He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only
but also for the sins of the whole world.
1 John 2:2
(Christ Crucified, VELÁZQUEZ, DIEGO RODRÍGUEZ DE SILVA Y/ 1632/ Museo Del Prado)
There is an Evangelical Hispanic Chruch that I pass by on almost a daily basis.
There has been a sign in front of the church with the same lettering, sentence, for the better
part of a year.
Now you should know, I love church signs—
they are the quick little lessons I glean during my travels.
Some or cute.
Some are funny.
Some are thought-provoking.
And it matters not the denomination or size of the church—
for God has certainly spoken to me over the years via the signs I’ve passed.
I have found that church signs tend to be found in smaller towns or more rural areas.
Growing up in Atlanta, the churches didn’t really have signs that made statements
or offered tidbits of wisdom…they were more or less signs with simply the name
of the church.
So the signs in these smaller towns and more rural areas really speak in greater ways
than what their congregations may even realize.
The sentence that I’ve passed by now for so very long reads:
mi vida di por ti
So with my limited understanding of foreign languages, I was pretty certain I
was reading it, every day to and fro, with the correct meaning.
I had known enough ‘spanglish’ to get by with my students when I was still teaching,
so I figured I had this.
But those of you who know me or read this site know that I struggle enough with my own
native tongue—throw in another tongue and there’s no telling how that will go.
And to think, I had had French in school from the 4th grade all the way to my sophomore year
in high school–
Yet I think I’m still good with merely ‘Je ne sais pas’—as in ‘I don’t know’–
as in, I really don’t know.
So while driving past this sign, with my infinite wisdom intact, I deduced that ‘por ti’ must mean
door, as in portal.
So I was convinced that the sign read, ‘I am the door’.
Made sense to me.
Yet given my lack of depth with language, I knew it was best to doubt myself.
So I made a mental note to look it up when I got home.
And to say that I was wrong is an understatement.
‘Mi vida di por ti’ translates to ‘I gave my life for you’
Now a well understood and powerful daily reminder that puts a smile on my face each day
I pass this church…
No wonder they’ve left it up so long as that pretty much says it all…
“A dead Christ I must do everything for;
a living Christ does everything for me.”
Andrew Murray, Jesus Himself
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