Out of Focus

The picture is out of focus. You can see the boy but the picture is fuzzy. This is my second day back home from my trip to Haiti and the picture expresses what I am feeling.

The boy in the picture has only been at Canaan for a couple of weeks. For the five days that we were in Haiti and when Joseph wasn’t in school, he was always somewhere near. Turn around and there he was ---- all three feet of mostly legs standing right beside me, or one of the others of our team.

The day the picture was made, he hung around the men who were working with power tools. Sometimes he and his little buddies took a swing with the hammer into the frame of the kitchen being pieced together, but mostly they practiced on scrap blocks of two by fours. Hammering with two hands, they worked the nail down with all their might.

At Canaan I was so focused. It wasn’t hard to identify how and who to love, how to praise and pray. My eyes could see. My heart was full of love, and grace, and peace.

Now I am home and I turn around and there is no one like Joseph longing for affection, needing to feel love from someone they don’t even know. I feel like I need a new prescription for my eyes because surely I don’t see what is right here in front of me.

My heart cries out like the blind man at the gate:

As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.”

He called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?”

“Lord, I want to see,” he replied.

Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God.   (Luke 18:35-43 NIV)

Joseph unwrapped Christmas gifts on Monday night. Most likely, the only time in his life that he has received at the celebration of Christ’s birth. His face was one big grin. No one knows his story. He was dropped off at Canaan. God’s people clothe him, feed him, and most importantly, love him. I feel so blessed to have had the privilege love him for five days. So thankful he is safe in the place of promise called Canaan.

It’s going to come. I live by the eyes of faith. My eyes must focus on Jesus, the unseen God who is everywhere seen.

Miracles happen when you call out to Jesus in blindness.

“Lord, what do I want you to do for me, you ask?”

“I want to see!”