“The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.” 2 Corinthians 4:4-6
The attached photo was taken on Christmas in 1952 at my family’s farm near Ruby, located in Southeast Nebraska. I had turned two in November and was enjoying the rocking horse that my dad had made for me. What you don’t see in this photo is me wearing glasses. At the time this photo was taken, my dad, mom, sister, grandparents and aunts and uncles didn’t know that I was legally blind; it causes me to wonder what they must have thought about me, always running into things. None of them realized that I had a problem until the following summer when my dad knew that there was something wrong when I couldn’t see the big dipper in the clear, evening sky. I had glasses in Christmas of 1953.
When you see the photos of smiling Haitian children in these messages or brochures from Trinity HOPE, there is probably a lot going on in their lives that we are not aware of, sitting here in North America. We can’t begin to understand what it would be like to eat one small meal each day at home, or possibly every other day. We haven’t heard the sounds at night outside our bedroom that their young ears have grown accustomed to hearing. We have not listened to the vodou priest sacrificing animals; skinning dogs alive so their screams and whimpering will bring pleasure to the evil spirits they are welcoming into their temples.
Before I received a pair of glasses, I didn’t realize that my eyes were any different than anyone else. When I lived in Haiti it became very apparent that the school children there really didn’t realize that they were any different than school children in North America. Please stop and think for a moment about the similarity we have with the children enjoying a Trinity HOPE meal in Haiti, that we often take for granted; we are SAVED. We are NOT like everyone else on the face of this planet. Please, don’t take that for granted; not everyone has heard the Good News. Some have and have turned away. You need to make a difference, open their eyes and ears, feed their soul and bring them to the Cross of Christ.
Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.
May God be with you…Jay