Lost in Translation

There was a movie by this name a few years ago. It was pretty awful overall, but there was something about it I could really relate to and I loved that part of it.

Have you ever been far from home and all that is familiar to you? It can be almost surreal at times. I have some pretty strange memories that include dancing on a disco boat on the Sea of Gallilee surrounded by armed Israeli soldiers (This may have been the first and last time I danced! Can you blame me?) to sitting on the floor of a home church in Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan singing praise songs in Russian while watching a turtle wander around the living room at liberty. (I'm sure they thought it odd that I was whipping out my camera in the middle of church, but I just had to capture that moment.)

There was also the time I was invited on a hike in Bavaria by a German speaking Filipino working in Italy on a US Army base and got back to my hotel over 8 hrs and 3 peaks later. You get the idea.

Back to Lost in Translation, the part that I liked was the unlikely camaraderie of two people who would have had nothing in common under different circumstances. These two Americans from different generations and walks of life seemed more alike than different in the midst of their strange Tokyo experiences. I guess there’s who you are and then there’s who you are. It’s a matter of how we identify ourselves.

As Christians we’re supposed to find our identity in Christ. We could avoid a lot of frustration if we would remember that the world is not supposed to understand or accept us. Jesus said, “Because you are not of this world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” (John 15:19b) Like the two unlikely friends in Lost in Translation, Christians should cling to one another on this pilgrim’s progress that is life. I’m so grateful for my family, our little church, the ladies I do Bible study with, and for this wonderful Christian blogging community. The world does not understand that God has chosen the foolish and weak things to put to shame the mighty and the wise (1 Corin 1:27), but we have one another, and for that I’m grateful!