LOST IN TRANSLATION (Matt Mendenhall)

Hey Guys, another great post from Pastor Matt in the Ukraine:

As you know I am receiving some helicopter training in Ukraine.  Ukraine, being a former Soviet bloc country, most everything is in Russian.  It is a very strange feeling to be in a former Soviet flight college that was used by the Soviet military, taught by former Soviet pilots and engineers, and to walk-in and fly a Russian made helicopter.  I mean I grew up watching Rambo take out all the Russians he could with no trouble.  Believe it or not when I went to Army basic combat training in 1993, “Ivan the Russian” was still the name of our simulated enemy when we trained.  All that said, this is a very unique experience. 

I walk around the flight college with an interpreter.  Serge sits next to me in my classes and interprets all that the instructor is telling me.  Most of the manuals have been converted to English, but not all the numbers and mathematical symbols, so I struggle to pick up all that is being taught. 

On Wednesday, I was in a class that was teaching about the interworking of a turbine engine.  This can be pretty complicated in English let alone being translated from Russian.  The instructor began to tell me all about how the oil and its processes as it goes through the engine.  He would say, “The oil starts here and goes there, and goes there, and then goes there, and then goes there”.  You get the point.  Pretty important stuff to know I guess.  The problem was that the Russian word he was using for, “goes”, is “idiota”.  Which sounded a lot like “idiot”?  As you can imagine, my train of thought was a bit off the track when every other word I heard him say was “idiot”.  It sounded like, “blah blah blah blah idiot, blah blah idiot, blah blah idiot, etc…”  I honestly thought, “Could he be calling me an idiot this whole time, and how would I know any different”. 

It really made me think about the entire process here in Ukraine.  My personal goal was now converted from wanting to learn all that I can, to making sure I learn the most important things that will save my life in combat.  I know that from this training much will get “Lost in Translation”, and it is critical for me to learn the essentials to safe flight, and survival of my aircraft and crew.

Our lives can sometimes feel like we are in combat.  We can have pressures and emotions that just feel overwhelming.  I know, I have been there too.  In times past I would reach out to the Lord and felt even more lost.  Sometimes I even felt like I was doing something wrong, or He would fix my mess or my heart.  I would try hard to get to church and figure it all out, but many times things would be “Lost in Translation”.  I would feel like I just didn’t understand the ways of God, or the way to get peace in my heart.  My prayer to the Lord was that He would break down all the barriers that would cause the, “Loss OF Translation”.  That He would show me how to know what was necessary to know to survive, the essentials!  What came to my mind was Mark 10: 30 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength”. 

Honestly in the middle of my, “Combat Zones” I didn’t not know how simply loving God could help.  It did though!  Little by little my love grew, which in turn, deepened my relationship and understanding of Him.  This resulted in battlefield success.  He was just saying, “Love me and I will love you back”.   I can deal with that.  Alright God, I Will Love You, for better or for worse, for richer for poorer, and thank you for loving me back.

In our lives it can be easy to have things get, “Lost in Translation”.  Amidst of all of this God says to just love him as much as you can, and he’ll take care of the rest.

God Bless