Every Book Reference Ever: The We-Wu for August 3-7, 2026

My dentist told me this week to stop grinding my teeth.

1. I mostly do that in my sleep, so that’s not really a conscious option for me.

2. Now all I can think about is my teeth. They are the proverbial elephant in the room. Every time my teeth touch each other, I try to figure out how to prevent it. What do people do when they aren’t thinking about their teeth all the time?!

Anyway.

I forgot to mention in last week’s We-Wu that it was time for our annual Safeguarding training. Or as I like to call it, “How to get really angry at the world in 45 minutes.” See, we watch a video every year (the presentation quality of which is debatable) about how to spot predators, how to not be a predator, and how to grind potential predators into the dust known as the legal system.

All important things to discuss. But I have zero tolerance for people who hurt kids. Or vulnerable adults. I don’t like the reminders of how truly awful some people can be. My dad yells at me when I mention wood chippers, but Jesus was all about the millstones, so I say, use what you have on hand. And Lord knows I have plenty on hand.

Moving on.

I have been in and out of the office this week. I am taking care of two adorable pups, so I have spent some time working from my office, and some time working from the pups’ house. It’s not ideal, as I’m liable to forget things from one computer to the other, but I try to finish a project in one place before going to the other. It works fairly well.

This week was a lot of meetings. We’re incorporating some new elements into VCP, so we have to make sure everything is consistent and do some editing to account for translation. I think that has been one of the most interesting things about this job - you kind of learn as you go just how difficult it is to translate certain things. For example, gerunds are a nightmare. Stick to simple verbs. And people like to put mnemonic devices into training material. But your fancy acronym really only works in English. (I’m reminded of the hoops translators had to jump through in order to make the ‘I am Lord Voldemort/Tom Riddle’ reveal make sense in Harry Potter. You should look it up. It’s fascinating.) Also, some languages take up almost 2x the space of English. Some take about 2/3.

White space is your friend.

Look at my adorable work buddies!

There was a Perspectives group using the training room this week. One of them brought a really cool graphic.

The Joshua Project keeps a list of every unreached people group in every country. This is a visual representation of those people groups.

I’m conflicted about this topic. I do think we should be telling everyone about Jesus. But I don’t think there is something magical about reaching every single people group. I don’t think it should be seen as a countdown, like when we’ve given absolutely everyone a chance to hear about Jesus, then he comes back.

Frank Peretti wrote a series of children’s books that a I read back in the day. One of them, “The Secret of the Desert Stone,” always stuck with me. In it, a family encounters a tribe that is literally and supernaturally walled off from the rest of society. They had encountered ‘the man in the tree’ through dreams and natural signs, but they didn’t know his name. The family helps a missionary get to them to tell them about Jesus. It’s a cool story.

But I don’t know if it’s absolutely necessary for the people to know the name Jesus. I think it’s entirely possible for people to see evidence of God in nature and worship Him. Maybe that’s heretical. I’m reminded of another book, supposedly for children, by C.S. Lewis. At the end of “The Last Battle,” the Pevensies encounter a Calormene soldier who has served the god Tash diligently throughout his life. Aslan tells him that because he had always been truthful and honorable, things Tash abhors, who he actually served was Aslan. This always struck me as a little syncretistic, which I don’t adhere to. I don’t think that pure devotion to a deity is a substitute for worship of the one true God.

God knows the heart. He knows who truly believes. He knows who is searching for Truth, whether they know His name or not.

Again, I’m reminded of a book. This one, I did not read, but I’ve heard this little vignette quite often. It’s from “Annie Dillard: Eskimo.”

An Eskimo asks a priest, “If I did not know about God and sin, would I go to hell?”
The priest replies, “No, not if you did not know.”
The Eskimo then asks, “Then why did you tell me?”

It sounds very condemnatory. Damning, in fact. Why would we tell people about Jesus if they didn’t know, and in their ignorance, couldn’t reject him?!

The answer is that they do know. They know sin exists. I think people can spend their entire lives knowing that there is a “God-shaped vacuum” as Blaise Pascal put it, and they pursue everything under the sun trying to fill it.

Can Jesus intervene personally in every life and give them the choice to follow Him? Yeah, duh, obviously. He’s God. And I think He does do that for some people.

But He also told us to be His witnesses.

To the ends of the earth.

And He didn’t give us a stopping point.

So that’s what I’m going to do. That’s what I’m doing. And I hope you enjoy being along for the ride.

I think that’s all I have to say this week. I’m going to go snuggle dogs, now.

Bye!