The One Thing

Friday night:

This is pretty cool here, people. Tonight, on the eve of the big dedication of the Nkonya New Testament, Kathleen and I got to hang with about 10 different translators from a number of translation projects in Ghana. It’s like one big family gathering where they are all coming together to celebrate one team’s success.

An aside: I’m typing this up in the dark in a guest house, where things are pretty dirty but still workable. The shower is most definitely NOT like home, that’s all I’ll say on that front! We are in the Nkonya area about 4 hours drive today from Accra. Here in the night, I can hear the crickets chirping, and somewhere out there in the local village is a drum fest going on. They sound just beautiful. We can hear the laughter and the talking, matching the drums for noise. I’m sure they are dancing. Good stuff.

Back: This specific project that Wes and Katie are involved with has been going on for 21 years. Tomorrow the unveiling of the New Testament takes place for a people that had no bible in their language until now. Image a team that works for 21 years with that kind of single focus. Kathleen shared with me a visit she had with one of the translators attending the evening pre-celebration. She said that for her team, not Wes’s team, they celebrated the dedication of the New Testament they were working on in 2007. Same type of effort and focus over many many years. She remembered going home after the celebration that night and laying her head on the pillow and saying to God, “It just can’t get any better than what I’ve experienced here today, and I’ve fulfilled what you asked me to do and I would be content now if you chose to take me home.” Kind of a Simeon moment where he lived his whole live to see the Christ Child. I’m sure that his one thing that he had to be about his whole life was to pray to this end. That God would send His Son.

So I thought about that for a while.

What’s the one thing that I have become convinced of that I need to be about?

What is the one celebration that I hope to be a part of that consumes my dreams and my thoughts and drives all my actions?

jp