Taking Greek ...

I have just finished the second of three semesters of Greek I need to take for this degree I am pursuing. After I finish Greek, it's on to Hebrew. It is a lot more difficult than I expected - the pace is extremely fast, and the amount of memorization can seem overwhelming at times. Yet, I am now able to begin to piece together the NT text in the Greek ... and it is quite rewarding! No longer must I depend solely on someone else's translation work, though I am certainly not as skilled as they are in the art of translation. I can now use some of the tools I have (like the Expositor's Commentary) to a fuller degree. At the same time, I realize that although it is really cool to be able to read Greek, most of the people I minister to will get little out of the Greek I might use in a class... the analogy I heard that sticks with me is that learning Greek and Hebrew is akin to the pots and pans a chef uses to prepare a meal: they are absolutely critical to a well-cooked meal, but they are rarely seen by the guests. It's a lot of work to put into something that may not be appreciated by others often, but I pray that it makes me a more effective communicator ...