A turning point...

And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things.



Been a long, hard week...but a good one, work being good but demanding a bit physically as I've been hired to fill a gap long needing to be addressed. It should slow down soon but it will be a week or two before I post with any regularity.

Yesterday was one of those moments that, in today's hustle, could easily be passed over without a second glance. I was dealing with a customer who was deaf, frustrated because those they have been dealing with up to this point had no patience for communicating with them as a person, demanding that the deaf customer write out their requests.

When my people introduced me to them the day before yesterday, I used what little---very little---sign language I knew to introduce myself...an action that seemed to have had a profound effect on the customer as I was informed that they eagerly were waiting to see me during my inspection the following day.

When next we met, there was a patient flurry of signing going on as my memory was slowly jogged, the customer expressing their needs to me as best they could. After that, the conversation turned to my tattoos, where I got them (actually built the machine myself, then proceeded to see if it worked---a long story...sigh...), who was the girl (thankfully, it bears a striking resemblance to my wife but I wouldn't meet her for another 10 years) and where did I learn signing. I found out that they were brethren in Christ and that, since they started dealing with my company, they had been praying to God for a long time for someone they can communicate with in the corporate office, especially because of the difficulty of dealing with our field reps.

Long story short...we both were overwhelmed at the Providential magnitude of the moment...I was quite shaken, the situation draining me from digging up long lost skills, the physical demands of my inspections that day adding to it and the teaching environment I was in with my entourage adding even more---I was literally vibrating from it all and it took many minutes to regain my thoughts for the rest of the day's work.

As I drove back home later that day, I wept, realizing there are few times we are given glimpses of His Hand at work in our lives and in the lives of those around us, and I'm betting quite frankly, there are more moments like this for us to see, but our own tunnel vision blocks the view, like blinders on a plow horse. I was the answer to the earnest prayers of another, the blundering sign language a sign of hope to the eyes of one whose ears were shut long ago to the warp and woof of this world.

Now, more than ever, I believe those tears being wiped from our eyes on that Great Day of His appearing, will be the tears of missed opportunities and the blinded eyes and deafened ears of those of us in the thirty and sixty fold crowd.

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.---(Revelation 21:4)

But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.---(Mat 13:23)