Rebecca

The benefit of hearing a sermon which is being translated live, is that I get to hear the English version and with a split-second delay hear the Spanish version.  The benefit--I hear the same sermon twice.  Double-edification?  I think so.  Last night our youth & singles group went to a rally, and got to hear a great preacher and--praise God--a great translator.  (This task is not nearly as easy as you would think, it's not as easy as just changing the word.)  So last night, I got to hear Rebecca's Story twice, once in English and again in Spanish.  Here's a summarized English version with a little Carrie-flare to it:

       Imagine that you are at the wedding feast of Christ.  We've all arrived--every person who has ever trusted Christ, from all time, from every place.  Imagine all the sounds and languages.  Languages which have been extinct for hundreds of years, you're understanding languages from all over the world, from all time (Disclaimer: We really don't know what "language" will be spoken in heaven.  Why not be speaking each in our own heart language, with everyone understanding?  It could happen.  Or maybe we won't be bound anymore by languages created as a result of sin on earth!  One could only hope!)  So you're sitting there at the table, and the angels are starting to serve up all the food--think of your favorite meal, multiply the flavors by infinity, and you've got some pretty tasty stuff.  You look down the table and think..."Is that ABRAHAM?  THE Abraham?  I think it is...and he's talking to PAUL.  The apostle."  Then you look across the table from you, and see a girl.  

       "Hi, I'm (insert your name here.)  So...how did you get here?"  

       "Well, I really don't have a great story."

       "Tell me anyway, I'd like to hear it."

       "Well, my parents worked for Caesar..."

       "CAESAR??  As in, you're from the time of the Romans?"

       "Yes, they worked for Caesar.  One day they came back to the house and said they had heard a man named Paul teaching."  (Your eyes wander down the table at the man you recognized as Paul.)  "When they came home from hearing him, they told us everything they had heard.  They had become Christians, and my brother and I did, too.  Things got a lot better after that.  My dad used to beat us when he drank, and things were hard.  But he never beat us after that, and things were good.  Then one morning, the soldiers came to the house and dragged my parents away.   I woke up my brother and said, 'They've taken our parents, we must follow them!'  So we followed them to the Colosseum.  When we got inside, we saw our parents standing in the middle of the stadium, and Caesar told them that if they would deny Christ, then they would live.  They said they would never deny Christ, and Caesar raised his hand, and pointed his thumb down.  Immediately, gates were opened and animals we had never seen before ran towards my parents, and tore them apart.  My brother and I ran back to the house, and tried to hide.  The next day the soldiers returned, and said they knew that we had been at the Colosseum.  They told us the same thing that Caesar had told our parents.  That if we denied Christ, we would live.  My brother and I were both taken to the Colosseum that day.  That's how I got here.

        "What about you?  How did you get here?"  she asked me.

How will you answer Rebecca?