It has been sad over the last several years, to watch as my dad continues to lose his sight.  At first it was just a depth issue which could be seen when he would reach for something.  Then we witnessed him driving over the left line.  The doctor also witnessed that and informed the state to revoke his license.  Then he would express that he could see shadows and outlines but nothing in the middle.  The most disturbing day was when I went to his house and he looked at me and said, “I can’t see your face”.  He was so distraught at first that he claimed it was better to not live than to not see.  It wasn’t long after that he went almost totally deaf as well.  It’s so hard to watch this man, who has been my dad since I was eleven failing; but I know it’s the body wasting away.

Yes, the body is wasting away and yet I see his will thriving.  He scoots around on his rear and rakes his grass.  He planted a garden this year by doing the same scoot.  He planted peppers and cucumbers which he doesn’t even eat.  He planted them for me.  In his blindness and deafness there is still a sense in which he’s giving and serving.  His will is strong when it comes to my mom.  He wants to outlive her even though he’s ten years older.  The desire of his heart is for her to die at home and not have to enter a facility.  His love for her is great.  But, as you can imagine, when you can’t hear or see it’s hard to care for someone else.  My brother and I desire to assist as long as we are able so that his desire for mom may be fulfilled.  However, God holds the keys to life and death.

The thing I’m most concerned about is if my dad has spiritual sight.  That is the most important sight of all.  My dad was part of the Salvation Army Sunday School and was just talking with me about his teacher.  He remembered her name and how she had taken them through a workbook of sorts.  He has the small bible that had been given to him as well.  I remember him standing and giving testimony of Jesus before he was baptized when I was eleven.  We are starting to have conversations more about the end of life.  I know I need to be more pointed with him concerning his salvation.  He is 90 years old and I’m hoping he can say he sees in the spiritual realm, Jesus as Savior and Lord.

When I watch my dad feel the table for dirt so he can wipe it with a sponge, I think of those who don’t know Christ and how they are feeling their way around this world of sin.  They feel the weight of the dirtiness of sin and try to wipe it away with excuses, blameshifting, or their own version of truth.  They can’t see the problems their sins cause others or how it’s an offense to a holy God.  They feel their way blindly seeking to find relief in many different ways such as sex, drinking, drugs, or money.  There isn’t any light in any of those things.  In fact, their blindness only becomes greater because of their choices.  The spiritually blind begin to bump into other sharing their blindness which they hope will prove that what they are doing is okay.  After all she’s doing it too.  The spiritually blind can’t restore their own sight; they need Jesus.

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.  Whoever believes in him is not condemned … If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”  John 3:17-18a, 1 John 1:7

Jesus is the answer for the spiritual sight of every person.  He came to save us which opens our eyes to His light, which shines on the darkness of sin and gives us sight to see it.  With Jesus we can see the hurts, the sorrows, the lies, and the dominating sins we have indulged in because we were blind.  We all need Jesus.  He came to save.  He came to open blind eyes.  He came to redeem us from our sin.  He came not in blindness but in perfect vision of each of our hearts.  Our hearts are laid bare before Him and He died for us anyway.  Do you have blind people in your life?  Are they unsure of where they’re going or why they’re living?  Do they need the light of Jesus in their lives?  Let’s take away the things they are trying to wipe away by sharing Jesus.  Nothing else works!