move over, susan boyle

By now you must know who she is. If you haven't, you must watch this. (Or if you're my Aunt Pam, who can't connect to YouTube from the hills of Apex, NC, read this article — love you!). But that isn't the crux.

Sunday morning, at my church here in Atlanta, I witnessed the most incredible musical shock of my life. Singer-guitarist Cindy Lou Harrington tells the audience that she's also been a special education teacher for the past twenty-plus years. This morning she's invited a former student, a woman named Beth, to perform a song with her.

Beth appears from behind the curtains, pushed in a wheelchair by her parents, both of whom look to be in their sixties. I'm not sure which specific issues and illnesses Beth suffers from, but she is hunched over in her chair, head hanging down to her chest, her withered legs much shorter than the average person's. She doesn't seem to have full control of her arms either, and to top it off, she's blind.

At this point, I'm embarrassed to admit, I'm expecting her to sound the way she looks; different, crippled, weak. Cindy hands her the microphone, and starts strumming her guitar.

Beth starts singing. And — to my great surprise — she has this big, sweeping, soulful, commanding voice you would expect to come from an african american gospel singer. Close your eyes, and you'd think Aretha was in the room. Halfway through, almost every person in the room is crying.

It was the sort of experience that shakes you awake, and plants a new, pure sense of hope in your soul... nothing short of incredible. I can't even remember the song, but I will never, ever forget how wrong I was, at first glance, about her.