| Last week, I met a person I would describe as exceptional. In many ways, he is just like every other good man. He does his job faithfully, loves his wife and family, enjoys a good laugh, and goes to church often. But there is an extraordinary quality about his life that separates him from so many others. He knows what it is to be content in his circumstances! It is something he learned the hard way.
Wayne, a 71-year-old construction volunteer for a well-known missionary support organization, spends his free time building facilities for Bible translators all over the world. When he gets home to the United States, he spends time renovating the homes of retired missionaries. On top of these projects, he also took on supervising the construction of a million-dollar church building for his home church in Texas. Oh, yes, theres another small thing I forgot to mentionWayne is blind. Wayne began losing his sight as a teenager. He had a degenerative and inherited eye condition.
When Wayne heard the news he was shocked but he was not the kind of person to feel sorry for himself very long. Instead, he decided to prepare for the inevitable. The first thing he did was marry the love of his life, Beulah. Then, as a future investment, he bought several fixer-upper rental properties. At that point, Wayne could still see a little, so he decided to do the construction work himself. But he also decided something elsehe would do the work on the properties without using his eyes. This would become a learning experience for him. His goal was to feel rather than to see what he was doing. So Wayne hammered nails, built frames, painted walls, and shingled roofs with his eyes tightly closed. After each part of the job he opened his eyes to evaluate his work. When there were mistakes, he would start over and repeat the project until he had mastered his movements and had finished his task to his complete satisfaction. All those months of renovating his properties gave Wayne the time to train every muscle in his body, every touch of his fingers, and every sound in his ear to produce excellence without seeing it.
Today, Wayne is totally blind but very a very skillful worker. A missionary recently described the day she met Wayne: We were shocked to see a blind man come to repair our home but he was truly Gods answer to our prayers. My eyes fill with tears when I think about how deeply he blessed us. It was a joy to see him work. God graciously gave us a dedicated, conscientious, and detailed worker.
She continued, Early one morning, my husband warned Wayne to be extra careful because the light was so poor. Wayne just chuckled, shook his head, and said You people with sight are so handicapped! He taught us that nothing is impossible when we depend on God!
Wayne would want the credit for his successes and he would quickly tell you that the Lord is the source of his joy. His relationship with God is what helps him whistle while he works. Wayne sees beyond himself. He is a thankful man, an exceptional person. His contentment in the midst of difficult circumstances and his determination to turn negative limitations into positive opportunities gives me a picture of practical godliness. Seeing that picture calls me to account and, when I think of his spiritual vision, I indeed wonder which one of us is really the blind person.
Sarah Gleason July 2005 |
