Slow Down

 

The joke goes like this:

A man is talking to God "God, how long is a million years to you?".

God answers, "To me, it's about a minute my dear".

"God, how much is a million dollars to you?" asked the man.

"To me, it's a penny my dear." God replied.

"God, may I have a penny?" said the man trying to trick God.

"Wait a minute my dear" said the God with a smile on his face.

In the 2019 annual report it says, ‘Slowing down is not an option.’ That sets red flags flying in my mind. Not an option? Slowing down is always an option and often beneficial and required. Is this an election committee trying to get buzz or an organization that does Bible translation?

Today's news headline in my email says, “The virus is a marathon.” The email from the New York Times says, “Donald makes a fascinating point: Don’t look only at snapshots, like a country’s per capita death toll. “It’s not fair to pick one point in time and say, ‘How are we doing?’” he writes. “You can only judge how well countries are doing when you add in the time factor”- that is when the virus first exploded in a given place and what has happened since. The pandemic, he adds, is like a marathon with staggered start times.”

Covid-19 is like a Marathon. Bible translation is like a marathon. It’s not fair to take a snapshot at one particular point and say, “Look, the translation is done,” after sprinting for two weeks. There are ministries and careers that are more like sprints, but Bible translation is not one of them. A marathon in Nepal can be run by a Nepali or an American. The Nepali might have an advantage in the marathon because his body is acclimated to the high altitudes, but it doesn’t mean he doesn’t need to train for the marathon for more than two weeks. 

Bible translation is a Marathon.