There is more than one way to
cross a river.
Now is one of those times that I need to take a strategic look at the World English Bible project, and really seek the Lord concerning the finishing of the translation. This project was begun by the direction and power of the Holy Spirit, and it must be finished the same way. This project began in a Volkswagen Rabbit in March 1994. (See http://ebible.org/webhistory.htm for some background information.) The World English Bible has always been a part-time project, subservient to a full-time job, for me. It still is. It is the same for the many people who have contributed to the project. (There are so many that I gave up trying to keep track shortly after losing many of their names and email addresses in a disk crash. I also vowed to do a better job of backing up important data after that.) I’m hoping that either that will change, and the Lord will provide some dedicated time for me to work on that project exclusively, or that He will show us how to accelerate the process as a part-time work.
The most recent update of the official distribution copy of the World English Bible at http://eBible.org/web/ and http://WorldEnglishBible.org is still 19 August 2008. The books that still need work are indicated with *2* or *3* at http://ebible.org/web/web.htm. The project is still active, but there are some serious challenges. At this point, my #1 need for help is in prayer: faith-filled prayer of agreement. A couple of times in the past, things looked grim for the timely completion of the World English Bible. Both of those times, the Lord showed me some clever ways of moving forward at a faster pace. This is now one of those times. I feel the need for another boost from the Holy Spirit. I also believe that your prayer support will make a big difference. Here are some specific prayer requests:
- I need to find more time to regularly work on the World English Bible translation. This has been hard for me, lately, because of the demands of my main job (which is also supporting Bible translation, but for minority languages, and in ways that really don’t overlap at all with the World English Bible work. I also live in a place that lacks many (most) of the time-saving conveniences that I would like to be accustomed to, again, such as automatic dishwashers and pizza that doesn’t involve starting from scratch with flour, oil, yeast, etc. On top of that, much of my time has been consumed (and will be, for a while) with complicated legal and social issues pertaining to adopting a Filipino girl as U. S. Citizens while living in Papua New Guinea. Either that, or I need a release from the Lord to release control of the project to someone else, but so far, I haven’t gotten that except in one case, and then only for a short time and for certain books, and then only until the person stopped work and moved on to another project. Please pray for me for wisdom in time management and for Rachel’s adoption, visa, and citizenship issues to be resolved quickly, with little more effort on my part.
- Please pray for a new volunteer, David, who will be continuing the work of recording a Public Domain audio version of the World English Bible for posting at http://eBible.org/webaudio/ and other places. Please pray that he would find joy in the work, do an excellent job that pleases the Lord, and that the recordings would bear much fruit for the Kingdom of God.
- It has been on my heart for some time to shift the software infrastructure for the World English Bible translation process to be compatible with the formats used for minority-language Bible translations all over the world. I want to be able to use the same software I use to facilitate the translation and publication of the World English Bible to also help with Scriptures in many other languages. (I live in a nation with over 800 languages spoken, so this is a rather important project to me.) The conversion process has begun. Please pray for wisdom and understanding for me in the software and data conversion and development process.
- Please pray for provision for the printing of the whole World English Bible, for continuation of the high-volume web site for text and audio distribution of the Holy Bible, and for abundant provision for my family. (We live on donations. See http://kahunapule.org for more about that.)
Thank you. May God bless you.
Michael
http://kahunapule.org