1-23-12<\/p>\n
Being in the cartoon business for most of my life, I am familiar with one of the standard clich\u00e9s: someone arrives in Heaven and, bing, there are the Pearly Gates; a bearded St Peter; a giant guest register.<\/p>\n
Easy to draw, hard to see. That is, to see in the way the Bible describes our first day in Heaven. There is no check-in procedure. No nervous waiting to hear whether the pencil we swiped in fifth grade will keep us out. And St Peter \u2013 oh, he will be there, among the multitudes we will want to meet. I burn with curiosity to, possibly, ask questions of Abraham and Moses and St Paul and Luther. And Job! Augustine! And countless martyrs who served the poor and the oppressed.<\/p>\n
But the first thing that we will see will be Jesus, from my reading. The Bible says He is seated at the right hand of God\u2019s throne, which might be so blinding white with glory as to obscure other things; yet we will not be able to take our eyes from it.<\/p>\n
So, I think visually. But we all must, at least in this case. We imagine Heaven \u201cthrough our minds\u2019 eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are some people for whom this is easier than for the rest of us. Many believers who are blind have testified that they can \u201csee\u201d a silver lining, so to speak, in their sightlessness. For instance, there is the factor of other senses being heightened. And there are the plausible cases for increased sensitivity to other peoples\u2019 challenges. And a practical understanding of dependence. These things, the rest of us can imagine.<\/p>\n
But many blind people have shared a unique and tender \u2013 but passionate \u2013 thrill of expectation that when their sight is restored, when they have their perfect bodies in Heaven, the first thing that they see will NOT be the \u201cPearly Gates.\u201d That was the testimony of the blind hymn-writer (9000 hymns) Fanny Crosby; it is in the title of a song by the blind gospel singer Terri Gibbs: \u201cThe First Thing That I See Will Be Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n
My good friend Anna Marie Spencer sent me a video this week of the latest such person to manifest that powerful faith. Ten-year-old Christopher Duffley was born blind and with severe autism. His mother had been on drugs; he was up for adoption. Pretty tough odds. But at the age of four he started to sing for Jesus, and has touched many people since then. Some day, in Glory, he and Fanny Crosby and Terri Gibbs will look at each other and share stories. I\u2019d like to sketch that get-together.<\/p>\n
In the meantime little Christopher sings. Amazingly. He teaches the rest of us onlookers how to overcome, how to triumph, how to\u2026 see. \u201cSeeing,\u201d after all, is most special in relation to what we look at. Those of us who sometimes are handicapped by taking good vision for granted, need to see that truth clearly.<\/p>\n
+ + +<\/p>\n
This brief video is of little Christopher Duffley singing \u201cOpen the Eyes of My Heart\u201d in Manchester, New Hampshire. My guess is that most of the eyes that were upon him that evening not just saw, but wept, at this awesome performance.<\/p>\n