Lessons from the Blind

Last week I wrote about a man I met who had Cerebral Palsy and was blind.  He worked his way through our "Walk of Life" at Shiloh and went for a trip on our Zip Line.  This past weekend I had the opportunity to work with another man who opened my eyes to see how God works in our lives, we'll call him Chris.  Chris, who was visiting us with a father-son retreat, was an older gentleman who was completely blind.  (The chances of having retreats with a blind man two weeks in a row are pretty slim.  Some basic calculations run that it would be about 1 in 147,300 chance to happen!)

There are things that are exceptionally challenging for blind people.  One of them is hiking.  So Chris didn't come hiking with us.  Another would be archery.  If you can't see where you are aiming, being untrained and having a dangerous weapon in your hands isn't really a great idea.

But, Chris really wanted to try out one of the bows.  He heard the other guys and kids having a great time and really wanted to be a part of the group.  So, I told him we would give it the old college try.

I took his hands and guided them to the bow.  I handed him the arrow.  I placed his fingers exactly where they needed to be on the string.  I helped him aim, instructed him to draw back and release.  As his first arrow flew through the air, I was impressed.  He was really doing it!  A few shots later, Chris was hitting the target!!!

What I've come to realize since Saturday is that in life we are all like Chris in this way.  If we grope around in our darkness we might be able to get some semblance of understanding our bearings; we might be able to find a bow if we are lucky; we might be able to even find some arrows; but what we do grasp will be pretty limited.

Having a general idea of where the target might be, in life that is like desiring to just be a good person.

Finding a bow is like finding a purpose in life.

Finding arrows is like finding a way to reach our goals in life.

But we are still blind to see God's plans.  We are still blind to see the end-game that God has planned.  You can find a bow and fire arrows whichever way you might see fit, but you are bound to miss the target.

God however wants to come up behind us and give us His vision, guide our hands with His hands, draw back our arm with His strength.  When we allow him to do this, we will realize that we can do things that we (and others) thought we would never be able to do.  I'd like to add that if we are still missing the target, it isn't because God's aim is off.  It's probably because we are resisting his instruction, guiding, or flat out refusing to take up the bow he is handing us.  God isn't at fault.

So I ask you to take up the bow that God is handing you.  Let God guide your vision.  Let God give you the strength to draw your bow and let those arrows fly.