CONTACT

Several years ago, there was a movie released called Contact. The story basically went along following a young astronomer who believed deeply in extraterrestrial intelligence. She is present when a signal is beamed to the Earth. At first, they cannot decipher the signal until she realizes that the signal is actually a complex mathematical code that provides a schematic for building a machine to contact this “higher intelligence.” One memorable scene is when she(played by Jodie Foster) explains that math is the ultimate universal language. It transcends all language barriers between alien races, so to speak.

It was a neat movie except for the extremely pervasive slam on belief in God and any and all organized religion.

The reason I’m talking about this movie is because, ironically, I see a parallel between the universal language in this ultimate atheistic fantasy and my own experience in my Christian walk. Here’s is the question, “What is the real universal language?” Will we all speak English in heaven? Will we have little ear pieces that translate for each of us? Will we speak Hebrew? I don’t know, and I’m okay with waiting and finding the answer to this particular mystery. I heard one intriguing theory that music itself will somehow be the universal language. Deep….. a little too deep for me, but a really cool thought nevertheless.

Actually, what the movie and this “universal language” that it made me think of has more to do with the here and now. A couple of examples to illustrate where I’m going with this may be in order. My friends in Ghana who have endangered themselves and deal with a seemingly never ending barrage of stressful experiences for themselves and their children is one example. Another example is the Flemings family in the interior of Mexico who have spent more than thirty years of their lives evangelizing, training converts to Christ, and running an orphanage. There is also the Walkers who arrange for American churches to fund and send people down to Honduras to build churches for communities who otherwise would not be able to do this for themselves. All these examples are a testimony to the language that is, if not universal, certainly global….love. The people of Ghana, Mexico, and Honduras don’t need translation to understand the motivations of these people. It is as easy to read as the rising sun or a storm cloud announcing rain. Love speaks and IS heard!