Giving God A Name...

So, this past Wednesday Jessi and I were sitting in a "Form and Meaning" class when we were given an assignment that completely caught me off guard. "Give God a name," our teacher said. What? Give God a name? See, we had been talking in class about the difficulties of translating the Scripture to a tribal language. So, he proposed the task of giving God a name for a tribal group. We had the options of choosing b/w vernacular, the trade language, or choosing an entirely new name using the tribe's native tongue.

For example, say you move into a new tribal location. Option 1: You can stick with the name "God," but what will they understand this word? What meaning will they ascribe to it? Will they syncretize it with some of their old beliefs of God and ascribe immoral attributes to Him? Option 2: You could use that country's trade language word for God. An example of this would be using "Dios" in a Hispanic country. If you decide to do this, would it be possible that the tribal group would relate this word with other country groups who have claimed to worship "Dios" but had treated them wrongly in some way or another (as many tribal groups are often mistreated by governments.) Option 3: You could choose to create an entirely new name for God using the tribal language, but how well do you understand their language? Would you misrepresent the nature of God by the words you choose?

During our class, our group came up with many different pros and cons for each option. But in the end decided on option 3. Our teacher, who himself had been a tribal missionary for about 15 years, told us that all three have been used successfully and unsuccessfully. I have to tell you...I had a few beads of sweat pop up over making this decision, and this was just a class assignment, not the real thing. In the words of my main man Harry Carary "Holy Cow!" Seriously, I know this is the name of our mighty King, but it is also just one word of many in the Bible that we will hopefully soon be translating.

"Inadequate"...this doesn't even bein to describe how I'm feeling.

George Family Update 1...

At Long Last...

GET YA NEWS! GET YA NEWS FOLKS! THE GEORGE FAMILY FINALLY ARRIVES AT NEW TRIBES! Four years plus prior to this week God began to finally narrow our vision and calling for foreign missions. For me, I was hit like sack of hammers after returning home from my first over seas mission trip to El Salvador. I remember walking through the door of my parents house and my dad greeting me there and saying this..."Well, you glad to back in the States?" All at once this epiphany came over me (as if epiphanies happen any other way.) "No, not really dad. I miss being over there." Before you think I'm patriotically waving the colors of any country, please let me clarify. While I'm most certainly proud to call the U.S. my home and feel blessed to have had the religious freedoms that we do I simply missed being out of the environment of foreign missions. My trip to El Salvador was the first time I had ever been to a place that didn't seem to have a church on ever street corner, or find people who had no previous exposure to the Gospel message. Coming home, I was simply left with a hunger to be a part of that work.

Over the course of our engagement and marriage, God began honing our heart's desires in. Little by little, then, by leaps and bounds. The idea of people around the globe without any access to the saving power of the Gospel message became a burden to say the very least. The thought of thousands of people groups without a single word of the Bible in a language they could understand became an excruciating thought. Via my wife and the World Wide Web we were exposed to the work of New Tribes Missions and today, here we are in Roach, MO four days away from our first training class to prepare us to take Jesus to those who have never heard before.

May God give long life to those people around the globe who are waiting to here of His love for them.