turned back to the door at the sound of Andy’s return. 

            “What are you doing in here?” asked Andy.  His voice was calm, and his eyes told Ladomar that there would be no way out of this.  Andy already knew what Ladomar was going to say, already knew all the excuses that he could conjure up. 

            “I want to be as great as you.  Greater than you.  I can’t just be your assistant anymore.  I need to learn.”  Ladomar’s voice was defiant.

            Andy’s voice was kind as he replied, “Ladomar, you know I revere you highly.  I have put you in charge of running my shop, have given you the highest position.  But you cannot be like me.  You were brought in here to serve.  That is your place.  Please return to it.”

            “No!”  shouted Ladomar.  “I will not!  I deserve to be greater than you.  I’ve done so much for you!  I’ve heard your name be praised everywhere I go, and no one acknowledges my existence!  I’m tired of living in your shadow!  I deserve my own spotlight!”

            “Ladomar, please, calm yourself.  Return to your place.  Forget these desires for greatness.  Be great in what you have been called to do.”

            “No!”

            “Then I must ask you to leave.  I cannot allow you ruin this place with your attitude.” Andy was as calm as ever. 

            “Fine! I’ll leave!  But don’t ever expect me to come back!”  Ladomar stormed out of the little work room, and in his rage, threw around all of the beautiful gems Andy had made.  The gems cracked and broke into shards, and Ladomar threw most out onto the street.  He then went to go lick his wounds in the company of his friends.

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            Sapphire was shy when she arrived at Andy’s shop.  The other jewels who were there were very helpful though.  They did not try to push her, didn’t try to get her to share with them her experiences.  So for the first few days, she just listened.  She heard Ruby talk about her experiences.

            “I remember that day.  I remember Ladomar suddenly went crazy.  He went into Andy’s private workshop, which no one is ever supposed to do, and he started yelling at Andy, saying he should be greater than him.  When Andy told him- nicely, mind you- to please go back to running the shop, he lost it.  He stormed out, and the next thing I knew, he had picked me up and thrown me across the room.  I hit the wall, crashed onto the floor, and saw pieces of me shattered around me.  It was so horrible.  I was broken.  Cracked.  No longer perfect, like Andy had made me.  But Andy fixed me.  He saw past all of my brokenness, and put me back together.  I still have a few scars, but I am whole again, because of him.” 

Ruby’s story was one of the better ones.  Some jewels had spent some time outside of the shop, like Sapphire had, but had gotten to be returned to the store sooner than she.  Their stories were similar to hers, but also similar to Ruby’s.  Topaz told of how he had seen Ladomar one day on the streets, and how he and the friends he had with him would come up to broken jewels, like him, and would try to tell them all these bad things about Andy, or would try to twist the truth into a lie.  Some jewels were young enough to believe Ladomar, and would then let themselves get more cracked and broken before they realized what was going on.  Other gems were wise enough to know the wholeness that Andy could give them, and slowly tried to work their way back into his shop.  None of them had made it on their own, though.  Topaz told of a few people who were loyal to Andy who had helped return them.  Topaz himself was still in the process of being made new.  He still had a giant gash going through him, and a small chip here and there muddled his outline, but he wasn’t completely shattered like Sapphire was. 

Some jewels refused to admit that they had a story.  They never wanted to see their own brokenness, never admitted to being completely shattered.  Garnett was one of those jewels.  “I am just fine the way I am, this is who I’m supposed to be,” she would declare haughtily.  “If Andy didn’t want me to be like this, he wouldn’t have let it happen,” she’d say with a sneer.  Each day, the gems could see a new piece of her cracking or chipping off. 

Other jewels focused too much on their brokenness.  All that they could think of was how they were chipped, cracked, gouged, and how they could do nothing to fix it.  They lived for the days when Andy would spend time with them, putting the pieces back, smoothing out the cracks.  But then they would return from his workshop and see only the pieces that were missing, the cracks that were not yet filled. 

