It was at a donor’s dinner at CBN that we got to meet Terry. A man from my
parent’s generation, he was a family man with a wife and daughter when he went
off to fight in the Korean Conflict. With memories firmly planted in his mind’s
eye that was how he was to remember them, for Terry was wounded and took
shrapnel in an eye and was blinded. Suddenly the only world he would or could
remember seeing was in 1952. And he was a fascinating man to talk with, as he
had no bitterness for what had happened. But his view of the world was of some
60 years ago. Mention cars and he would see Nashes, Kaisers, Frazers, Hudsons,
Studebakers, and Packards. All which don’t exist anymore. Mention motorcycles
it was Harley or Indian, maybe Triumph. And while trying to define what a 1989
Ford Mustang looked like, he only had the cars of 1952 to relate to. Women’s
fashions were still of the early fifties to him, as were wide lapels for men and
wing tip shoes. Men wore hats, not the ball caps, but real hats, and many a
woman would sport one too. It was if someone shut the door to his sight that
year, and all memories after that were based on before losing his sight. He may
not be able to see, but in his mind he still had a treasure trove of 35mm film
that had been developed, but now the camera was empty.
Around the same time of Terry’s loss of sight, a man in Germany was trying
to smuggle Bibles into East Germany, where he could have been executed for doing
so. His prayer, “God blind the eyes of them that are open,” was answered, and
today Brother Andrew has delivered millions of tons of Bibles into countries
where they are not allowed. Two men depending on God for sight, and God’s
answer was to allow both to be blinded for his glory. One a guard at a border
gate, the other Terry, who loved him. But it was the prayer based on scripture
to “open the eyes of the blind,” that Jesus answered in both cases. One for a
man blinded in war to see things clearer in the spirit, another to open the eyes
of the blind to the gospel via smuggling God’s word. And as scripture would
tell us, “not all who are blind cannot see.”
When Jesus healed the blind man who was blind from birth, it was a
miracle. Jesus was on the road and encountered him with his disciples, and
after telling him to make mud and cover his eyes, he had sight. He was blind
from birth, but as we will see, God also opened his heart to Jesus, as he would
at first answer “I do not know if he is good or bad, but I was blind and now I
can see.” Upsetting the Pharisees, who threatened to expel him from the
temple. His parents telling the Pharisees to confront him, he is of age, so
they would not be expelled. But this blind man who now had sight, who is never
mentioned by name, argues back, telling them “he must be of God, for he did
good. No other person in history had been healed from blindness,” and of course
Jesus did it on the Sabbath, cheesing them off even more. And so expelled with
his new found sight, he sought out Jesus. And wanted to know God, and when
Jesus told him who he was, the once blind man worshipped him. He could see
Jesus, but via the spirit God had also opened the eyes of his heart also. God
gave him a physical manifestation to prove the miracle of him being born again.
For all had known the man who was blinded from birth, who now could see and was
worshipping God.
We don’t know what today will bring. Terry never woke up that morning
thinking this is the last sunrise I will ever see. But his trust in God has
made scripture come alive, as John 9 also tells us these words of Jesus,
“neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God may be
revealed in him.” And in us too, as we were all blind to Jesus until the spirit
opened the eyes of our heart. No one woke up today and decided to find God or
to risk life for smuggling Bibles. It is the power of the spirit opening our
eyes that changes us, and I am excited for heaven when we have perfect bodies
again. When all my heart will be God made instead of plastic, where Terry will
see everything again, and the eyes of the blind who denied Christ have been
opened. What a day! And revealed through a chance meeting over dinner with a
blind man named Terry. A divine intervention from a loving God to a fallen
world.
What was the last thing you remember seeing before dozing off last night?
What if that was the last thing you saw? But more importantly, who did you say
Jesus was before you fell asleep? We only know we were asleep after we wake up,
not when sleeping. And we only know we were sinners when the spirit convicts
us. And shows us we need Jesus. And we can have him today no matter our
physical, emotional, or lost spiritual condition. Let him open your blind eyes
to your heart today and see things clearly. Jesus is the light of the world,
and soon darkness is coming. Without light we will all be blind, with Jesus we
will see all we need to see. Trust him today, it was prophesied that the eyes
of the blind will be opened. Close your eyes and what do you see? Open them in
the spirit and see all God has for you. Life didn’t end when Terry lost his
sight, it began when Jesus Christ came into his life. Don’t wait, glasses or
contacts won’t help, it takes the spirit to open those eyes. Here’s mud in your
eye...we are all born into sin, no need to leave without sight. Some insight
from the scriptures, and a man whose last sights were over 60 years ago.
Better a Bible than a bomb. I think Terry would agree. Amen to
that.
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com