For as long as I can remember I�ve been different from
everyone around me. My mother died giving birth to me and I
never met my father. I was in a foster home for 5 years until
1979. It was then that my mom and dad, Amanda and Richard
Soderman adopted me. Most people call my dad Rich and my
mom Mandy. I�ve never really understood why they didn�t just
go by their real names. I�ve always been perfectly content with
my name�Katheryn Rae. That�s the name the foster home
gave me when they took me in. My parents are the nicest
people in the world, and so much more responsible than my
birth parents. See my mother was a heavy cocaine addict.
She had been since the age of 17, and when she became
pregnant with me, she didn�t stop. My wheelchair is evidence
of her sinful nature.
I was born with the left side of my body completely paralyzed.
Even when I smile, only the right side of my mouth rises.
Back then I thought of myself as some sort of outcast, but
during the first couple years after my adoption, I learned that
I�m just special. My mom and dad are both strong Christians
and have devoted their lives to God. They taught me that God
has a purpose for me. That He has a plan for each and every
person. They got my mind stirring with new possibilities of
potential. I grew to believe that nothing was impossible with
God.
�Hey Katheryn! Wanna go to the park and play tag?�
�Sure! Who else is coming?�
�Um, Laura, Andrew, Astin, and Joe!�
�Okay, I�ll see ya in a few minutes. Bye.�
�Bye.�
That�s about all I can remember from the conversation I had
with Sarah that day, but I recall that we talked on the phone for
what seemed like hours. It turns out it was only 45 minutes,
but my mom thought that was un-called for at the age of seven,
so we made plans to go to the park and then I had to hang up.
Sarah and Astin were my best friends back then. Sarah would
always push me around when we played games. She was nine
then, a couple years older than me, and was the kind of friend
who was always there for you. I could reach out with my right
hand and tag people. Sometimes they even let me kick at
them with my foot. Andrew didn�t like that though. He was
slower than Sarah was and we always caught up to him.
Andrew was my age and in my class at school. He was also
the class clown, always getting in trouble. Astin was a tutor of
sorts for me. She was also my age, but really smart. I had
trouble learning back then, and she was always there to help
me out. Joe was a quiet boy who just hung around with us
because he didn�t have any other real friends.
Well, we got to the park at about eleven o�clock that Saturday
morning. Sarah and I were the last ones there. I got a few good
kicks in on Andrew and managed to escape being tagged all
but twice. I was really glad that Sarah was so fast. Everybody
came back to my house for lunch afterwards and we had
macaroni and cheese. I�ve never known anyone who could
cook as well as my mom. Even something as simple as mac
and cheese tasted like it had been extracted from a gourmet
recipe. That�s why my friends always wanted to have lunch at
my house. After lunch everybody but Astin left.
Astin and her family went to the same church as my family so
we knew each other really well that way too. She was the one
who I was able to talk about God to during my grade school
years. She seemed to understand the Bible stories better than
I did, so she would come over and we�d talk about it. Most of
the time, we ended up talking with my mom too, cause neither
of us at the age of seven were able to understand a lot of stuff.
I can remember that we both loved the story of Noah�s ark more
than any other. All those animals came to one spot on the
earth. I still find that dazzling today.
We went to a small church in southern Mississippi in the town of
Newhaven. The children�s pastor there was so awesome. She
was young, about 25 I think, but obviously on fire for God. She
taught us all those Bible stories that seven-year-olds find
fascinating, but rarely understand the significance of. She
always had us do role-playing activities so that we�d understand
the stories better. These stories made me think about what I
was going to be when I grow up. I remember one week I wanted
to grow up and be a warrior so I could protect people like David
did, and another next week I wanted to be a lion tamer so I could
tame lions like God did with Daniel. I played God that day. I just
thought it was the coolest thing to make the rest of the kids playing
lions stop growling. We had some great times there.
Well, a few years passed and Sarah was eleven now and not at
the same school as me. Astin and I really got close that year.
While Sarah and I still talked once in a while, Astin had become
the one who wheeled me around now. It seemed like every
time I turned around she was there to help me. We were both
in fourth grade now and school was getting harder. I was
beginning to learn easier by now though, so she didn�t have to help
me out in the classroom as much. Our discussions about
church and God had become more mature and thoughtful and
we were both beginning to understand what this whole �being a
Christian� thing is all about. That June was the first summer
camp that I had gone too. Of course Astin went too, I probably
wouldn�t have gone if she wouldn�t have. I can still remember
how hard it always was for my children�s pastor to get me up
into our big old rusty church van. The camp was really cool
though, and it was at a campground that bordered the
Mississippi River, so that made it even more extravagant.
