Many years ago, a friend of mine was interpreting a church service when the whole deaf section busted-out laughing. That certainly got  the congregation’s attention, given the fact that the pastor’s sermon was a very serious one. He was preaching about consecrating oneself to the Lord steadfastly for a season.

“For the next few weeks,” the pastor told his congregants, “I plan to arrive early to pray.” What’s funny about that, you ask? The interpreter didn’t sign “early” to pray. He relayed to the whole deaf section that the pastor was planning to show up at the church “naked” to pray.

Being a sign language interpreter myself, I can assure you that this is a very easy mistake to make. You see the two words are quite similar. The only difference  between the two is in the direction the prominent hand is traveling. For one, the dominant hand slides across the other, and for the second sign, the prominent hand slides downward towards the fingertips.

The moral of today’s humorous, but true, story is simply this: Which direction are you going?

There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death  (Proverbs 14:12).

The flip side to the above Scripture is this:

The Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless (Psalm 84:11).

Today would be a great day for each of us to examine our hearts and lives. After all, dear reader, direction is most assuredly important!