To my recollection, this is the first verse I ever drew specifically at someone's request. When I was a youth leader, we would take our kids to a church camp every summer called Centrifuge. In the last year that I went, the camp staffer that helped out our church had a cloth banner on which she had all of the people she met throughout camp sign or leave a message. This was not long after I had finished drawing the original illustrated book of John, so I figured I could use my mad Bible art skills to make a memorable thank you note for her. I asked her what verse was important to her and this is the one she chose.
Her interest in this verse relates to her desire to work with the deaf which led her to learn American Sign Language. Thus the connection between sign language and lifting of hands. As luck would have it, my mother is a former interpreter for the deaf so I was able to call her up to work some of the details out. The first half of the verse is drawn as it would be interpreted in American Sign Language. The second half only works for the Bible translations with wording about lifting up your hands in the name of God. Oh, did you see what I just did there? Figurative wording turned literal? I had a dog and his name was...BINGO!
The only problem is I can't for the life of me remember this lady's name. I've been meaning to send her this updated version because the ink bled in the original cloth drawing and I thought she'd like the cleaned up version. Of course, I'm mostly to blame since all I would have to do is ask our old youth leader and he'd probably have the info I need. I need to stop procrastinating ...tomorrow.
If you knew the first reference to the song about Bingo was in 1780:
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