Even as we celebrated all that God is doing, there was a strong emphasis on humility.It’s quite appropriate on a number of levels.

On a personal level, I need this regular reminder that wiser men than me who have done far more have seen the need to humble themselves regularly. It’s really only godly obedience that has called some of my coworkers who once led thousands well to take on leadership of tens.

And on an organizational level, we spoke frequently about how our work is heavily dependent on the work of God and the gracious work of so many of our partners. (Read about a few.) The Seed Company is all about connecting people who want to translate the Scriptures and people who want to support that. On our own, we’re really nothing.

God seems to have exciting things in store for me (and Lynnelle). And God seems to have exciting things in store for The Seed Company. But launching off on our own or thinking any of us can do things alone would be a big mistake.

Perhaps you’d pray for me and The Seed Company if you read this. I know I need the humility to follow God and my leaders.

—

It was said that in one community, the translation team’s work was going later than normal. As the sun sank lower, the team said to one of the translators, “Don’t you want to go home now now? The path home is dangerous.” Many people who go out on the trails late at night die for mysterious causes that people have come to attribute to evil spirits and it seems likely to be true.

“How can I?” he said. “I have to translate this and share it with the men I meet with regularly!”

Why was he so insistent? He was translating some very meaningful Scriptures about God’s strength in a time of trouble from Habakkuk including 3:16-19

I heard and my heart pounded,
my lips quivered at the sound;
decay crept into my bones,
and my legs trembled.
Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity
to come on the nation invading us.

Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.

The Sovereign LORD is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to go on the heights.

What amazing timing for a people who felt under siege by “the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms!” (Read more about the passage I just quoted)

The great new is that this is hardly an isolated instance. God is working powerfully to help people around the world through Bible translation even before a whole book or testament or Bible is done.  Talk to me sometime and I’ll tell you more stories.

Why the growth in staff? The simple reason is that there is a lot of work to do. Many of you know that there are an estimated 2,200+ people groups without any Scripture, but did you know there are a total of 4,000+ that still need additional Scripture? That means that when a child dies or a a tragedy strikes or a couple is married, God’s truth isn’t always there to guide the community in what a life honoring to God looks like.

The Seed Company is committed to working with believers, churches and organizations around the world to help people translate the Bible for their own communities. We think it’s good for a variety of reasons.  Here are a few on my heart today:

1. It shows respect to people in other cultures when we listen to the need for Scripture that they express  and work with them.
2. It shows Christian brotherhood to bring God’s truth in the Scriptures to people in community.
3. It brings glory to God when more people know about God’s work and are part of sharing that.

Over these next few days (Monday through Wednesday),  I’ll be sharing a few things I hear at the event.  There are some encouraging things I’ve heard already today that I’m looking forward to sharing with you tonight or tomorrow.

In the mean time, check out these links for more about the work of The Seed Company that I help with:

• The Seed Company – the main organizational page with a copy of the SeedLinks publication I help with
• OneVerse – a Seed Company program that gives people the opportunity to sponsor translation verse by verse
• Blank Bible Challenge – the newest Seed Company program that helps churches focus on reading the Scriptures for a month

I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him you have been enriched in every way—in all your speaking and in all your knowledge—because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you. Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.

- Paul in a letter to the church at Corinth

What strikes me most today is that he begins by reminding people that they’re well positioned to grow and change.

• They had ongoing grace from God through Christ Jesus
• They had been enriched in their speaking and knowledge in Christ Jesus
• They had no lack (as a community?) for any spiritual gift
• Jesus Christ would keep them strong or blameless till the end of their life or the earth
• God would be faithful in all these things

What sticks with me most today is that many of us who follow Christ find ourselves in similar places when both good and challenging things come. We’re never alone in any of this unless we choose to be.

Parke

It’s easy to forget in the busy nature of my office publicity work and the pressures of life that God is doing many amazing things simultaneously in people’s hearts both in the US and around the world. It’s far easier to bemoan problems, trends or issues than to really look for what God is doing.

Jesus’ words in Luke 7 came to mind as I pondered this:

The disciples of John reported all these things to him. And John, calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” And when the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’”

In that hour [Jesus] healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight.

And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”
(Luk 7:18-23 ESV)

We don’t always see exciting things in life. Much pain would follow these verses. But we do God ourselves and others a disservice when we don’t look for, celebrate and remember all that God is doing even in the midst of struggle.

And maybe we hurt the body of Christ when all we talk about is how bad the world is. God is transforming lives all around us. I pray my heart can focus on that beautiful work and celebrate it well.

Accelerating Bible Translation for the Jiru from Daniel Peckham on Vimeo. See more work from The Seed Company, the group I work with, here.