Peripheral Vision

I have been totally blind for over 50 years. I am not just blind when out in public, with a white cane, holding onto my assistant's arm, but blind every moment of every 24 hour day. It is a blackness that no one can imagine, and only those who live everyday doing the very things that sighted people do (preparing your food, doing your laundry, shaving, dressing, taking your medicines and supplements, trying to keep your house somewhat in order, trying to remember where things are located) only then can you appreciate vision.

I never cease to be amazed that anyone going from one room to another must always turn on a light, and usually they never think to turn it off. I never cease to be amazed that people with good eyes and somewhat normal intelligence will come into my house and move a piece of furniture, when they should know full well that I more or less walk with my hands, feeling for furniture in certain places. After 50 years, I have given up on finding cleaning people who will clean and not completely turn my life upside down by moving everything.

Those of us in the eyesight business (and I was trained and practiced as an eye doctor in the military and elsewhere...chief of one of the Army's largest eye clinics) know all about central vision, blind spots, eye disease and even peripheral vision. In my youth, (and I thank God for the fact that I could see in my youth, before the war) I believe I had good peripheral vision, aware of things going on in the periphery of my visual field. The people who work for me do not have such vision, they never see anything. Do athletes and racecar drivers no longer have peripheral vision? I believe we have lost almost all vision in relation to other things. Surely we should be able to see what is going on in this world, that the “atheisizers”, Satanic forces of liberalism have taken over.

This morning's newspaper, in just one insignificant small-town on the coast of eastern North Carolina, contained these articles: “Prostitution sting leads to two arrests”, “Trial Date for ABC Administer Set” (this involves the ABC administrator of the county's liquor stores, with a total of 19 employees, who was paid $275,000 a year plus benefits. His son, his assistant, was paid $125,000 plus benefits. A builder who built an ABC store allegedly built an addition to the administrator's house at taxpayer's expense. Of course, this is normal for a state where decadent liberal Democrat politicians have ruled for over 100 years. The shame of eastern North Carolina Democrats; the longest serving Senator, 43 years, a known homosexual with many young boyfriends, constantly in the news with their escapades. Like the lesbian Senator from this city, in the news with she and her same-sex mate's escapades.), “Two nightclubs closing because of alleged homicides” (Rhino and 609), “72 year-old woman arrested on drug trafficking charges”, “Suspected serial killer responsible for two women's remains found on Carolina Beach Rd.” ...And so it goes, day after day, week after week. To say nothing of the brazen political corruption in Raleigh and in Washington DC.

In your peripheral vision, can you see over 600 tornadoes in one month, floods in the Midwest, fires in Texas, earthquakes all over the world. In Holy Scripture, the Book of Numbers get its name from the census taken by Moses. He wanted the number of men, 19 years of age and older, prepared for warfare as they crossed into the Promised Land to face the 7 civilizations there. He found that of the millions who had left Egypt, there were 630,000 men of that age. It was an 11 day trek from Sinai to Kadesh-Barnea for the nearly 3 million Jews. Moses sent 12 spies to look over the land; only two, Caleb and Joshua, knew that they could conquer this land promised by God. Because of the cowardice of the millions, their unbelief, God kept them in the desert for over 38 years. All of these men, with the exception of two, not having the vision which certainly should have been instilled in them from every miracle of God they had witnessed. They all were buried in the desert with the exception of Caleb and Joshua.

God is in charge. The big sins, the big addictions may not be in your view...illegal drugs, drunkenness, thievery, but the One who counts the hairs on your head, knows about OUR eye sight.

Are you like the fat, overweight watcher in the bleachers, criticizing the Olympian playing ball...something you cannot do? Are you the critic...always aware of others' faults? There has never been a statue of a critic. I have hungered my whole life for encouragement, just to hear someone, knowing my condition, say, “I daily pray for you.” In our periphery, we should be aware of what is going on in the world, just how fast the ship is going down. Discouragement will suck the very energy out of your life. In a time when it seems that everyone around us is intent on going to hell, encourage those who are trying to do right. Don't let the world, the flesh, the devil, kick you in the teeth. Don't allow critics to determine your destiny.

The most common phase in the Bible, over 1000 times, is “don't be afraid.” Stand, dig in your heels, don't give one inch, face Satan and his followers clad in the full armor of God, breastplate of righteousness, shield of faith, helmet of salvation.