Maranatha (either מרנא תא: maranâ thâ' or מרן אתא: maran 'athâ' ) is a two-word Aramaic formula occurring only once in the New Testament (see Aramaic of Jesus) and also in the Didache, which is part of the Apostolic Fathers' collection. It is transliterated into Greek letters rather than translated and, given the nature of early manuscripts, the lexical difficulty lies in determining just which two Aramaic words comprise the single Greek expression, found at the end of Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians (1Cor 16:22 ).
Last night I was walking to the post office to replace yet another copy of the TNT news report on the most recent Tulelake city council meeting on January 21st, 2014 that took place. I was walking down Fourth Street in the direction of the post office. When I heard singing coming for the Assembly of God Church on “D” Street.
My Mom and I used to go there when we first lived in Newell in 2002-04 and then after we moved to “B” Street in Tulelake until 2005. We went there when Miki and Carolyn Henderson were there as the pastor and his wife. Mom and I went to services in that church for many years. And they just loved my Mom. They always referred to her as a “sweet heart”.
I decided to check it out. So I went inside to discover they were having a Hispanic service. I went to the back of the pews in the last row and just stood there and listened as they were praising the Lord. Then a gentleman in the rear of the church acknowledged my presence. His English was lacking the same why my Spanish is. He did not speak English very well but I believed he understood what I was saying. In turn, I some what understood what he was saying.
There were a few children running in and out of the nursery. I decided after a while standing there to take a seat in the last pew. I checked out the Bible in the book holder on the back of the pew. It was only in Spanish. So I was out of luck of seeing any English written Bible.
There was one little girl that came up to me to check me out. I introduced myself to her and asked what her name was? At this moment I do not recall the name she gave me. I believe she was the daughter of the gentlemen I had just met. As she was going back and forth between the gentlemen and me before I took a seat in the last pew in the AG Church.
Over the years I had been in that church many times and as well as attended many services there. In fact, the first time my Mom and I went there, there were a group of people out in Newell handing out flyers about an upcoming youth event taking place at the AG church back in 2002 that led my Mom and I to go the first time to the AG church.
During this service there was an older Hispanic elderly woman that had recognized me. I believe she knew who I was and that my Mom and I had attended the AG Church before. As I believe she was a member too during the time my Mom attended the AG Church when Miki and Carolyn were there. When Carolyn’s brother and his wife were there too during those times. After the service on Sunday’s we would break bread in the dinning room area of the church.
As I was getting ready to leave because as I did not have the time to stay for their Wednesday service with no way of having an English bible to follow long with. But, when I was teaching ESL in Seoul, South Korea back in 1995. I would attend a large Presbyterian church where they had programs listing what the service was about in both Koran and English. I would follow along with my bible in English. I may not have understood the Koran that was being preached. But it is the same GOD, different language that’s all.
Well that is how I saw it last night too, except there was no English bible for me to look at and there was no program to follow along either. But they were not expecting any English speaking, non-Hispanic speaker to show up out of the blue. I felt I was led to stop by there when I did for His Will and His purpose.
As I was getting up to leave a young lady approached me and introduce herself and we chatted for a moment, then I shared with her the word “Maranatha”. Whereby she mentioned she had never heard that word before and had no idea what it meant. I then went on to explain it to her. Where I mentioned it is only mentioned once in the "Word of God" as either "Marnatha" or the "Lord Come" as mentioned and explained above.
I gave her the scripture where she could look it up for herself. She mentioned to me that they had just most recently started their church. And I explained my history of the church as before mentioned about in the history of my Mom and I in the AG church years ago. It still looks almost like it did when my Mom and I went there years ago
I gave her my phone number and email address and mentioned for her to give me a call later and we could discuss about setting it up where I could do and interview and take pictures and write an article about their new church. And she said she would call me later, and she did.
When she called me we talked about how she and I both felt how I was led there. She even mentioned that all during the service after I left that I was on her mind. She had the feeling of the Holy Spirit overwhelming her with the thoughts that I was led there. As I had felt the same as she did about the whole encounter. During our conversation we discussed how in the future we would set it up so I could write an article for them about their new church on the TNT Blog
It was a very warm feeling for both of us as the Lord works in mysterious ways, does he not? Indeed He does when we are being led by Him and not our own ambitions, but His will and His purpose for our lives, even though we all know we are given Free Will. But sometimes it is best to let the Lord lead us, as He will never fail us, if we do. And that is how it has been all of my life as far back as I can remember.
So stay tuned for the article on the new AG Church in Tulelake, that soon will be on TNT. The Lord willing and His will and at his timing, not mine.
Maranatha! 1 Cor 16:22
God Bless!
BTW: She has a very unique name I am just bad with names and I forgot to write it down.
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