Lost in Translation by Susan L.

  My Bible study handouts have two different translations of God's word for us to read. The New King James version and the New Living Translation. The NLT has done away with the capitals denoting Christ or God, "he" has replaced "He". That's something I struggle with and was shared in a post a while ago. The NLT uses plain language but I feel, personally, in being simplified it has lost some of the poetry of the NKJV. (It is a gift that we have access to different translations when many Christians are persecuted for having even one Bible.)
  We are studying Acts. In chapter 17:28, NLT scripture reads "For in him we live and move and exist". The NKJV is written, "For in Him we live and move and have our being."
  When I read the two versions yesterday, I was swept up in the idea of being in the Lord. To be is a fluid, living thing of beauty. To be is to breathe and think and weep and laugh...to love. To be is to learn, make mistakes and grow as a person. To have our being: our heart, mind and soul nestled snugly and safely in the palm of God's hand is to live in unimaginable richness. To have our being in Him is to know there is a future on earth and an eternal one in Heaven. To have our being is to cherish all that makes us human, our weaknesses, our idiosyncrasies and yes, our sinful nature.
  Celebrate sin? What? If there was no evil in this world, we would not know good. If we didn't slip and fall, we wouldn't know forgiveness or God's amazing grace. If we didn't have struggles, we wouldn't know victory. Ignorance comes before wisdom although I confess the same mistakes have to made a few times before I clue in. To have our being is to be able to laugh at ourselves.
  I am not condoning the acceptance of sin or sinful things or the terrible hurt we do to each other but because of those things I have become an advocate and a peer support worker. I have my being, being there for others and speaking up for those who have lost their voice. I found my own voice through the loving patience of my Creator and the work Jesus did on the Cross for us. How humbling. He is the Author of our salvation and His ink was blood.
  Stones exist. They are there, they take up space, you can stub your toe against them. We are so much more than stones. We are human beings.
  "For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man." Eph 3:14-17