Communication or Misunderstanding

Yesterday toward the end of the church service I was overwhelmed by God and began jumping around a little. I got up to give the blessing but let myself begin by expounding on how excited I get by God. Terry, the lead pastor gave me a circular hand signal while I was speaking.


Confusion
That's what hit me. I was not sure what he was communicating.
                    
 Cultural interpretations
I've lived in the UK for 40 years so I interpreted  the hand signal as "wind it up". I thought he must be concerned about time.
So I said oh, Terry's giving me the signal to wind up & went on to the blessing.
Cultural differences
When I went back to my seat he told me what he had been conveying was

Keep going! Take us further.

He said he would never try to stop me from such expressions!


Later over lunch I was with friends, we are a mixed bunch from Canada, America and New Zealand.
My friend from New Zealand said he too would have interpreted the hand signal as 
                    time to stop


This served as a very visual and timely reminder that  we often feel we are communicating, but so often there is a difference between what one person says and the other person hears.