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I attended a meeting where a very polished and gifted speaker stumbled on his words.
The cause, I think, was a well meaning person in the audience who verbalized whenever she agreed with what the speaker said.
No one hushed the person in the audience because the individual had a disability.
While the verbalized words were well meaning, and we all understood, human nature did push it's way into the situation.
Did the speaker eye the individual? Nope.
Did the speaker make a comment regarding the distraction? Nope.
Did the speaker call on someone to help? Nope.
For this reason, I had such respect for the speaker. I prayed for him that he could continue through to the end of his message without losing his purpose and intent.
Then something awesome happened.
The speaker cited a Scripture verse. It was a well know verse that most of us would be able to say ourselves. Halfway through the verse he stumbled. He rewound his words and tried again. After the second stumble he smiled, chuckled at himself, and said, "I better look it up." He flipped to the page in his Bible and read the verse.
A true sign of humility
During the meeting, I felt led to pray for this speaker. I'm convinced others in the meeting felt led to do the same
I have a feeling though, that God used so many things that happened in that meeting.
First, as someone sitting in the back, I noticed not one person in the room looked at the individual with the disability to see who it was, or to hush them. Not even kids. Pretty awesome.
Second, the speaker worked to keep his focus on his message, even to the point of humbling himself to look up a verse he knew to insure he said it right.
Third, after the meeting, I saw a crowd of people warmly greeting the disabled individual. That was so sweet to see.
Fourth, the whole meeting sparked a genuine connection with the message.
What did I learn? Well, when I am speaking with someone,
1. It is okay to make a mistake.
2. It is okay to laugh at myself.
3. It is okay to correct myself in front of others.
4. We teach when we humble ourselves.
Distractions will cause us to make mistakes or forget. The issue is not what happens, but how we handle the situation afterwards. If we keep our eyes on God, the end may have some pretty awesome results.
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