Sight for the blind...

November 1/06

Today was SO awesome. I got to do something a bit different in practical ministry by taking one of the teenagers in our community to the optometrist. Which was so amazing because this girl is like seriously almost blind. She got a voucher from her school, but had no one to book her appointment or take her to the doctor.


We were able to help her with that – everything from getting her eyes tested to helping her pick out beautiful, brand new glasses, which she’ll receive sometime next week.

She got to pick whichever frames she wanted and add every feature she could get for the lenses. Just like a ‘normal’ kid.

Having glasses changed her life dramatically for the better...no longer mocked for always peering and squinting at people, places and things, her grades improved markedly, and she began journalling, which soon led to writing poetry.

The picture above was taken at one of our corporate worship gatherings, where she chose to stand before the congregation of almost a hundred people and read aloud a poem she had written about her life. An unthinkable task only a few months beforehand became an opportunity to share her creativity and her story with her community in a really positive way.

"Jesus came to Nazareth where he had grown up. As he always did on the Sabbath, he went to the meeting place. When he stood up to read, he was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written,

God's Spirit is on me; he's chosen me to preach the Message of good news to the poor, Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, To set the burdened and battered free, to announce, "This is God's year to act!"

He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the assistant, and sat down. Every eye in the place was on him, intent. Then he started in, "You've just heard Scripture make history. It came true just now in this place."

Jesus said that He was sent to bring sight to the blind and bring good news to the poor. It's not rocket science, my friend was blind as a bat, and now she can see. She used to feel shy about reading in front of others, and now she's testifying about God's presence in her life. It's not rocket science, but it's got JUSTICE written all over it...

Luke 4:17-19, The Message