lift your voices

The torrential rain pelted the tin roof enough to drown out the nearby ocean waves and vehicles passing on the highway next to the church.  Window louvers were hurriedly shut so the gusts of wind did not douse those inside.  And yet nothing could overpower the beautiful sound of worship in the local language.

As I sat in the special guest section at the front of the church, the sound of people singing with enormous gusto washed over me.  Our hostess next to me moved her vernacular hymn book closer so I could sing along.  The letters on the page were completely foreign, but the heart of worship was the same as I joined in the singing with joy in my soul and tears in my eyes. 

On Friday, the lady acting as our hostess approached us (this past week I have been working with the regional director RD for these island provinces).  She recognized the RD and asked if we would bring more audio Bibles to their church.  That same week, the former translators for the language group also contacted the RD asking if she would go to the church and encourage the believers to not forsake reading and listening to their Tok Ples (vernacular, lit. “talk of the place”) New Testaments, which was dedicated in 1995.  Plans began to form and on Saturday while picking up some boxes of the New Testaments from storage we met “by accident” a man who used to work in the church circuit which we were planning to visit and he was available to come along.  We loaded four boxes (96 copies) of New Testaments and two boxes of the audio players (40 copies) in the truck and left at the unfortunate hour of 6:30am to arrive for the 9:00am service.   

Deuteronomy 31:8 

The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.  Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.

The rain and wind that came during the service tore a path through the jungle, downing trees for miles along the road.  The church, other than the minor distractions, was fine.  As we travelled back to town, we were blessed that other vehicles had gone before us and people had cleared enough of the trees for a car to squeeze through.  The fuel lasted the trip and fourteen more people have a copy of the New Testament in their own language.  The remaining copies were left in the care of the evangelism committee of the church and our hostess so they can be used to reach the people in the area.   

God is good and as His followers we lift our voices to worship Him.  I can’t think of a more beautiful sound.