In 2017, the American Chinese ministry Clay Music visited Japan for the first time, holding worship and praise meetings in six cities. When Amy Sand, the founder of Clay Music, led praise on the stage, she suddenly felt inspired, "Japan is relatively lacking in spiritual resources. It would be great if our songs could be translated into Japanese."
As a non-profit organization to spread the gospel, Clay Music was registered in California in 2004. Famous for its genre of popular music, this Amy Sand’s team has been invited to host more than 400 concerts around the world, with "Open the Darkest Corner" and "One Day" widely sung. Many Christians testified that their hearts were healed by the Lord through the songs of the music ministry.
In the summer of 2021, Amy received a message from a stranger unexpectedly, saying: "Dear Amy, we have translated the hymn "Live Out Love" into Japanese in Japan, hoping to obtain your authorization." There had been much news as such in the past, but it was different this time, which reminded her of the inspiration at the worship and praise meeting in Japan in 2017. Meanwhile, in recent years, Amy has also written down her desire to "translate their hymns into Japanese, Vietnamese and Arabic".
It seemed like a reminder from God, "Aren't you inspired? Then do it."
Just do it! Amy decided to reply to the message through which she got to know the song translator Prof. Wu who majored in Japanese Studies. Prof. Wu had also sung without music a number of hymns created by Clay Music in Japanese on her shows, which made Amy very excited, giving her consent for Prof. Wu to start translating and producing the hymns.
In an interview, Amy claimed that despite the 10-hour time difference with Prof. Wu, she still responded enthusiastically. She was "very proactive, often telling me which hymns had been translated, and singing them to me line by line. Also, she taught our team to sing hymns in Japanese."
Although no one in Clay Music could speak Japanese, after three months of studying, practicing pronunciation and enunciation, the band finally completed the first Japanese hymn album Live Out Love on June 30. A new lead singer who couldn’t speak Japanese debuted in the new album as a bold move of the band. Even though the new member learned the language from scratch, he had the courage to challenge himself.
"God has opened the way", which is the takeaway of Amy Sand from translating and making the Japanese hymn album. "God has given you everything you need. So, everyone just needs to obey... He has begun a good work and accomplished it, which has also touched our hearts."
At the same time, Amy is convinced that what her team did may not have a big impact instantly, but it is a road led by God, like a small but steady stream, which will become smoother as it persists, and sweeter as it is more obedient.
- Translated by Shuya Wang
