If I was asked to teach math to a first grader, my knees would start trembling and sweat would pour from my forehead. I am that bad at math. If my phone had no calculator, I would invest in one of those Marty McFly wrist watches. Even the simplest calculations become stressful as digits make their way through my brain waves. Now, imagine being asked to jump in and teach math to a classroom full of deaf students. I would melt.
Last week I watched as people just like me, who aren’t mathematicians and don’t know sign language, did the unthinkable. They grabbed ahold of identities they have never been before and became them, because that’s what the job was. It can be very difficult to serve a community of deaf childrena in Eden, Jamaica when you cannot communicate with them. This team did it with ease.
I am constantly amazed at how God can transcend the limits that we put on ourselves. I can get so caught up in defining what I am not, that I forget to ask myself what I can be.
My favorite people are “YES” people. Those people who go against all that seems normal, and answer YES to just about any invitation. YES is their first answer. It’s their priority. I am always being challenged to make YES a priority. It’s a fight. It’s abnormal. But I think it can be a powerful way of living. Making YES a priority pushes me to do things that take me away from being comfortable, and make me see life through a different lens.
Last week I watched my team in Jamaica say YES to things that were obviously different for them. They came out of those situations feeling fulfilled, and feeling like they could do more things for other people that would normally be out of the question.
I am taking a lesson from that team today. I believe that God can take those YES statements and turn them into a positive way of living. And I want a front row seat. Next time I’m asked to teach math to deaf children, my answer will be YES.
