I listened for 20 minutes. I felt like that was a good amount of time to say I had the experience. Most the time, I think I had a talk show of some sort. The people were talking and not playing music; I know that much. I don't know what they were talking about. I did pick up a few words that I knew what they meant in English. Here are some words I picked up: Thank you, American, please, 5, 4, friend (girl), good, yes, no, November (I'm pretty sure). That is not enough to know what the conversation was about. I think they said something about going (vamos). I did not hear taco or quesadilla, but I think I heard nachos. I was listening for those words. I heard the word "correcto" which may mean correct. I checked that out and I was correcto. I also heard the word "punta" which I thought might mean punt. Maybe they were talking about football. I checked it out and it means tip. I was incorrecto.
They did laugh a couple of times. I knew what that was about. A time or two it sounded like they may have been disagreeing. One guy definitely talked faster and I did not get hardly any words from him. They both could really roll their R's. That sounds like it would be fun to do but my tongue seems to be too Americanized.
I did hear a song or two. One song had the word love in it. I recognized that. I also picked out thanks in the song. Then, I heard the word hot. That might have been a really interesting love song I was listening to.
I was listening to the Spanish station near lunch time. So, I decided to stop in at a Mexican restaurant for lunch. That can be kind of adventurous when you are on the road. There was a nice size crowd there which made me feel better. It's been about 3 hours now and I still feel good. Whew!
I almost pulled off to see Bat Cave
103.9- Spanish radio station
This came on after the Spanish station; I understood this
This reminded me that I need to speak very clearly about the Gospel. There is so much misunderstanding about what it means to be saved and right with God. Some people think they can not live up to it. They misunderstand that salvation is by grace through faith. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, " For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." To know that you can't live up to it is a huge step toward being right with God. If you thought you could live up to it you probably would never trust in Christ. I think people believing they are good enough is a huge problem today.
Others think they are to say a prayer and they will be saved. That's kind of true. If the prayer is a prayer of genuine repentance from sin and faith in what Christ has done for you, then yes, you can be saved that way. If the prayer is just a formality to try to keep you out of hell, then I'm afraid that's no good. The Bible says in Acts 20:21, "I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus."
Today was also a reminder to me to make sure I understand words I use. People in church can get used to using words like redeemed, justification, sanctification, saved, salvation, and other such words and not really know what they mean. If you don't, there are many good translations of the Bible and resources like Bible dictionaries to help. Let's be sure to understand and communicate God's word clearly. If you are talking to me, I prefer English.
Glad the abundant life is available in English,
Barry
3 things I thank God for today
1. English translations of the Bible
2. Bible dictionaries
3. Commentaries on the Bible
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