“Lord, let our eyes be opened.” This was the request from two blind men after Jesus asked them “What do you want me to do for you?” I mean, Jesus is God, and He had to ask these two men as if He didn’t know? You see, Jesus already knew what these two blind men wanted. In fact, right before Jesus asked them, the crowd that followed Jesus was trying to keep these two men silent, as they initially & publicly cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us!” Rather than moving on from them, Jesus stopped and asked the two men, “What do you want me to do for you?”

This story is from Matthew 20:29-34. I read it again today and couldn’t help but think about how today’s society is trying more & more to get us to shut up and be silent when we talk about God. Look left, look right and there seems to be growing efforts to keep Christians silent—to keep us from talking to God and expressing our faith in public. These efforts are trying to get us to be silent in our own thoughts, thus, relegating us to the ill-advised notion that “God already knows what I need, so why ask?”

God desires us to ask and partake. We won’t always get what we ask, but it’s a critical part of our growing relationship with Him. These two blind men in this passage had it right all along. Their faith in Jesus was the catalyst for their boldness to publicly ask Him for mercy and for their physical eyes to be opened. The irony of this, is that while their physical eyes were in need of healing, their spiritual eyes were already seeing 20/20.

How about you? Are you becoming spiritually blind? Or are you asking and talking to Jesus? Speak up, can’t hear you!

At 10 years old, I was running across a busy Cass Avenue in Westmont, IL. My friends made it across just in time, and technically, so did I. But not before my right calf got hit by a car as I just made it across. There was a loud thud! The driver stopped. My friends looked stunned asked if I was okay. I said, “yes” and we kept running. I glanced back, and the driver still stopped was in shock that I’m alive, let alone my leg not breaking. It should have been much worse!

I was 12 years old. Same friends. We were running across a busy Ogden Avenue in Westmont, IL. It was like the video game Frogger. We all made it, but not before a car had to swerve to avoid hitting me. She stopped and gave me the finger. It should have been much worse!

I was 12 years old and riding my bicycle no-handed with my eyes closed. My friends said, “Look out!” I opened my eyes and they were just kiddin’ as they laughed. I close my eyes again, no handed. My friends said, “Look out!” This time, I didn’t believe them. So I kept my eyes closed. Then “Wham!” I hit a metal mailbox scraping up my face and leaving a deep cut on my chest. I still have a scar on my chest today. It should have been much worse!

I was 14 years old, and hopped on the roof of my neighbor’s house along with him. At the time, we started martial arts training together, so we had a “wannabe ninja” mentality. After a while roaming on the roof, we decided to jump off onto the front lawn. Both a little scared, he went first and landed successfully. He told me to roll forward as I land. Hesitant, I started to lean forward to jump and then my right foot got stuck on the gutter as I started to fall. I finally hit the ground in what seemed like forever. Surprisingly, no broken bones, no scratches, nothing. I didn’t even get the wind knocked out of me. Somehow I landed perfectly parallel on the ground as the impact from the fall was evenly distributed. It should have been much worse!

I was 24 years old, running late to my 8 a.m. class at NIU. It was raining, and I was a commuter that semester. Driving  on I88 west in my 1989 Toyota Tercel with bald tires I was stuck in a wolfpack of cars with an 18-wheeler along side me for about 10 minutes. Right before the Farnsworth exit, I finally found an opening. I sped up to 80 mph and broke free. But a few moments later, I felt my car beginning to hydroplane. Totally out of control, my car did a 180 as I was positioned to be hit head on by the 18-wheeler and the other cars. My car continued to skid towards the concrete median. I was destined to bounce off the median and get nailed by the truck. Luckily the concrete median just ended and transitioned into a grassy median. And that’s where my car safely skidded to—a grassy median, as the 18-wheeler and wolfpack of cars drove past me. Somehow, I escaped certain death, let alone injury to myself or even damage to my car. It should’ve have been much worse!

I look back and realize how many times I should have died. And these are just the ones I can remember. I know there are probably a dozen or so other. I have talked to God many times about this, and His answer is always the same…”You still have work to do, James.”

“If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again your boasting in Christ Jesus will abound on account of me.”

—Philippians 1:22-26