Give Me Your Eyes

I was listening to a newer song by Christian recording artist Brandon Heath titled Give Me Your Eyes. The song is amazing. Not only are the instrumentals/vocals awesome, but the message that this song conveys is one that really got me thinking.

The song speaks of God giving man His eyes to look at the world; seeing in the spirit. While this is a great spiritual lesson and challenge, I took it one step further. As I listened to the song I had a lofty revelation.

What if I were to take a step out from behind my glasses and look at the world through someone else’s eyes? What if I considered other’s more and took a hard look at the world through their perspective?

This is hard for me to do partly because I believe everyone should be like me (insert laugh). I am of course joking. I would not want everyone to be like me. But as I dig into my thoughts (which could be a scary, crazy, neurotic, disorganized, roller coaster, A.D.D.-esque journey), I began to wonder what it would be like to, as Salamanca Hiddle suggested in the book Walk Two Moons, walk two moons in someone else’s shoes. Scary to think, right?

How would the world look through a homeless person’s eyes? A prostitute or stripper? A single, low income mother? An illegal alien? The elderly? Teenagers? A college student? A CEO? A fast food worker? Mentally challenged? Unchurched? Unloved? Outcast? Abused?

The list can go on and on forever!

It’s amazing to think that if we, especially as Christians, would look at others as images of God, how much better this world would be. Now, I am not excluding myself. I stumble. I pass up opportunities to display Christ’s love. I am not always the best witness for Christ. But is anyone for that matter? No, and why? We are human just like everyone else in the world.

Nature's Great Mysteries

I was reading an article the other day on CNN. This article focuses on a collider, named The Large Hadron Collider, which will hopefully recreate some of the same conditions that were present during the “big bang.” Now, being the creationist I am, I know that God created the earth in six days and on the seventh day, he rested. Here is part of what scientist are hoping to discover:

“The collider will recreate the conditions of less than a millionth of a second after the Big Bang, when there was a hot "soup" of tiny particles called quarks and gluons, to look at how the universe evolved, said John Harris, U.S. coordinator for ALICE, a detector specialized to analyze that question (www.cnn.com).”

Did you catch that? “To look at how the universe evolved.” It’s amazing to me that scientists have not been able to prove the big bang therory; mainly because it’s just a theory. This is how scientist who study the creation of the universe keep job securtity and obtain millions of dollars in grants.

I found this exerpt to be quite interesting:

‘“When Columbus sails west, he thought he was going to find something. He didn't find what he thought he was going to find, but he did find something interesting,’ said Lykken, who works on the Compact Muon Solenoid, one of six experiments inside the collider complex (www.cnn.com).”

I believe this is called a serendipity, something fortunate that’s discovered while looking for something else entirely. No folks, not just a movie starring John Cusack. This is actual scientific terminology.

Personally, I belive that scientist will find a serendipity. I believe that they will discover how magnificant God’s creation is! I belive they will discover the vast mystery of God’s great universe! That would be quite the serendipity.

Empowerment for the Powerless

I have recently begun to volunteer for one of our regional Hippotherapy Program. Contrary to headline, this is not rehab for hippos. Hippotherapy is therapeutic riding for mentally and physically disabled individuals.

Besides the obvious, physical benefits of the therapy, I have noticed a major benefit that, I feel, surpasses all other benefits of this type of therapy. A benefit that you can see in every eye of every rider: power and control.

For respect of confidentiality, I will refer to one of the riders I work with as Dan. I started working with Dan a couple of weeks ago. For routine purposes, the program attempts to put the same volunteers with the same riders. Dan and mine’s fist encounter was our introduction to one another. I got a little of his history, where he attended school and he also introduced me to his family who were present for our therapy lesson.

The next week, I saw exactly why people enjoy volunteering their time and energy toward the Hippotherapy program. After the first class with another rider, it was now time for Dan’s class to start. As soon as Dan’s eyes strayed in my direction, I saw a finger pointed in my direction and my name streaming from his mouth.

Immediately my heart began to sink. He actually remembered who I was. I walked over to where Dan was seated on a picnic table. He got up and gave me quite an embraced hug and verified that I was going to be working with him followed up with his extreme excitement in his voice.

Power and control is felt by the riders upon mounting the horse. Many times in society, this population is looked at as powerless. But, as I saw in the eyes of Dan, he has complete control when he is on the horse. He has a sense of power that no human can give him. He builds his confidence every time he tells the horse to walk, trot, or takes the reigns to steer the horse. You can see the self-assurance flowing from the riders, and it’s in that moment, you humble yourself and realize, it’s not about your own selfish agenda to be a “good person,” but it’s about giving that sense of empowerment that, all too often, we take for granted