Amazing Grace

I met a very interesting individual recently who could play the piano masterfully !  He amazed us all who heard him by playing any selection we requested from classical pieces to great hymns and he played with incredible skill.  He played “How Great Thou Are” in a way I have never heard it before !!   His hands glided over the keys with such ease and grace that all who witness him were astounded.  Well, you may think, that’s great there are many such skilled musicians in our world. And you would be right, but not many with this man’s obstacles.  You see Ed, has some physical handicaps.  His body is contorted in a way that his head is in a downward position, kind of hunched over. And there is one other ailment Ed has that most accomplished pianists don’t have to contend with as they play. Ed is blind !!

I asked Ed has he been blind since birth, and being a witty man who chooses not to whine about his trials, he tried his best to raise his head to me to speak and said, “Ask the question another way!”   I wasn’t quite sure what he meant so he helped me out. “Ask me have I been blind all of my life.”  So I indulged him and asked him this question to which he pulled me into his trap and said, “No, only up until this point, my life isn’t over yet !!” We all had a good chuckle but it told me where he’s at with his physical situation.  Like Fanny Crosby, who was blind and wrote many of our great hymns, Ed also chooses not to wallow  in his trials but make the most of what God has given him.    Ed plays all around the country,  and even teaches music. He plays hymns in his church and in the short time I was able to be around him I’m sure I can say he has been a huge inspiration to many who have known him.

What about you? You have trials I’m sure.  Will you like Ed and the great apostle Paul seek to allow God to use even them for His glory or will you whine and complain and fixate on them?   Even Paul had great trials in his life. Many believe what he prayed for God to remove from his life of the thorn in the flesh mentioned in 2 Cor.12 was to heal his eyes (which I believe were injuries incurred with his being stoned in Acts 14 at Lystra). So he prayed three times for the Lord to heal him (remember, God had used Paul many times to heal people of their physical ills) but the Lord said this to him, “My grace is sufficient for thee; for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”  (vs.9).     I believe many times that is precisely why God brings us to ‘deep waters’:  to prompt us to trust His strength and grace and not trust ourselves. To shine through us and show others He is real and at work through our life !

There are still those in our day that you look at and wonder at the grace of God through their lives.  God wants that person to be YOU !  Oh it may not be that He wants you to have some nagging physical ailment or emotional distress, He simply wants to show a sinful world that He is very real and active in your life, Will you ask Him today to be a vessel for His grace?   Start the journey today if you haven’t already and if you have stay focused on Him letting Him work through you during trial or smooth sailing ! Remember you have an audience just as much as Ed !!

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