"Here is
an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my
eyes."
I was not going to write a devotional this year. I haven’t written
a devotional in about six years. But this was one of the last unassigned scriptures, and
when I saw it, I just knew it was calling me.
Opened my eyes ... I know the intent of this passage is that God has
spiritually opened my eyes, but the irony for me is that it also means that God has
physically opened my eyes.
You see, this past summer I got hit in the eye with a softball. It
broke the "eyebrow" bone, cheekbone, orbital floor of the eye socket and another
bone. It also tore my iris. It was a very serious accident and I instantly feared that I
was in big trouble. The fact that I did not lose my eyesight in my left eye makes me feel
extremely fortunate and incredibly lucky. It was also ‘déjà vu.’
Fourteen years ago in a chemistry lab, a small glass container exploded
in my hands into several hundred pieces leaving me with about 150 cuts all over my body,
... and face. After a ride to the hospital in an ambulance they picked glass out of me for
a couple of hours. One cut was just 1/4 inch from my eye, which caused my eye to swell
completely shut for three days. My right eye.
Having somehow survived these two accidents, which could have
permanently closed first one eye and then the other, I am very grateful that God has
literally kept my eyes open. I don’t know what it is, but there must be something he
wants me to see.
Did these accidents truly open my eyes? No. Another event 19 years ago
did that. There was a one-car accident on a lonely stretch of road. It instantly killed
the wife and paralyzed the husband. It was the type of accident that lead others to ask
questions like "How can there be a God?" to allow this to happen. She was that
unique persona who touched the lives of many, many, people, as evidenced by the well over
1000 cards that the widower received. For me, this death was the incident that truly
opened my eyes, as I began to ask, "How can there not be a God?" – for he
created my wonderful mother.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for the opportunity to see your
magnificent world. Open our eyes to your amazing Son, Jesus Christ. Amen
