{"id":841,"date":"2015-10-12T13:39:18","date_gmt":"2015-10-12T13:39:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=841"},"modified":"2015-07-22T13:39:32","modified_gmt":"2015-07-22T13:39:32","slug":"what-do-you-see","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=841","title":{"rendered":"What Do You See?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"05-28-15<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Me:\u00a0 Who is your friend Prodigal?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Prodigal:\u00a0 This is my friend froggy who is blind.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Me:\u00a0 Wow,\u00a0 He does not seem frustrated with his blindness.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Prodigal:\u00a0 No, he has peace with it and actually brings me many blessings with his friendship.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Me:\u00a0 I have a story about a blind man who\u00a0changed the perspective of another.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Prodigal:\u00a0 My friend wants to hear this also!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Max Lucado shares a personal story from his heart.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I had just spend a portion of the morning preparing a lesson out of the ninth chapter of John, the chapter that contains the story about the man blind from birth.\u00a0 I’d finished lunch and was returning to my office when I saw him.\u00a0 He was singing.\u00a0 An aluminum cane was in his left hand; his right hand was extended and open, awaiting donations.\u00a0 He was blind.<\/strong><\/p>\n

After walking past him about five steps, I stopped and mumbled something to myself about the epitome of hypocrisy and went back in his direction.\u00a0 I put some change in his hand.\u00a0 “Thank you,” he said and then offered me a common Brazilian translation, “and may you have health.” Ironic wish.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Once again I started on my way.\u00a0 Once again the morning’s study of John 9 stopped me.\u00a0 “Jesus saw a man, blind from birth.” I paused and pondered.\u00a0 If Jesus were here he would see this man.\u00a0 I wasn’t sure what that meant.\u00a0 But I was sure I hadn’t done it.\u00a0 So I turned around again.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As if the giving of a donation entitled me to do so, I stopped beside a nearby car and observed.\u00a0 I challenged myself to see him.\u00a0 I would stay here until I saw more than a sightless indigent on a busy thoroughfare in downtown Rio de Janeiro.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I watched him sing.\u00a0 Some beggars grovel in a corner cultivating pity.\u00a0 But this man did none of that.\u00a0 He stood.\u00a0 He stood tall.\u00a0 And he sang.\u00a0 Loudly.\u00a0 Even proudly.\u00a0 All of us had more reason to sing than he, but he was the one singing.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The passersby had various reactions.\u00a0 Some were curious and gazed unabashedly.\u00a0 Others were uncomfortable.\u00a0 They were quick to duck their heads or walk in a wider circle.\u00a0 “No reminders of harness today, please.”\u00a0 Most, however, hardly noticed him.\u00a0 Their thoughts were occupied, their agendas were full and he was…well, he was a blind beggar.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was thankful he couldn’t see the way they looked at him.<\/strong><\/p>\n

After a few minutes, I went up to him again.\u00a0 “Have you had any lunch?”\u00a0 I asked.\u00a0 He stopped singing.\u00a0 He turned his head toward the sound\u00a0 of my voice and directed his face somewhere past my ear.\u00a0 His eye sockets were empty.\u00a0 He said he was hungry.\u00a0 I went to a nearby restaurant and bought him a sand which and something cold to drink.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I came back he was still singing and his hands were still empty.\u00a0 He was grateful for the food.\u00a0 We sat down on a nearby bench.\u00a0 Between bites he told me about himself.\u00a0 Twenty-eight years old.\u00a0 Single.\u00a0 Living with his parents and seven brothers.\u00a0 “Were you born blind?”<\/strong><\/p>\n

“No, when I was young I had an accident.”\u00a0 He didn’t volunteer any details and\u00a0I didn’t have the gall to request them.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Though we were almost the same age, we were light-years apart.\u00a0 I wore a shirt and tie and some\u00a0 new shoes.\u00a0 His shoes had holes and his coat was oversized and bulky.\u00a0 His pants gaped open from a rip in the knee.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And still he sang.\u00a0 Though a sightless, penniless hobo, he still found a song and sang it courageously.\u00a0 (I wondered which room in his heart that song came from.)<\/strong><\/p>\n

I decided the motivation that fit his demeanor was the one you would least expect.\u00a0 He was singing from contentment.\u00a0 Somehow this eyeless pauper had discovered a candle called satisfaction and it glowed in his dark world.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The irony was painfully amusing.\u00a0\u00a0This blind man could be the most peaceful fellow on the street.\u00a0 No diploma, no awards, and no future–at least in the aggressive sense of the word.\u00a0 But I wondered how many in that urban stampede would trade their boardrooms and blue suits in a second for a chance to drink at this young man’s well.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Faith is the bird that sings while it is yet dark.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

For almost a block, I could hear him singing.\u00a0 And in my mind’s eye I could still see him.\u00a0 But the man I now saw was a different one than the one to whom I’d given a few coins.\u00a0 Though the man I now saw was still sightless, he was remarkable insightful.\u00a0 And though I was the one with eyes, it was he who gave me a new\u00a0vision.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Do you need a new vision?\u00a0 Maybe not for a blind beggar but for that person who you\u00a0look down on.\u00a0 How would they look through the eyes of God?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

John 9:3<\/p>\n

Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be manifest in him.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jennifer Van Allen<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

www.theprodigalpig.com<\/p>\n

www.faithincounseling.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Me:\u00a0 Who is your friend Prodigal?   Prodigal:\u00a0 This is my friend froggy who is blind.   Me:\u00a0 Wow,\u00a0 He does not seem frustrated with his blindness.   Prodigal:\u00a0 No, he has peace with it and actually brings me many blessings with his friendship.   Me:\u00a0 I have a story about a blind man … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Do You See? - The Prodigal Pig<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=841\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Do You See? 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