There were a lot of things I couldn�t do because of my
wheelchair, but I didn�t let it get me down. I knew that everyone
around me was having fun, just like little fourth and fifth
graders should be. The speaker that year was a man of about
45 years who was what is called an evangelist. Not many of us
knew what that meant, but we just assumed it meant he was
some kind of a preacher. On the second night of that camp,
The King, that�s what we called our speaker, began to speak to
us about the real King. He began to talk about the same stuff
that my parents had taught me when I was younger, that God
has a plan for us. He said that God would want some of us to be
musicians, others teachers and others doctors. Then he told
us about a very special group of people that God has plans for.
He told us that God wanted some of us to be preachers! As
obvious as this may sound, at the age of nine, I was blown away
by this cause I had never really thought of anything like that.
The two-week camp went on and the King talked to us about many
more exciting and interesting things, but he always went back
to the central topic of God having a plan for each of us. Well,
the Thursday before we left was really sad for a lot of the kids,
because they knew that tomorrow was the last day. I on the
other hand, could not get that idea out of my mind that God
wants some of us to be preachers. It had been nine days since
the King had told us that and I just couldn�t shake it. That night
we had our last altar call. Each night we had had one, but I
was never really sure what I should pray about if I were to go to
the altar. It would also make a scene if me, in my awkward
wheelchair were to wheel myself down to the front. I was really
nervous that last night though, and I really felt like God wanted
me to go to the altar. So I did.
I scrubbed up just enough courage to do it. Went down to the
alter and began praying. I asked God what he wanted me to
do with my life. I told him that I knew he had a plan for me, but I
just wasn�t sure what it was. At the age of nine, I wasn�t real
sure of what the voice of God sounded like, but after praying
that night, I was completely sure that I had heard it. That night
God told me that he wanted me to be a preacher. He wanted
this little nine-year-old girl who only has control of half her body
to be a preacher!
Of course, now you�re probably asking yourself, what happened
to Astin? I�m sure you�ll be just as surprised as I was. It turns
out that the same night that God called me to be a preacher,
he called Astin to be a missionary! She didn�t know where at
the time, but it was awesome to find out that I wasn�t the only
one who had experienced God in a big way those two weeks.
The years passed really quickly after that, and before we knew
it, Astin and I were both seniors in high school. Andrew and
Joe were now Christians too. We had invited them to church
camp back in seventh grade, and they both excepted Christ
there. Andrew still let me kick him once in a while just for old
time�s sake. My senior year was really hard, but realizing what
was to come after high school made it a lot easier. Graduation
came just as quickly as last years had gone I soon found myself
on stage in front of about three thousand people, and everyone
was standing and clapping. I knew they were just clapping for
me because I had so much against me, but I like to think that
God too was standing and clapping because I was about to
embark on a huge adventure for Him.
Unfortunately, I lost touch with Andrew and Joe after grad night.
Astin and I however both attended the University of Students
for Christ in Jackson. Life there was hectic and harder than
high school, but the Christian atmosphere made it all bearable.
My Biblical studies degree took me four years to get, but then
I had to go on to seminary for another two before I could get
my pastor�s license. Astin got her degree in four years as well,
but then she had to go to a missionary school for two years.
The day we said goodbye was the day I shed more tears than
any other. I felt like I was loosing my best friend, even though
I knew we�d see each other again.
Now Astin is married to a wonderful man named Joe who she
happened to meet up with soon after leaving USC. They are
now both serving as missionaries in South Africa. I�ve now had
my pastor�s license for seven years and have pastored at three
different churches. That�s the wonderful thing about God�s people,
they don�t judge you by how you look or by your physical capabilities.
People have accepted me because they know that I�m carrying out
God�s will for me life.
I look back now and have to think to myself�what if the King
had not said what he did that day? Would I still be where I am today?
I now believe that the King was the King. At least for that forty-minutes
that he spoke to us that Tuesday night anyway, he was God�s voice to me.
I know that I�m special and that I don�t look like everyone else and have all the
capabilities of everyone else, but I do know this: God chose me because He
loves me, He sees potential in me and He has faith in me. I know now that
I�m different in many ways, and I am confident that God will work through
each and every one of them.
Alvin Shaul
February 1, 2002