I am a "visual" person . . .

I've heard it said that there are three kinds of learners.

1) The visual learner - who learns best by watching others do it.

2) The audible learner - who learns best by listening.

3) The kinesetic learner - who learns best by watching, listening and doing.

I am a "visual" learner. I am a "visual" person.

When I am with my wife or a friend at a restaurant, I have to position myself so I am facing a corner, or a section of a wall. Why? If I sit facing a window, I will be distracted by people or cars passing by. Many times in my life, I have been in a conversation with someone and realized that I had not been listening because I got distracted by something I saw or was looking at.

Several of those times, the other person took offense at my "lack of care / concentration."

I learn a lot through my eyes. I really have to "see" something with my eyes / mind to be able to grasp a concept or a design. My wife can look at an empty room, and see where furniture and pictures will go. I have to put the furniture and pictures in the room, and move them around until I "see" how everything best fits.

When I am being told a story, I have to close my eyes and "see" the story visually . . . which is why I am fond of very good story tellers, because they have the gift in their story telling to "paint" the scene for their listeners.

I learn a lot about people by watching them. I am big on "tells," the way that all people communicate non-verbally with their hand, facial and body movements when speaking, and when they are not speaking. I use this a lot in my pre-marital counseling sessions with couples who plan to get to married.

Sometimes I go somewhere and watch people as a way to "vet" out a sermon I am writing. I did this once when I was writing a Christmas sermon series a few years ago. I went to a mall in the community I was living in at the time, and just watched people as they did their Christmas shopping. I called the sermon series, "Everything I Know About Christmas, I Learned at the Mall."

People like me tend to see God a lot . . . especially in nature. Clouds, trees, flowers, scenery, rivers, oceans, animals, birds, people . . .

It is a wonder how I have not had a bad car wreck when I confess how easily I am visually distracted.

Alas, a visual person is who I am. It's a pretty interesting world we live in. It's a very interesting world to look at. Many times I gaze at people, paintings, the stores that line a pretty downtown, flags along the street on July 4th, snow on the ground, geese flying southward in a V formation, a big field of Bluebonnets or Indian Paint Brush . . . and I find myself in awe of a world full of so much to look at. Perhaps this is why, every so often, I get the photo bug of sorts. It never last for more than a few days at a time. In truth, I have taken 100 times more "mental pictures" than I have taken "digital" ones.

More times than I can remember . . . I have looked, and all I can say is, "Wow, look at that!"

God's grace still amazes me . . . ><>