All the Families of the Nations

At a friend's request, I had helped edit several essays of a young Chinese student here applying to American colleges. He has only been here two years so his command of English, while much better than my Chinese, is not perfect. I was happy to help. He had good ideas but didn't express them fluently in English. The family was so appreciative that they invited my entire family to a fancy dinner last night. My friend and her family were invited as well. Of the eight people there, only my friend spoke both languages well, and the young man spoke English well enough to be understood. The three from my family spoke no Chinese, though I practiced saying "Thank you" in Chinese the day prior to our dinner. The three other Chinese people there spoke no English.

It was a lovely dinner, delicious food, and a lot of nodding and smiling at each other. I said, "Thank you" in Chinese many times to fill in the conversation. My bilingual friend did an admirable job of translating, but it is definitely not an easy way to try to communicate with others. My friend, noticing me pause when the food was served asked me if we should pray.
"Please," I said, "You pray in Chinese for us, because more of us at the table will understand."
She took my hand, and I took the hand of my daughter, who took the hand of my husband, who took the hand of my friend's husband and so forth until all of us were holding hands. I am not sure the others quite knew why we were suddenly holding hands. Then my friend prayed and while I understood not a word, I knew what she was saying in my heart. When she finished, her Chinese husband who doesn't speak English, joined us Americans saying, "Amen."

Psalm 22:27 (NIV)
All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him,



-save a dog- hollowcreekfarm.org