On any given day, I can walk down the street and hear as many as 10 different languages and many more dialects. It's completely mind-boggling how many languages are around me and how often local people can't effectively communicate with local people. I can travel 20 minutes by foot, and encounter villages with different mother-tongues. Language and communication takes on a whole new meaning for me here.Here's something really crazy from this perspective. I just started reading a book called Saint's Everlasting Rest, by Richard Baxter. This guy was born almost 400 years ago in England. What's amazing is that I am able to easily understand over 99% of what he wrote 350 years ago. His heart language is very similar to mine, with minor exceptions. (Like 'apprehension' to him means what 'comprehension' means to me.) Sure he writes a lot differently than American novelists today. I might not be able to speak like he did, but if we spoke to each other, I'm pretty sure we'd communicate relatively well. At least the written form is similar enough to convince me of this.
400 years of history and the Atlantic Ocean separate our homelands, but our mother tongues are quite similar. When compared to the region I now find myself in, this is truly crazy. (Maybe Baxter wouldn't understand if I said, "Dude, this is totally whack! I mean, wicked beyond crazy!")
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I highly recommend this book, by the way. I think it will change your life. This guy knew the Bible inside and out, and he had an intimacy with Christ that should spur you on to deepening your own relationship with Him. Heck, even if you're not a Christian, you should read this book. You can get to know a genuine believer who lived a long time ago. See the world through his eyes, eloquently represented.
