fleeting moments, eternal weight

I love living in community with so many Deaf brothers and sisters from Africa & Asia. This morning, I looked out my kitchen window to see our Deaf guard standing in the patch of sunlight peeking over the office building. He was looking down in contemplation and was stepping back and forth with a slow rhythym. I couldn't help but smile as his solo, quiet dance to an internal music only he could hear. But then, he looked up, lifted his hands, and started signing in spontaneous worship, his feet keeping time! My heart burst with praise. How beautiful and inspiring it is to see my Deaf family members pouring out their hearts to our King. This is the whole reason we are here... that more and more of these precious ones might know, love, and worship HIM!

not exactly "Bible Trivia"

Creating a VISUAL Bible through a visual language and including hand-drawn pictures is inherent with it's own unique challenges! There are many things in the Bible we can read without putting much thought into what it looked like, but for a Sign Language Bible, that is not an option! Here's a taste of the questions I get asked during an average workday here at DOOR...

What was the Ark of the Covenant made of?
What were the items kept in the Ark of the Covenant?
How do you draw Leah with weak eyes?
How do you draw the concept of forgiveness?
What did Miriam's leprosy look like?
What is the meaning of Daniel's dream in Daniel 4?
Are the Wilderness of Sin & the Wilderness of Zin the same place?
What did manna look like?
How did it spoil in only a day?
How much would one measure of manna have weighed?
What is "curd"?
What is the significance of the ram's horn in 1 Sam. 16:1?
What did the Israelites carry Joseph's bones in when they left Egypt?
Did Moses really carry Joseph's bones himself or did others help?
Were the tax collector's tables that Jesus overturned in the temple made of wood or metal? (Because it matters how you sign it -- and there is no generic word for "table" without saying "wood-table" or "metal-table" in one of the sign languages we're working with).

And did you know...
There is no garden named Eden in the Bible? Eden was the name of the place where the garden was planted, not the name of the garden itself.
Eve is not named until after the fall.
There's no account in Scripture of Adam ever being "named."
Man is the first thing God makes without simply speaking it into existence.
That the Hebrew word for Eve's pain in childbirth and Adam's pain in tilling the soil (Genesis 3:15-17) is the same word!?

a dead man raising a dead man!?!

"Elisha died, and they buried him. Now the bands of the Moabites would invade the land in the spring of the year. As they were burying a man, behold, they saw a marauding band; and they cast the man into the grave of Elisha. And when the man touched the bones of Elisha he revived and stood up on his feet." --2 Kings 13:20-21, NASB

...says the Savior...

Fear not, says the Savior to His penitent, heartbroken disciple. Fear not, trembling, desponding soul. My glory, My perfections need not alarm thee, for they are all engaged on thy side, all pledged to secure thy salvation. Tell Me not of thy sins. I will take them away. Tell Me not of thy weakness, thy folly and ignorance. I have treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and strength for thee. Tell Me not of the weakness of thy graces. My grace is sufficient for thee, for its riches are unsearchable. Tell Me not of the difficulties which oppose thy salvation. Is any thing too hard for Me? Tell Me not that the favors thou art receiving are too great for thee. I know they are too great for thee to merit, but they are not too great for Me to give. Nay, more, I will give thee greater things than these. I will not only continue to pardon thy sins, bear with thine infirmities, and heal thy backslidings; but give thee larger and larger measures of My grace, make thee more and more useful in the world, render thee more than a conqueror over all thine enemies, and at death wipe away forever all thy tears; receive thee to the mansions which My Father has prepared for thee in heaven, and cause thee to sit down with Me on My throne forever and ever.

Thus does Christ comfort those that mourn; thus He encourages the desponding, thus exalts those that humble themselves at His feet; and constrains them to cry, in admiring transports of gratitude and love, “Who, O who is a God like unto Thee, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin?”

-From Legacy of a Legend: Spiritual Treasure
from the Heart of Edward Payson(The father of Elizabeth Prentiss)