We have been visiting New York City for 5 days and have yet to really see any of the city’s iconic tourist attractions. But this was not why we came here. We wanted to meet Christians – the ones who live here and the ones who came here to minister to the many who have yet to meet the Christ.
Friday, May 3rd, was a highlight in regards to meeting various people from different cultures and backgrounds. It started out in the morning when we spoke with some Chinese immigrants (from many years ago) next to where we were parking our RV in New Jersey. We attended their church on Sunday morning. Later that day, we made contact with a Russian brother who moved here over 4 years ago to help start a church among the Russian people in Brooklyn. That afternoon we had fellowship with an Anabaptist family that moved here several years ago from Pennslyvania. Then at 6:00 p.m., we were invited to a Shabbat meal that was being given to provide opportunities for Jewish people to interact with others.
At that meeting we met a Jewish man who came to Christ over 25 years ago and has lived in NYC his entire life. During and after the meal we had a delightful conversation with some brothers and sisters from Holland who had come here to pass out materials to Jewish people. And lastly we sat across the table from a lady who had come here from the United Kingdom about ten years ago, who had a delightful accent. As a matter of fact, every person we spoke with that day had a distinct accent from the culture they had grown up in – Chinese, Russian, Pennslyvania Mennonite, Brooklyn, Dutch, and the King’s English from the United Kingdom. Add to this our Oklahoma accent, that makes seven different ways to converse in the English language.
As Americans, our reputation among the rest of the world is not that good when it comes to learning other people’s languages. We were thankful to those we spoke with who had learned English so we could fellowship with them. But we are just getting started when it comes to people from different languages in New York City. From Wikipedia we learned the following – As many as 800 languages are spoken in New York, making it the most linguistically diverse city in the world.
Daniel in the Bible had a vision. Daniel 7:13-14 I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. 14 And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.
Some day the Scriptures tell us that everyone will acknowledge Christ as Lord. Philippians 2:11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
