Can't I just pray in peace?

The pastor had finished his sermon with a "Let's pray."  I bowed my head and just as he started to pray, someone grabbed my knee.  Not going to lie, I jumped a little.  I looked up to see Queen Emily beckoning me towards her.  She, Amber, and I had to leave church early, and the service was running long than we anticipated.  Instead of staying for our arranged exit time, we snuck out during the prayer.  A spontaneous change in plan that I was not informed of.

Not an hour later, Queen Emily, Amber, and  were in our second church service for the day. We double-dipped on church because our sign choir had been asked to perform at the second service.  Neal said, "Let's pray," I bowed my head, and Amber grabbed my knee.  No praying allowed in church apparently.  Instead, we had to progress on stage like an army preparing for battle. 

The performance went better than expected.  Not flawless but quite well considering the extremely limited amount of time we had to prepare.  After the service, I was mingling and everyone seemed very impressed.

"You were my favorite one up there."  You're biased.
"We always love it when you guys perform."  Thanks, we love it, too.

It was Jennifer's words that stuck with me the most.

"You know, some people just sign with their hands.  But you sign with your whole body.  It's like you're telling a story."  I like to tell stories.

When I joined this choir, I had no knowledge of American Sign Language.  None.  During practice, I would feverishly scribble what the signs looked like to me.  For example, next to Queen Emily's "WHO" I wrote "inhaler."  That's where I got my first sign name, a "K" on the chin, to remind everyone of my silly "WHO = inhaler" moment.  When I started, the signs were just motions to me.

Now, almost four years later, I am conversant in ASL.  The signs have moved on from being motions to being worship.  It means I get to worship with all that I am.  My hands, my body, my face, my heart, my mind, and sometimes even my voice.  I use all that I am to praise God and tell His story.

It's worth all of those hours freshman year trying and trying to figure out what was going on.  Every "WHO = inhaler" moment and the laughter that followed.  Every trip to practice in the icy rain.  Every sore shoulder/wrist from overuse and abuse.  Every moved table and chair to create ample practice space.  It's even worth every interrupted prayer to use all of my being to worship God as I tell His story.

<>< Katie

Hand Talk

I went home for Easter and got my hair cut the first morning I was there. While I was getting used to the new length, I was seeing people who hadn't seen me in four months therefore would not notice my hair. Now that I'm used to it, I'm back with people who see me everyday and notice my hair is different. It's a bit weird.

Yesterday I ate dinner with my deaf friend, Renee. While we were sitting there, my friend Kevin walked by and noticed my new haircut. Unfortunately, Kevin doesn't understand "hand talk" (that's what he calls ASL). Kevin used hand gestures to indicate short hair before adding a thumbs up. Obviously, I'm not deaf, so Kevin could have just quickly voiced that he like my hair cut before moving on, yet he didn't. He was respectful to Renee to communicated the best he could with "hand talk".

Normally when we see things we don't know, we shy away from the situation and are uncomfortable. Kevin could have told me later that he noticed my hair, or he could have ignored me all together. He could have voiced his idea. He had plenty of other options, but he opted to do his best and communicate with me in a way that was fair for me and for Renee.

To borrow Neal's words, "Go do the best you can for Jesus. Even if you have to go slowly. Do it for Him."

<>< Katie