You've heard people ask, "What would you do if you had a million dollars?" Us missionaries apparently have our own "all too true" version of that question. Last week at a fiesta dinner for Ben Mikesell's thirty-second birthday someone posed the question, "If you had $32, what would you buy Ben for his birthday?"
One thoughtfully suggested he'd mail-order a Russian bride. (I wondered if that would cover the cost of shipping.) I imagined the book, Calvinism for Dummies. Ben actually seemed interested. Some said, "Forget Ben...I'd buy myself groceries" or "I'd buy some gas to drive back home."
Monday, June 2, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
I am graduating!
Dear friends,
Graduation announcement
I am happy to announce that I will be flying to Philadelphia to graduate on Thursday, May 22 from Westminster Theological Seminary with a Master of Arts in Religion (General Studies). Commencement details are online: http://www.wts.edu/stayinformed/view.html?id=79 . Many of you know that I have been taking seminary classes part-time in Dallas since the summer of '99. It's hard to believe I've been a graduate student for nine years! "So, what's next?" My seminary education fits well with my current "career track" of assisting others with Bible translation efforts, even by software development. I don't have any major changes planned for the near future, but I am now at a point where I can consider furthering my education in linguistics in hopes to be of greater assistance. Stay tuned and in prayer!
Tool promises to yield more natural sounding Bible translations
This year I helped to implement a promising new discourse charting tool for translators. "The discourse charting tool will have a massive impact on the way we analyze texts. It's easy to use and it quickly shows us what we need to see. It will give us greater access to understanding what constitutes naturalness in a given language and that knowledge will have direct benefits in the smoothness and naturalness of our Bible translations." -- Danny Foster, Uganda-Tanzania Branch Training Coordinator (http://www.thetask.net)
New partners in Bible translation
Since the beginning of the year, I've been blessed to receive six new partners who are coming alongside me. In addition to the new partners, I've received a number of one-time gifts. Both are an encouragement as I continue to pray for God to provide the remaining $1000/mo for my monthly support quota so I may devote full time to writing software that assists Bible translation projects worldwide. The software I help develop is already making impact around the world, but there's still plenty of work to be done! Would you join with us in our hope to see the Bible written for millions of people that need it? http://www.wycliffe.org/Donate/MissionaryMinistries.aspx
Yours in His faithfulness,
Eric D. Pyle
ps. Did you know? Shopping at Kroger can help train future Wycliffe missionaries in linguistics! Follow the link below and print off the bar code for the Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics so it may be scanned and registered with your Kroger Plus card: http://www.krogerneighbortoneighbor.com/pdf/10000080506.pdf (Only valid for stores in Texas and Louisiana.)
Webpage: http://www.opcNorman.org/Wycliffe/EricPyle/
Personal Address: 1520 Bradford St, Irving, TX 75061 (469-222-2865)
Wycliffe Bible Translators: P.O. Box 628200, Orlando, Florida 32862-8200
Graduation announcement
I am happy to announce that I will be flying to Philadelphia to graduate on Thursday, May 22 from Westminster Theological Seminary with a Master of Arts in Religion (General Studies). Commencement details are online: http://www.wts.edu/stayinformed/view.html?id=79 . Many of you know that I have been taking seminary classes part-time in Dallas since the summer of '99. It's hard to believe I've been a graduate student for nine years! "So, what's next?" My seminary education fits well with my current "career track" of assisting others with Bible translation efforts, even by software development. I don't have any major changes planned for the near future, but I am now at a point where I can consider furthering my education in linguistics in hopes to be of greater assistance. Stay tuned and in prayer!
Tool promises to yield more natural sounding Bible translations
This year I helped to implement a promising new discourse charting tool for translators. "The discourse charting tool will have a massive impact on the way we analyze texts. It's easy to use and it quickly shows us what we need to see. It will give us greater access to understanding what constitutes naturalness in a given language and that knowledge will have direct benefits in the smoothness and naturalness of our Bible translations." -- Danny Foster, Uganda-Tanzania Branch Training Coordinator (http://www.thetask.net)
New partners in Bible translation
Since the beginning of the year, I've been blessed to receive six new partners who are coming alongside me. In addition to the new partners, I've received a number of one-time gifts. Both are an encouragement as I continue to pray for God to provide the remaining $1000/mo for my monthly support quota so I may devote full time to writing software that assists Bible translation projects worldwide. The software I help develop is already making impact around the world, but there's still plenty of work to be done! Would you join with us in our hope to see the Bible written for millions of people that need it? http://www.wycliffe.org/Donate/MissionaryMinistries.aspx
Yours in His faithfulness,
Eric D. Pyle
ps. Did you know? Shopping at Kroger can help train future Wycliffe missionaries in linguistics! Follow the link below and print off the bar code for the Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics so it may be scanned and registered with your Kroger Plus card: http://www.krogerneighbortoneighbor.com/pdf/10000080506.pdf (Only valid for stores in Texas and Louisiana.)
