Scripture
Mark 10:46-52 (MSG)
 
46-48 They spent some time in Jericho. As Jesus was leaving town, trailed by his disciples and a parade of people, a blind beggar by the name of Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus, was sitting alongside the road. When he heard that Jesus the Nazarene was passing by, he began to cry out, "Son of David, Jesus! Mercy, have mercy on me!" Many tried to hush him up, but he yelled all the louder, "Son of David! Mercy, have mercy on me!"
49-50 Jesus stopped in his tracks. "Call him over."
 
They called him. "It's your lucky day! Get up! He's calling you to come!" Throwing off his coat, he was on his feet at once and came to Jesus.
 
51 Jesus said, "What can I do for you?"
The blind man said, "Rabbi, I want to see."
 
52 "On your way," said Jesus. "Your faith has saved and healed you."
In that very instant he recovered his sight and followed Jesus down the road.

Meditation
 
By Wendy Harmon
 
There are a lot of determined people in the Bible, and Bartimaeus (the blind man) from this scripture is no different. I love that he did not let the crowd shush him. He SHOUTED for Jesus to help him. But I also think it is really interesting that Jesus didn't just heal him - Jesus made the blind man tell him what he wanted. Bartimaeus didn't hesitate, he just answered, "I want to see."
 
I can't tell you how many times I've felt blind in my life and just wanted to see a way out of the mess. One of those times brought me to Orlando. My mess really became apparent in 2006 when our lives in Plainfield, IL started to get increasingly crazy and neither my husband nor I could figure a way to make it stop being crazy. We knew that we needed to start over, but we didn't know how. That's when an old dream of moving to Florida started to resurface. Jeff's mom had died recently, and it made us realize that we are not promised tomorrow. We needed to seize the day and make our dream happen. So we started praying that God would help us to see our way forward. We started quietly making plans, but were unsure of whether or not we should uproot our then 4th grader, Emma, without any idea of what life in a new place would be. But we kept praying.
 
In February of 2007, God sent us our answer through our pastor. Our pastor, who had no idea that we were thinking of moving, gave a wonderful sermon about "finding sheep to feed". She ended it by saying, "Whether it's Plainfield or Orlando, you have to go where you are called." Jeff and I both nearly fell out of our chairs. But we still didn't see the path. We didn't have jobs in Florida. How would we sell our house? How would we buy a new one? We started shouting for God to help us when we put our house on the market and gave our notices for our jobs without having jobs or a house in Orlando. But we knew that this was right! Then our house sold - in a week! And then out of the blue, the director of fine arts from Orange County Public Schools called responding to an email I had sent her. She had three interviews for me set up for the day after we were to arrive in Orlando, did I want them? Over and over, things fell in to place. We were not blind anymore. God was helping us to see in ways that were nothing short of amazing. We found Hunters Creek and a wonderful school for Emma and the most fantastic place of worship in Peace UMC. God had called us, healed us, and we followed!
 
Reflection
 I am NOT suggesting that you quit your job with no backup - it was crazy for us to do so! That it worked is our miracle. But what mess in your life is keeping you from your dreams? How can you shout out to God for help? Because you do have to know what you want, and you do have to ask! Follow that by listening carefully for an answer because you don't know where or when it will come. Then walk in faith as you follow God's path.
Prayer
Dear amazing God, we want to see. We want to know how to ask you for help when we need it and we want to listen for your answer and look for your healing. Thank you for loving us through all of our messes. Amen.
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