And We’re Walking….

A favorite TV show of mine has a spoof on museums in one scene of one show, where the guide in a too perky, too highly pitched, too perfectly rehearsed voice stops everyone at an exhibit to explain, and then it’s “and we’re walking”.  With that much information being thrown at them, in a perfectly rehearsed and modulated way, the people pretty much follow – such a nice little tour group, behaving themselves so well.   They are behaving as such a nice little herd of sheep.

Sheep???  Yes – sheep! 

Even though I find this perky museum tour giver rather annoyingly funny, she gives a great example of leading a group of sheep.   Leaders of sheep, leaders of people: both have a big responsibility to get the facts right, to lead well, because all too often we sheep just follow blindly.  Well, not so much blindly as with blinders.  Think about the last time you went to a museum, how much do you remember of the exhibits?  How much information did you take in? 

God doesn’t ask us to follow him with blinders, instead we are reminded over and over how good it is to ask for wisdom and understanding.  Now – we are at Day 16 before the Great Banquet.  I said yesterday that I was asking to be cleansed from the inside out.  Cleansing strips away impurities and now, I’m asking God to help this sheep know what to be ready to add to the packing list.  You see, sometimes we are protected by not knowing or are being prepared for something else later  - like those blinders, but being made to wait and being prepared do not put a limit on what God wants me to see.  Day 16, I’m asking God to add into me what I will need before I go to the Great Banquet.  That the wrong blinders will be taken away and the right focus will be given instead. 

I think about the men that are mentioned in Matthew 9: 27 – 31.  Setting the scene – Jesus has arrived in his home town.  Since showing up he has healed a paralyzed man, eaten with a tax payer, taught the disciples a lesson on fasting, healed a woman who touched his cloak, and raised a little girl from the dead.  As you might imagine, even without modern news networks, internet, phones, blogs, or texts, this kind of news traveled pretty fast.  Can you just imagine – neighbors telling neighbors, in the market place – “Did you hear about…”  Can you just imagine the families of the affected people?  And the little girl who was brought back from the dead, it says her father was a ruler.  So, the servants heard as well.  Some of them may have even been there the moment life came back to her body!   With all of that going on, two blind men followed Jesus.  Maybe someone guided them, maybe they moved with canes and care – I don’t know.  But, I do know that they asked with belief that the Lord would heal them  - and he did! 

I love taking pictures, taking in scenery and sights, seeing the faces of the people and furry creatures I love.  I don’t know what it would be like to be blind.  But, I can imagine how exciting it would be!  Maybe the first few minutes the light seemed overwhelming, colors were perhaps overwhelming for a while.  I wonder what the first thing they saw was, maybe the face of Jesus, their guide, the ground, the sun?  I don’t know.  But, I can imagine how precious that memory would be to them.  I’m asking God to remove my own blinders, to heal my “eyes” (my spiritual view) so that I may see clearly and see what He wants me to see.