Testimony from a Chick Customer

I work at a high school in Texas as an interpreter for the deaf. Last December our schedules at work were changed and I was given a geography class with ten freshmen to interpret. These are 16-year-olds that attend Baptist or Catholic churches every Sunday with their parents (for years) but have never had an interpreter. The cross, Jesus' death and resurrection meant nothing to them.

A few weeks ago their new teacher gave them a quiz on history. One question was: what are the three main religions of the world? After the quiz they started asking me about their churches. They thought that Jesus was Catholic, Pope must be Muslim and they weren't sure which religion they were. I didn't want to embarrass them so I asked them about the Wailing wall and who goes there to pray. They immediately answered: the Jews. I told them that Jesus probably visited there during His lifetime. They were shocked to learn that Jesus was a Jew. Questions and discussions went on for three days. If Jesus was a Jew and Baptist/Catholics fall under Christianity, why is Jesus part of the Christian religion?

We have been warned not to engage them in discussions pertaining to religion but they just kept on asking. I desperately wanted them to understand how much God loves them but how do I do that without compromising my job? Friday, I finally gave in and told them: "If you want to know more about Jesus and the Bible pull up YouTube and type in 'Light of the World - American Sign Language.'" It doesn't explain the whole Bible in depth but might help you understand Jesus and his death better. They asked about captioning; I smiled and said yes it has captioning and an interpreter.

Monday morning I pulled in the parking lot almost 45 minutes early. Soon a group of the deaf students were trucking across the parking lot toward my car. They couldn't wait to tell me that they had watched every YouTube Light of the World video available. They wanted to know if Jesus was God's Son (new concept for them) and why did He allow the soldiers to kill His son? Was Jesus bad? Did he have the same power as God?

For 45 minutes I answered questions about what sin was, how it separates us from God, what was required for us to go to heaven, that Jesus could have stopped the beatings and crucifixion but loved us so much He chose not to. It was awesome to see them begin to understand God, Jesus and His love for them.

Last Monday one of the teachers asked me if they invited the deaf kids to the annual See You at the Pole prayer meeting, would I interpret it. I told her of course but really didn't think our kids would come. Wednesday morning several of our kids showed up. The neatest part was watching them discuss it afterward.

One of them told me, "You always talk about God like He's a real live person. This morning, it's hard to explain, but it felt like He was really standing there with us. Is that what you mean when you say your God is real?" I smiled and replied, "Our God and yes that's exactly what I mean." Just because I can't see Him doesn't make Him any less real."

The student grinned, shook his head and then told me, "I need to think about it some more but I think I like that, OUR GOD."  Thank you [Chick Publications] for making a difference in the lives of our deaf youth! 

Christy O. TX