Webpage: http://www.opcNorman.org/Wycliffe/EricPyle/
Personal Address: 1520 Bradford St, Irving, TX 75061 (469-222-2865)
Wycliffe Bible Translators: P.O. Box 628200, Orlando, Florida 32862-8200
Thursday, February 28, 2008
The Sabbath was made for Man (Isaiah 56)
Yahweh promises blessing to the man who keeps justice and does righteousness. Here, as in Mark 8:1-6, keeping justice and doing righteousness takes a surprising Sabbath-keeping shape. It shouldn't have been all that surprising. Deut 5:12-15 prescribes the Sabbath as being also for the foreigners among Israel. The shalom of the land was to be a catholic experience. Remembering the Sabbath meant rehearsing Israel's own outcast identity, and God's redemptive exodus activity: "you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm." So, the primary public holiness sign for God's elect priesthood for the nations leaves the transgression of partiality without excuse.
When the Pharisees read Isaiah's, "blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil," they saw this as a divine right to cross their hands against anyone not sitting on their hands, especially when it came to touching someone with an unclean hand. The holiness laws maintaining ceremonial cleanness were read to promote partiality on a liberal basis, a virtue of zealousness for Yahweh.
Both Isaiah and Jesus overturn the table-manners of that brand of Sabbath keeping, especially on the dawn of the new creation. Keeping one's hand from doing just acts of covenant mercy effectively breaks the Spirit of "keeping his hand from doing any evil"...this partiality and mercy-forgetting has ironic murderous (not to mention Sabbath-breaking) consequences for Israel. Thus not only would the hard-heartedness of authorities lead to the oversighted death of just, covenantally-merciful men (Is 57:1), in the fullness of time, it would lead to the Pharisees' purposeful plot to kill God's son, Jesus, Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 3:6, cf. James 2:1-12). (The Apostle Paul, in Romans 2, makes much the same argument with respect to what it means to be truly circumcised in the new creation: law-keeping was intended from the beginning to take a catholic-circumcision shape, signalling God's future inclusion of Gentiles via the fulfillment of the Abrahamic promise in Christ. To zealously apply 'circumcision' in ignorance of the universal communal implications of the promise of Christ to address the universal problem of sin was to effectively render oneself uncircumsized. Rom 2.23-29)
In contrast to their elitist table manners, Yahweh promises a special place in his house and sets his Sabbath-feast table for the outcasts (vss 3-7). He demands a liberal application of full acceptance to all Sabbath-keepers, those tempted to feel the inevitability of a loss of covenant communion, especially in the face of an overwhelming deluge of wrath to come. Isaiah exhorts Israel to speak Yahweh's justice for outcasts in Israel, comforting such ones that Yahweh will provide room in His house for covenant-keeping foreigners and eunuchs. To those who were considered (even to themselves) to be less than human, fated to be cut off from among his people, to them Yahweh promises "blessed is the man." (cf. Matthew 5:3ff).
In stubborn ignorance to such a suprising vision of welcome and impending wrath, Israel's leaders had prepared their own table to celebrate a counterfeit Sabbath feast (vss 56.10-12). They counterfeit Sabbath rest with their "love of slumber." Their love of wine likewise counterfeits the Sabbath sign of the enjoyment of the completion of havest labors from a blessed land. Their laborless loss of distinction between today and tomorrow profanes the holiness of the Sabbath, separated from the other six days, which signified that the eternal Sabbath rest was yet to come for God's people.
In effort to preserve their own names and territories, the leaders of Israel, appointed as shepherds, rendered themselves to be less than human. Isaiah likens them to barkless dogs, blind to the coming judgment upon the land because of their Sabbath-breaking injustices and foolishness. Israel, who had been called to be the "blessed man," God's image, ruling over and on behalf of the nations is going to be given over to the ravaging of power-hungry nations, whom they now resemble; their countfeit Sabbath feast only renders them fit food for the beasts (vs. 9).
When the Pharisees read Isaiah's, "blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil," they saw this as a divine right to cross their hands against anyone not sitting on their hands, especially when it came to touching someone with an unclean hand. The holiness laws maintaining ceremonial cleanness were read to promote partiality on a liberal basis, a virtue of zealousness for Yahweh.
