“Hey, how are you?”…“I love you”…“Thank you”…All of these statements are things I pray we all get to hear on a daily basis. I love talking to people because God placed beautiful, funny, amazing human beings in my life to communicate with.
“Jay-Z”…”Florida Georgia Line”…”Bob Marley”…or my personal favorites “August Burns Red & The Amity Affliction”…Something I can’t do is go a day without listening to music. Whether it’s the melody or lyrical content, I enjoy listening to music that motivates me and makes me dance, but what happens if someone takes away everything that makes these things possible? What happens when you can’t listen to anyone speaking to you or you can’t listen to your favorite music?
What would it be like if you went to a sold out hockey game in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and not hear a single sound? You see the 20,000 fans cheering and the horn sounds off because of a goal, but you hear nothing.
I have no idea even the slightest clue of what that is like, but I was blessed to have a tiny look into the lives of those who do experience that on a daily basis.
This past week my team & I attended a deaf church in Indonesia, I had no idea what to expect. Days leading up to it a teacher taught us all very basic sign language and a worship song to perform for the congregation. The same teacher who taught us the sign language would be the one to take us to the church and translate for us.
We arrived and there were 25 or so smiling faces eager to meet these eight “bulehs” (slang for white people) who were attending church with them. Most were Christian and a few were Muslim, it didn’t matter because we were all in God’s presence ready for worship. Before worship started we got to meet a lot of them and their personalities brightened the entire room. They were so happy to meet us and we were just as ecstatic to be with them because their happiness was contagious. We had a lot of help from our translator, but we were able to communicate back to them basic things about us such as our name, age, and greetings like “nice to meet you” in sign language. In addition, they also gave us sign names (nicknames in sign) based on physical features. Naturally they gave me a sign name based on my height.
After our greeting was finished it was time to begin the service. We worshiped with them in sign together as a whole for the first worship song and then I was given an opportunity to give my testimony. I gave my story explaining to the congregation how God moved in my life, how much He loves me and how He saved me from everything that negatively affected me as a youth and young adult. Our sign translator helped me explain to them that I made a lot of poor decisions as a teenager and young adult, but that Jesus saved me from continuing those poor choices. Another one of my teammates gave her testimony and another also gave a devotional. After the devotionals & testimonies were complete, we performed a song for the church and finished the night with a small dinner with everyone in attendance. It was while I was eating dinner that something occurred to me and what occurred to me was definitely a GOD thing…
This past year I lived in Washington D.C. and more specifically I lived just two blocks away from Gallaudet University which is one of the world leaders in educating the deaf on a higher education level. In the year I spent living next to the school, walking/jogging by so many students, not once did I ever minister or even think of ministering to these students to tell them about Jesus. Part of it was me still working on my relationship with Him. Part of it was me being stubborn and lazy thinking, “how could I possibly spread the Gospel to those who can’t hear me?”, but the special thing is is that God can speak to anyone. He can speak to anyone and everyone because He shows no bias towards those who speak english, indonesian, or sign. His Word wasn’t meant to be heard by just those who can actually hear. HIS WORD WAS MEANT TO BE HEARD BY THE DEAF TOO BECAUSE THEY IN FACT CAN HEAR & FEEL HIS LOVE.
“On that day the deaf will hear the words of a document” (Isaiah 29:18)
The deaf aren’t deaf at all when they are able to hear the Word of God. Because of this they are created disciples whose job it is to go out and create more disciples for His Kingdom because they heard the Word. They may be physically deaf, but spiritually they can hear the Gospel just as clearly as anyone else who has a relationship with Jesus on this earth. There are those who can hear better than anyone physically, but spiritually they are deaf. I understand because for most of my life I was deaf spiritually because I thought my way of life was better than what God had for me. I was wrong, His plan is always greater. He will take your life, wreck it all completely and give you something a million times better.
God is humorous. He opened a door for me to minister to the deaf in Washington D.C., but clearly I didn’t get the memo. After I missed an opportunity to minister to the deaf in the States God said, “how about Indonesia Alex?” I listened this time…
I’m blessed God never gave up on me to minister to the deaf and that He gave me a second chance in an amazing situation I never thought was possible to be able to share my story and God’s love. The deaf are some of the most unreached people to hear the Gospel and I pray that more disciples are able to reach out to continue to make the deaf hear whether it’s in Indonesia or the U.S. God is moving here in Indonesia and I can’t wait to see Him continue to work through our squad.
I encourage all of you to pray for those who are deaf and that they will be able to hear in their lifetimes. I also encourage everyone to listen spiritually because you may like what God has to say! Are you ready to listen?
