Today I went to Loftus Versfeld (where the Springboks play rugby). My friend invited me to the Loftus for Jesus event here in Pretoria. 70 000 people came to worship, pray, and listen to Angus Buchan share his story and his faith. It was so cool to sit out in the middle of the rugby field, surrounded by everyone in the stands, and listen to the roar of voices singing praises to God.So I'm sitting there, with the sun burning the left side of my face, singing songs I know from childhood in a foreign language, as most of the music was sung in Afrikaans (songs like "Holy Holy Holy", "How Great Thou Art", "Battle Hymn of the Republic", etc). Have you ever sung "Battle Hymn of the Republic" - an American patriotic song dating back to Civil War days - in Afrikaans??? It was so WEIRD (weird in a good way, of course)! And it hit me: God understands more than American English.
How many prayers in Zulu rise up to the Throne every day? How many cries to God in Hungarian, Cantonese, Hindi or Vietnamese does God hear - and answer - each moment? Perhaps this is obvious to you and I am only now getting it, but it amazes me that God understands every language - that He isn't American, that Americans don't have a monopoly on the Holy One.
I fumble with my Afrikaans each day, but God gets it. I don't understand South African English half of the time, but God does. People here don't always understand my American accent, phrases or words, but God can make sense of it.
I don't know... it kind of makes me fall in love with Jesus all over again.
2 comments:
What an awesome experience you had! I had a similar one years ago in Vietnam . . . I was meeting with some Christians there and they wanted to hear me sing a song in English. I chose the praise song, "You came from heaven to Earth; to show the way . . ." When they began to sing along with me in Vietnamese I was surprised. But then I thought about it; what did I expect them to sing? Needless to say, the remainder of the song was sung with tears of joy.
Hey Annie you one again forget that we are going to speak Afrikaans in Heaven. So get used to it girl. You are doing well enough though and almost qualify for a place in that heavenly choir. I am really jealous of not being there
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