Helping the Blind See

His name was Trevor, but for some reason everyone called him Hefty. He was well known in his small town because he was a star on the local high school football team. And he was good. In fact, Hefty played football in college after he graduated.

Hefty joined a Flag Football league his church put on, but he never came to church. He was known as quite the partier, and didn’t really consider spiritual things.

One day, Hefty was in a boating accident. He was hurt pretty bad, and it got him to thinking. One February morning, he showed up at church with a friend from school. It was Super Bowl weekend, and he showed up at the youth group’s Super Bowl party that night.

Something began to happen in Hefty’s life, and I had the privilege of talking to him about Jesus. It took a lot of time and energy, but Hefty became convinced that he needed to accept Christ and be baptized.

Hefty was, well, hefty. He was a thick offensive lineman, weighing about 260 pounds. It was not easy getting him in the water and out, but seeing the change in his life was well worth it.

I never thought twice about the man hours invested in Trevor. No-one, not even Trevor was too lost for Jesus. He was blind, but now he sees, because he was not shoved away.  

Amelia was a troubled kid in the parking lot of a gas station when I first met her. Two of my friends had been talking with her for an hour or so, and they just about had her talked in to attending a local youth rally we were helping to put on.

She came to the rally that night, and afterwards, with a cigarette hanging from her mouth, my friends shared Christ with her.

She came back the next night, and we learned more about her. Her family was torn apart. Drugs were common in her house, and she had done them herself. She was very, very rough around the edges. School was not a focus of her attention at all.

But at the end of that week, Amelia began to blossom. She accepted Christ, and the suicide attempts and drug-induced lifestyle she had once lived was replaced with the joy of the Lord and the passion to reach her lost family members.

Some would say Amelia was a lost cause, too far gone. I would say she was a modern-day beggar who just needed to be touched by Jesus. Some would try to keep her from Christ, but Jesus desired her heart, and he got it. She once was blind, but now she can see.