I have a chronic disease called laziness. It really is something I work on. Yet I’m not going to help anything today. Well  that, or I’m going to be nostalgic, I’ll stick with nostalgic because it makes me look better. I think. Anyways, I’m going to post something I posted while back ago on Facebook. I just figured I needed to make this blog more than just about what I’m doing, but also what I’ve done.

Here you go.

What A Blind Man Taught Me

Once upon a time there was a blind old man who liked to visit the “Olde Shoppes” on Baker’s Street. The old man- let’s name him John; shall we?- had been blind all of his life due to complication from childbirth. John had never seen a sunrise, never witnessed beauty, couldn’t watch entertainment, and had no idea what color was. However, like most blind people in our day and age, he was able to live a pretty normal life style, after-all he could taste, feel, smell, and hear. Out of the 4 senses he did have John loved his sense of hearing. In John’s own words “Words are all I have.” In other words; words were the only real sense of relationship with people. Let’s be honest, who can tell much about a person by how they smell (other than their bathing habits), and feeling up people is downright creepy or illegal depending on the situation… and I’m not going to talk about tasting people. If we were to be frank sight and hearing are the two God given senses we as people have to communicate with others. But that’s not really the point of this story.

Further down the street you are walking; either shopping or browsing through the downtown shop windows. You’re with your friend, parents, me, your imaginary significant other- truly whatever floats your boat- and you begin to notice John from a distance. You mumble to yourself “Maybe if we’re quite he won’t know we’re passing.” You don’t want to talk with John, not because you don’t like him, but because you just have places to be and things to do; no harm there. As you pass him you hold your breath, yet by the rules of irony (or divine intervention) you trip on a root system that I didn’t describe early so that you would trip on it. You’re welcome.

“Hello there,” John says starring blankly out into the streets. He quickly sits down on a park bench that he obviously has spent a lot of time on.

“Hey Mr. John,” you say as you fumble for your words; and then without thinking, “Didn’t see you there.” You precede to hit your hand against your head and curse yourself for reading this story. (I know, I am a jerk of a writer for making you say something like that, but it’s my story)

Yet instead of taking offense to the comment John laughs and says, “That’s quite alright.”

Then follows that awkward pause you knew would happen. You make a resolve to say something polite then leave when:

“Wonderful weather today isn’t it?” He asks.

“Yes sir, it’s very nice. Not too hot, not too cold.”

“And just the way I like it.” He says with a smirk on his face.

It is at this point you’re 99.9% sure the conversation is over, yet you have a reputation as patriotic American to say something to make sure. After all a world without complete small talk is pure communism. Yet this is the point where he asks you something you never expected to hear.

“Do you look at clouds much?” His mouth closes up into something of a coy smile.

“Um… I used to. Not much anymore, haven’t really made time for it I guess.” You start to get confused.

“Well you should.” And yes, he’s going to say; “If I could see- boy if I could see…”

His voice trails off as his thoughts begin to collapse on one another. You two both know that unless some divine thing happens- or I feel like throwing you a plot twist- Mr. John is not going to stop being blind. What you don’t know is that John is okay with this. He had wrestled for a long time about his blindness, but has come to grips with it. You, however, do not know this and have now officially run out of stuff to say. You look to the amigo that has accompanied you and shrug, your friend gives you a sympathetic look of encouragement.

Then it happens again, he throws you another curveball.

“You know what the worst part about being blind is?”

You respond slowly as if to gracefully answer his question, “No…”

John laughs, “Well I don’t suppose you would.” He takes a deep breath and motions to air. “I can’t see any color!” He puts his hands down. “You all see color day by day, and don’t get me wrong I’m not bitter at you, but I’ve never known red. I’ve can’t comprehend blue.” He begins to laugh again, “And I’ve never experience plaid.”

You know just how to respond to that one, “Well Mr. John, you’re not missing much.”

“I suppose on the plaid, no, I’m not.” He looks in the direction of your voice. “Can you describe to be what color is?”

Here is the point I’ve been getting at with all this. Right now, without googling it, tell Mr. John in your head what color is. When you’ve told him then you may keep reading. In case of obstinate people who will read on, I will include my answer to Mr. John when I created this scenario in my head.

“Well Mr. John, color is merely the reflection of light that is thrown about in various wavelengths and patterns. The darker something is the more light it absorbs, the lighter something is the more light it reflects.”

“What does light look like?”

“Well it’s kind of this yellowish- sometimes white color.”

“And now we’re back to the problem.” He says. “You have something to base your experience off of. You have sight. You have the only thing that makes experiencing color possible.”

“Well Mr. John, I don’t know what else to tell you. That is what color is.”

“Well try this than.” John says with that same coy smile. “Close your eyes and pretend your blind.”

“What?”

“Do it.” Suddenly Mr. John has gotten very pushy on his point so logically I close my eyes.

note: if you wish to participate go ahead, close your eyes, but the story will be sort of boring for you. Assuming it’s already not.

With my eyes closed all I can see is black. then it hit me.

“I know! What you’re seeing now. It’s black.”

“I’ve been told that. But the problem is I’m not seeing anything. You call it black, I call it life. Perspective changes everything. It’s something you have over me. Now keep your eyes closed.”

“Okay.”

“Now, I’m going to describe color to you the same way you described it to me. Forget everything you’ve ever known about color, pretend you’ve never seen blue, black, or grey.”

At this point I can’t see Mr. Johns expression but there is a hint of excitement in his voice. From what I can tell he’s done this to more people than just me.

“Ask me what color is.” He says.

I play along. “What is color?”

“Color is merely the reflection of light that is thrown about in various wavelengths and patterns. The darker something is the more light it absorbs, the lighter something is the more light it reflects.”

I don’t know if I’m impressed that he remember what I said word for word or what, maybe I’m just about to fall asleep from having my eyes closed.

“Now, do understand what color is?” He asks.

I shake my head. “Not without seeing it. No.” I open my eyes and try to reason with him. “Look I’m not trying to make you feel bad or anything, but I can’t describe color to you without you first knowing what color is.”

John smiles and nods his head. It is at this point the scenario in my mind faded and God showed me something. Yes I did actually run through that scenario in my head; it’s just more fleshed on paper than it was in my head.

But heres what God showed me. Christians, those of us who claim to follow Christ, have for so long spent every ounce of our energy running around trying to define color to a bunch of blind people that we have forgotten that color is more than a definition or a set of condition, but far more than that; color is an experience. Of course now I’m using color as a metaphor, but it works (for me anyway).

Christ has opened our eyes so that we may see him, he has freed us so that we may experience him. Yet instead of passing on the knowledge of the experience to others who are in bondage around us we have simply explained to them what is going on. What do they care? They’re blind!

Don’t take this as me saying we need to scrap evangelism, I’m not saying that, not at all. What I am saying is that we need to remember that we have no power to help people understand God. God is the infinite being who creates and sustains everything, and the only reason you and I even have the knowledge of experience with Christ is because he intervened and changed the plot of the story. He gave us sight so that instead of explaining to us what color is we could see it for ourselves.

This is long and full of typos, however, when the dot were connected in my head I had to write it down.

To God be the glory – Forever and ever. Amen.