As she herself went through the process of being made new, Sapphire looked at those around her and watched.  It seemed to her like there were three categories of gems.  The first category saw only the beauty of what Andy had done.  They didn’t bother to look at the imperfections, and they acted like they weren’t even there.  It was as if their view of life was zoomed out so far that they couldn’t see any details.  The second category saw only the flaws, but never looked beyond them to see the beauty of Andy’s creation.  These gems looked at life through a lens zoomed in. 

Sapphire loved the days when it was her turn to spend some time with Andy in his workshop.  He would talk to her, tell her that he loved her, and tell her that he had a special purpose for her.  And slowly, he started putting her pieces back together.  As she was being mended, she thought she belonged to the third category of gems.  She saw that she still had flaws and marks on her, but she could also see the beauty of what Andy was doing for her.  It was like she viewed life at the right spot- not too far away, and not too close.  Sometimes she would struggle with leaning towards one view or another, but after spending time with Andy, she got better at seeing the picture from the right distance.  For that, she thanked Andy, and praised him for his greatness.  She also hoped that the other gems could learn to see their lives through that lens as well.  She hoped that the gems would stop listening to the twisted lies that Ladomar told them, and would instead listen to what Andy had to tell them.  Sapphire loved having that perspective, and tried to share it with her friends as often as she could.

Author’s Note

This story is a creative rendering of a true story found in the Bible, and of some of my own musings.  Because of this, there is a lot of parallelism between my story and the Bible’s account.  The part that is based on my own musings is how my mind creatively translated my thoughts of brokenness and how we are like Andy’s jewels.  Andy’s jewels can’t really do anything for themselves.  They’re incapable of fixing themselves, and must rely on Andy to do that.  There’s also a lot of meaning behind the names “Andy” and “Ladomar.”  Ladomar, of course, is based on Lucifer.  When I started thinking about writing this story, I wanted to pick a name that both started with an “L” and reflected on the character.  “Ladomar” is Hungarian, and means “trapper.”  Andy’s name isn’t quite as meaningful, but it is based on a reference.  There is a joke that goes: “Do you know God’s first name? It’s Andy.  ‘And He walks with me, And He talks with me, And He tells me I am His own.’  So since Andy is the God figure in this story, I thought it would be a fitting name for his character.

Faith

     It seems like every child is told at one point by an adult "enjoy being a kid while you can, because it won't last forever."  And why is that?  Simple.  Because it's scary to grow older.  Black and white gives way to growing areas of gray.  While getting older, we gradually see ourselves as the ones who have to forge the path through all the entanglement that blinds us to what's ahead.  We miss the days when the responsibility was not on us, and we could simply follow in the path already forged.  But our day came when we had to pick up the lead, and forge the path that will be followed.  Our task is never easy, there are many tangible things that block our path, and we feel that we have no one to lean on anymore, that it's all on us and we just take it by faith that there will be a destination.  But as blind as we feel we are, we do have a map.  The map acts as our guide, telling us the right way to get through it all.  But the map doesn't tell us every little detail like we would want it to.  It shows the big picture, and leaves the little details to surprise us.  But we were also given all the right tools before we started on the path to overcome any and all obstacles that we face, so that even when we feel like we shall fail, we can know that we can succeed, as long as we keep trying.

     Our spiritual journey is like that too.  We are first taught by others, and so we follow down that path.  But as we mature in our faith, we must learn to take the lead in what we believe.  It can be pretty scary, because there are so many tangible obstacles that we see.  But we have to trust in our map, the Bible, and our gifts God gave us, to get us through life so that we may live and reign forever with Him.  That is the big picture, which our map spells out for us.  The only question, then, is how we are going to let the little details affect us?  Are we going to let them be a cause for calling it quits?  Are we going to let those details consume us so that we think of nothing else?  Or shall we prove that the minor details don't have any real power and that faith will overcome them?

