I think we’d all agree that English is a funny language. Every region of the country has its own idioms, its own phrases, that make sense to us but sound ridiculous to people from other countries. In English, we have phrases like “a dime a dozen” to refer to something that is common. Or “too big for his britches” doesn’t speak at all to the size of one’s jeans. Rather it refers to someone who is over-confident or full of self-importance. Or if something is not complicated, we say, “It’s not rocket science!”  Every language has its own idioms that make perfect sense to its own people.

There are two particular idioms, one from China and one from Spain, that apply to our scripture lesson for today. There is an idiom in Chinese which is translated, “A crane among a flock of chickens.” It refe…