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ORIGINAL: cinwood

I wanted to share about how God sees the bigger picture and knows what lies ahead. Sorry if it's too long...

I always thot that sign language (for the deaf) was a beautiful interpretation of verbal communication. I finally had an opportunity, about 8 years ago, to take a few community classes and I learned enough to converse. I didn't have many opportunities to use it, but it was cool to know how.

About 5 years ago, I was driving home from work, much later than usual, and came up on a wreck that had just occurred. A lady had pulled out in front of a man and been hit broadside in the driver's door. I have CPR and first aid training, so I stopped. The lady was unconscious and a man at the scene said she had no pulse. He and a nurse who had stopped were going to try CPR. In the meantime, I walked toward the other wrecked vehicle and asked where that driver was. People started pointing to a man who was standing in the road, holding his arm, obviously injured. I asked him if he was okay, and he pointed to his ear and indicated that he was deaf. I gave the sign for "deaf" and he lit up and began signing to me. I was able to get his version of what happened for the police, witnesses names for him and I rode in the ambulance with him to the hospital, finding out what medications he was taking and that he was allergic to penicillin and got his next of kin's name and phone number for emergency personnel.

As I thought about it later, I realized with greater clarity how we never arrive anywhere we go by accident, but by divine appointment. If I never get to use my sign language skills again, it was worth all the work and practice just for that one moment in my life. It also shows that even a puny effort like mine to learn another language can be used by God to help someone at a critical time in their life.