I just bought another New Testament. The interesting thing about this one is that it’s in Hawaii Pidgin, so while it’s semi-readable to English speakers, it’s not written how I would normally talk.
I went to the beginning of Ephesians, one of my favorite books of the Bible. Ephesians 1:1 in Hawaii Pidgin says, “Aloha! Dis letter from me, Paul. You know Jesus Christ, da Spesho Guy God Wen Send. Jesus wen send me all ova fo tell peopo bout him, cuz dass wat God like me fo do. Dis letta fo you guys dat stay Efesus side. You guys da peopo dat stay spesho fo God. Peopo trus you guys, cuz you guys stay tight wit Jesus Christ.” (If you can’t understand it, try reading it out loud. If that doesn’t work, try having a friend read it out loud to you and see if that works any better.)
I really like that last line, about the people in Ephesus staying tight with Jesus. In the NIV it’s translated as being “faithful in Christ Jesus.” But having people trust you because you stay tight with Jesus is a really neat picture that really says the same thing. May that be able to be said of all of us – we are the ones who can be trusted because we stay tight with Jesus.