There are a number of things that I have had to do to get ready for this ministry of Bible translation.  I have had to learn how to produce a sound that is made by passing voiced air over your uvula and making it shake as opposed to passing voiced air close to it and holding it still, because those two sounds might mean something different in some language.  And today I am listening to a Paul Harvey broadcast again and again and again to mark the pitch, rhythm, intonation, and emphasis of how he speaks so that I can learn to do the same thing for a language that I don't know yet.  It's important to remember as I listen to Paul Harvey for the 20th time, or spit all over the place trying to make the right sound, that there is a purpose to all of this.  Somewhere there is a people group who I get to help produce a Bible in their language.  And to help them get it, it needs to sound like the way they would use their language (both sounds, and intonation, pitch, emphasis, etc).  God is using these academic drills for his glory. 

The other thing I have learned is that even though languages were confused and scattered at the tower of Babel, there is still so much order and structure to them, evidence of a Creator who created all of them.  I'm amazed at the sounds that people use to communicate, but God hears them, knows them all, and speaks them all.  We get to be His instrument in giving the Word of God to people who don't yet have it.  What an amazing opportunity.

Peace, Rich