Liberation

     One thing that I have been thinking about lately, is freedom.  In America, we like to think we are free, but do our lives reflect that?  Is our ideal of freedom true liberation?  To voice my thoughts, I wrote a short piece:



Chains
     They say that ignorance is bliss, and knowledge is the key to freedom.  But how true is that?  How free are we?  In ignorance, we are chained by the restrictions that come with it, and a lack of creative means, with no hope of moving forward.  But in knowledge we are also chained by the obligations and responsibilities that present themselves alongside our knowledge.  Can we really be free?  What is the balance of liberation?  To stay in ignorance is to deny oneself a meaningful life, but to forever be in pursuit of knowledge denies the chance of finding any meaning in life.  The only liberation, then, is to admit that one shall never know all that there is in life.  But does that signify defeat, and thus ignorance?  No.  The balance is found in a book.  A book that lays out what things can be learned, and what things will never be understood.  A book where life’s meaning is found on every page, every paragraph, every line, sentence and word.  A book written over the course of 2,000 years by 40 men, where every word was inspired by God.  Be free of the chains; liberation is never far away.


     As if in answer of my thoughts, God brought back to my mind something a professor had told me.  He had said that until God's work is finished in my life, nothing will be able to kill me.  God has a purpose for my life, just like he has a purpose for everyone.  So, until my purpose has been completed, I need have no fear of death.  Death cannot have victory, nor shall it- for God has defeated death already.  This thought is also very freeing, because it helps to remind me that I don't need to worry- God is in control of my life.  
     Another encouragement is the song "Counting on God" because the lyrics simply echo my thoughts and what God has been telling me.

Life Line

     Childhood dreams... some seem so far fetched, others seem impossible, and some come true.  When I started playing guitar at the end of eighth grade, my dream was to be in a band.  I thought, however, that it was going to be a completely unobtainable goal for me because of how small my hometown is.  And I was partially right: until I started going to college, I was never in a band.

     But not anymore.  Since starting my freshman year of college, I have started my own band (called Life Line)  with two of my best friends, and I even wrote our first song.  (Also a small miracle, in and of itself.)  The song, called "Trusting," is based on Jeremiah 29:11-13, which says "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord. 'Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.  Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.  You will seek me and you will find me, when you seek me with all your heart.'" 

     God really laid those verses on my heart, and since then, "Trusting" has become my prayer.  I pray that I will live a trusting life, entrusting my everything to God.  There are so many things in my life that I don't give over to Him: things that I think are small enough that I can handle them, but I still need to let God handle them.  If I think I can handle something, how much better can God handle it?  So my prayer is that I will learn to entrust the little things of life to God, not just the big things.  And also the medium-sized things as well. :)

     Life Line performed "Trusting" at a talent show that my university put on.  Some around campus had heard the song already, but for the most part, the talent show was Life Line's debut.  My hope is that more songs will follow this one.

The Power of Prayer

God is amazing.
     For a while now, I've been tutoring kids after school.  Well, it hasn't always been the most fruitful event, because the kids come to me on a volunteer basis: if they come in, then I can help them.  But most of the time, I spend my afternoon doing my own homework in the absence of kids.
     A couple weeks ago, I decided to pray that God would bring in kids for me to help.  That day was the busiest of all my days I had tutored.  I had so many kids, that it was hard for me to help all of them, and to help them to the best of my abilities.  I really felt more like a teacher instructing in a one-room school than a tutor.
But this just helped prove once again how powerful God is, and how powerful prayer is.  I'm also sure that it won't be the last time that God shows me his awesome might.  :)

Answers

It is sometimes amazing to me to see how God will answer prayers.  When my great uncle was in his last days of life, he had been having some pain in his neck, as a side effect to the medicine he was on.  I went to see him, and prayed that his pain would be taken away from him.  The next day, I learned that God had indeed answered that prayer: my great uncle is now in heaven, where no pain shall ever reach him again.  I have also been struggling lately with a couple of relationships, ones that I don't want to get into.  I had been struggling especially with how to converse with these two guys that I'm not interested in, and this worry had been a big distraction for me.  I put up my burden to Christ, however, and now it seems that the answer to that prayer is silence.  The distracting clamor that those guys added to my life has now faded as conversation between us has grown less and less.  My mind is now a bit clearer, now that one distraction has been taken from me.  Thank you, my Lord Jesus.  For all that you do for me, whether I see it or not, I am so thankful for your blessings.  I also thank you for revealing to me how you have worked in my life.