It truly is amazing how much one can communicate without the spoken word. Living in a foreign country now for six years, I am able to do the basics, ie. buy food without saying a word. But what about issues of real importance that involve both physical and spiritual understanding. You can communicate emotions such as compassion, sadness, anger, love and caring as well without a word spoken.
But imagine caring for a patient during a cardiac arrest and not being able to order medicines in the proper doses. Or trying to share God’s plan of salvation without words. Understanding in these stituations is critical.
Today I visited the children’s hospital where my wife ministers to young children who are HIV positive. We have been visiting this hospital for the past three years, but today was the first time I was able to converse with the head doctor about medical topics. This was a significant step in my relationship with this doctor which eventually will lead to my personally sharing the Gospel with him.
He already knows we care because he has observed us. Now he knows he can ask me a question and I am able to answer him in his language.
May God continue to enable us to communicate in both verbal and non-verbal ways to the physically dying and spiritually dead, the hope that comes only from understanding who we are and the hope found only in the person of Jesus Christ.
I was so encouraged to hear this medical conversation take place. Even though there was a very able translator right there, she really didn’t need to help very much, if at all. Go, God!