Both Isaiah and Jesus overturn the table-manners of that brand of Sabbath keeping, especially on the dawn of the new creation. Keeping one's hand from doing just acts of covenant mercy effectively breaks the Spirit of "keeping his hand from doing any evil"...this partiality and mercy-forgetting has ironic murderous (not to mention Sabbath-breaking) consequences for Israel. Thus not only would the hard-heartedness of authorities lead to the oversighted death of just, covenantally-merciful men (Is 57:1), in the fullness of time, it would lead to the Pharisees' purposeful plot to kill God's son, Jesus, Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 3:6, cf. James 2:1-12). (The Apostle Paul, in Romans 2, makes much the same argument with respect to what it means to be truly circumcised in the new creation: law-keeping was intended from the beginning to take a catholic-circumcision shape, signalling God's future inclusion of Gentiles via the fulfillment of the Abrahamic promise in Christ. To zealously apply 'circumcision' in ignorance of the universal communal implications of the promise of Christ to address the universal problem of sin was to effectively render oneself uncircumsized. Rom 2.23-29)
In contrast to their elitist table manners, Yahweh promises a special place in his house and sets his Sabbath-feast table for the outcasts (vss 3-7). He demands a liberal application of full acceptance to all Sabbath-keepers, those tempted to feel the inevitability of a loss of covenant communion, especially in the face of an overwhelming deluge of wrath to come. Isaiah exhorts Israel to speak Yahweh's justice for outcasts in Israel, comforting such ones that Yahweh will provide room in His house for covenant-keeping foreigners and eunuchs. To those who were considered (even to themselves) to be less than human, fated to be cut off from among his people, to them Yahweh promises "blessed is the man." (cf. Matthew 5:3ff).
In stubborn ignorance to such a suprising vision of welcome and impending wrath, Israel's leaders had prepared their own table to celebrate a counterfeit Sabbath feast (vss 56.10-12). They counterfeit Sabbath rest with their "love of slumber." Their love of wine likewise counterfeits the Sabbath sign of the enjoyment of the completion of havest labors from a blessed land. Their laborless loss of distinction between today and tomorrow profanes the holiness of the Sabbath, separated from the other six days, which signified that the eternal Sabbath rest was yet to come for God's people.
In effort to preserve their own names and territories, the leaders of Israel, appointed as shepherds, rendered themselves to be less than human. Isaiah likens them to barkless dogs, blind to the coming judgment upon the land because of their Sabbath-breaking injustices and foolishness. Israel, who had been called to be the "blessed man," God's image, ruling over and on behalf of the nations is going to be given over to the ravaging of power-hungry nations, whom they now resemble; their countfeit Sabbath feast only renders them fit food for the beasts (vs. 9).
one corinthians thirteen
though i must suffer, i believe
though it will hurt, i hope
Love, though it kills you
though it will hurt, i hope
Love, though it kills you
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
2007 Annual Report
Dear friends,
Thank you for all your prayers and support in 2007! My Annual Report for 2007 is now ready for your review. Please take a moment to read how God has used your help last year and how He is calling me to further serve churches this coming year and depend upon His help.
http://www.opcnorman.org/Wycliffe/EricPyle/newsletters/heart_lang_exp_feb08.pdf
(also downloadable from my webpage)
http://www.opcnorman.org/Wycliffe/EricPyle/#Communications
Thank you for all your prayers and support in 2007! My Annual Report for 2007 is now ready for your review. Please take a moment to read how God has used your help last year and how He is calling me to further serve churches this coming year and depend upon His help.
http://www.opcnorman.org/Wycliffe/EricPyle/newsletters/heart_lang_exp_feb08.pdf
(also downloadable from my webpage)
http://www.opcnorman.org/Wycliffe/EricPyle/#Communications
- Fieldworks 5.0 has been released!
- Appreciation from our President
- Pledges met for 2007
- Important partnership needs for 2008
- Plans and prayer requests
Yours in His Kingdom,
Eric D. Pyle
ps. If you're interested in more frequent casual interaction, I'd love to have you as a friend on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/people/Eric_Pyle/730925814
Webpage : http://www.opcNorman.org/Wycliffe/EricPyle/
Personal Address : 1520 Bradford St, Irving, TX 75061 (469-222-2865)
Wycliffe Bible Translators : P.O. Box 628200, Orlando, Florida 32862-8200
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
purple hearts
Cupid points, arrows spent
men pour lemminglike o'er the cliff as a waterfall
whilst Ivory Towers peer over gates shut
like a babe refusing bottled milk.
Adam slept. Jesus wept. We must step
headlong dashed upon the Rock.
Rib breaks. Spirit spake. Last Adam wakes.
Thus, we all shall new flesh take.
men pour lemminglike o'er the cliff as a waterfall
whilst Ivory Towers peer over gates shut
like a babe refusing bottled milk.
Adam slept. Jesus wept. We must step
headlong dashed upon the Rock.
Rib breaks. Spirit spake. Last Adam wakes.
Thus, we all shall new flesh take.
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Sooner omnipresence
As I look forward to the Sooners beating Missouri tonight for the Big 12 Championship, I realize this season has been different from all other seasons for me as a fan. I've typically only watched OU games in the past, but this year, due to the ranking system, I've realized that the Sooners have been playing "in spirit" in every game, even when/where they are not taking the field. As a result, I've watched many more college games this year, routing for "our" team, in matches like Texas A&M vs Texas, and Kansas vs. LSU.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)