John 9:25b “ …One thing I do know.  I was blind but now I see!”

I think we all are thrilled when our grasp of the obvious is working.  For some of us, it’s like a visitor who only shows up once in a while or someone who leaves at a most inopportune time.  Several years ago my grasp of the obvious was long gone and I had one of the most embarrassing moments in my life.  Fortunately, this event took place between me and the Lord.  But now I get the blessing of sharing it with you all. (:>)

I briefly worked with an organization as a traveling representative and was gone every other week.  Nice hotels were provided as we traveled from city to city.  On a Monday I arrived at my hotel somewhere in the south and when I entered my room I discovered the ugliest bathroom I ever saw.  It was big, barren with railings everywhere.  I couldn’t
believe they would have something like this and nearly went down to the front desk to insist on a room change.  (I can’t tell you how embarrassing this is!)

Fortunately I just accepted it.  Two days later as I was driving across the middle of nowhere, my grasp of the obvious suddenly returned.  In a nano-second it struck me.  As you have already likely figured out, the bathroom was designed for handicapped individuals!  If I had been in a wheel chair or on crutches or simply needing assistance, this bathroom would have been exactly what I needed.  What I considered ‘ugly’ would have been beautiful to the one needing it. (As I drove I thought of the Spaniard in Princess Bride and “humiliations galore!”)

The Lord really used this experience in a powerful and serious way with me.  At the time we were going through some very difficult things and there were ways of addressing the difficulties that I thought were ‘ugly’ and had dismissed them.  It was after this experience
that I recognized that what I considered ugly – wasn’t ugly at all.  They were appropriate and a blessing to assist us in our adventure.  We needed them as much as we would need railings in a bathroom if we were in a wheel chair or on crutches.

Needless to say this has been a humbling experience.  It has made me much more careful about drawing conclusions about what I think I see and what I think I perceive.  It is too easy to miss the obvious sometimes.  I thank God that while driving across the middle of nowhere, the Holy Spirit made this blind man to see!