from Ron Rose
June 16, 2008

Preparation

It was beyond words… one of those things you can't just describe, you have to experience. Last week I had cataract surgery; after removing the cataract the Doctor replaced my old near-sighted lens in the left eye with a new Crystalens. It only took a few minutes and I walked out of the surgical center seeing clearly without contacts or glasses for the first time since Kindergarten.

Everything seemed brighter and whiter. I now live in a HD world. The transformation reminded me of a man who experienced something far more amazing. And, his few minutes of eye-work didn’t come with a bill attached.

The guy was known for his blindness, he probably had vision in the past, but not now. The Healer took the man aside and touched him and asked, “Can you see anything?”

“Yes! I can see people, but they look like trees walking!” The Healer wanted the man to see the real story, to see with clarity and perception, to see beyond the fog and distractions, to see the person inside, not just the physical shape and color.

So, Jesus touched the man a second time.

“Now I see everything clearly.”

I have a clearer vision and sharper understanding about seeing clearly. And, I have a more profound understanding of our need for second and third and fourth touches. Do you need to see beyond your blur? Do you need a second touch?

Sometimes we are not aware of our blindness… we have lived so long in the fog that we have no expectation of seeing more clearly. We get to the point when we are unable to focus on what God wants us to see; it's called spiritually blindness. I've been there, how about you?

I remember how my heart events (three attacks in January of 2002) clarified my blur. In the solitude of the CCU God touched me and cleared away the fog; he gave me new vision for my future… a focus, not on myself, but on the emptiness and loneliness around me. Are your eyes seeing past the blur?

Inspiration

Jonathan worked in a ministry that cared for hundreds of families infected and affected by HIV-AIDS. His eye’s had been opened to life beyond ministry… to stories of second touches.

There was a 5-year-old child, call him Sipho, who had lost his mother, then his father, then an aunt, and finally his grandmother, his last living caregiver. All had died of AIDS. This five-year-old child had cared for them all, hauling water, scrounging for food, and cleaning up around them. And, one by one he had watched them all die.

When he didn't come to the pre-school taught by one of Jonathan’s co-workers, she went out looking for him in the cemetery.

He was furiously digging down into his grandmother’s fresh grave. His fingernails were broken and bleeding.

“What are you doing Sipho?’ she asked.

He replied, “My Granny must get up now; who is there to look after me? She has to get up. I have to get her up.”

Can you see his face? Do you sense how alone he is? Do you see beyond the trees?

Siphos became her second touch. God gave her new sight, a new vision, and a new future.

Motivation

God never runs out of second touches. He delights in taking us to new vistas. But, you can’t have second touches if you stay in the background, hugging the walls, holding on to security, and refusing to see the plight of people all around you.

You can’t pay for second touches or earn them; they are given and only given by the gentle Healer. He gives us the touch when we are ready to see beyond the blur, when we are ready to see more than shapes and colors. When the time is right to see inside the people you meet. Are you ready?

What do you see?