LightGrams
July 6, 2017
Volume 21, Number 23

Every two months I am reminded by email that I’m again eligible to donate blood. There is a constant need for blood for people injured in accidents, undergoing surgery, or afflicted with blood disorders. Since I’m healthy I try to donate regularly.

A call went out three years ago for another kind of donation: Voice donations. Rupal Patel, a speech scientist at Northeastern University in Boston, is working to give a new voice to patients who cannot speak by natural means. Voice synthesizers of the past sound like robots, and they all sound pretty much alike. Patel wants to change that.

Thanks to Patel and others, a 13-year-old girl can now sound like a 13-year-old girl. The impact of having the ability to communicate with a voice that sounds natural is “huge”, according to a March 19, 2014 article in “New Scientist”. One person commented: “I was almost in tears when I first heard it and I can’t express what it means to know that, whatever happens to me, I will be able to communicate with my own voice.”

Also to be thanked are the many who take time to record their voices to be used with this new technology. Imagine lending your voice to someone who cannot speak! (If you’d like to learn more, go to this site.)

God’s call to Moses to go speak to Pharaoh was met with great reluctance. One excuse Moses tried was this: “O my Lord, I am not eloquent … I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” The Lord didn’t dispute Moses’ claim, but provided a solution: “Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and will teach you what you shall say.” He also tabbed Moses’ brother Aaron to go with him: “And he himself shall be as a mouth for you” (Exodus 4:10,12,17).

The sound that came out of Moses’ mouth after that encounter with God sounded the same, but the words were taught by God; in that way, Moses had a new voice. The principle will still work for us today.

Paul stated the idea in these words: “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one” (Colossians 4:6). Our friends and associates should be able to hear the difference in our speech after we are taught by God. Our voices should be more pleasing to their ears, more helpful.

Peter also wrote about the difference Christ should make in our communication: “If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God” (1 Peter 4:10). One who becomes a Christian is now an ambassador for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20). Every word should be carefully chosen. We must now use our “new voices”.

Come to the light God offers! Study His word, the Bible. Worship Him in spirit and truth (John 4:24). Get in touch with us if you’d like to discuss these ideas further.

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Copyright, 2017, Timothy D. Hall. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from the New King James Version (Copyright, 1990, Thomas Nelson, Inc.).

“LightGrams” is produced by the Central Church of Christ, 2722 Oakland Avenue, Johnson City, Tennessee, 37601, and is written by Tim Hall, minister. It is sent free of charge every Thursday to all who request it. To subscribe or to receive more information, write to “[email protected]” (our E-mail address), to the U.S. mail address above, or call (423) 282-1571.

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