Guest spot

Welcome to Unseen today. We have story today from Darell Martin, who we have heard from several times before. Next week we will talk about either seasons or how little irritations can wear us down, which ever God decides.

 

I Was Blind but now I See

by Darell Martin

Five thirty comes early any day but especially on a Saturday morning when I could, at least, sleep until seven.  But I didn’t want to miss it. It was the first day of fall, and I didn’t want to miss the sunrise this particular day. 

One of my most favorite places on earth to spend part of my day is in, believe it or not, Abilene, Texas at Jacob’s Dream on the Abilene Christian University campus. This magnificent world class sculpture was created by Jack Maxwell and dedicated to the university during their centennial in 2006. Part of the sculpture is a metal casting of four, larger-than-life, angels either ascending or descending a ladder into heaven. According to Genesis, Jacob had a dream after falling exhausted from his harrowing journey, fleeing the wrath of his older brother, Esau. When Jacob awoke he call the place Bethel saying, “Surely the LORD is in this place.” There are various scriptures on stones, in this small park, that look as if they had been randomly strewn over the area. But, in fact, each piece of sculpture, every stone and each scripture is place in a specific spot. You can walk from one stone to another, reading various Bible passage from both the old and new testaments.

Now the reason I came early that Saturday morning was to see the cross. You see if you stand on a particular spot in the park and observe a particular stand of stones, on the west side, you can see the cross within the space between the stones. You cannot see it from any other vantage point other than in that one spot.  And on the Autumnal Equinox, or so I had heard, the rising sun can be seen within the space of the cross. I was there to see if—to hope that—it was true.

I went through the McDonald’s drive through, got a cup of coffee and drove to the spot, hoping no one else was there. Since most people were still in bed, I had the entire park to myself.  I sat drinking my coffee and praying for quite awhile. As dawn began creeping over the horizon I sat in anticipation on a stone wall facing east, facing the cross—watching, waiting. But alas, there was no sun peeking through the cross. I stood, thinking that I would have a better vantage point but, to my dismay, saw the sun rising, not to the center, but to one side of the cross. Disappointed, I began thinking it was all a bust—like something you hear as true on the internet, only to find out it was bogus hype.

But then I noticed the words on the ground. I hadn’t seen them earlier for the darkness all around. It was from scripture, quoted from the story of the man born blind in John chapter 9 and from my favorite hymn “Amazing Grace. “I was blind but now I see.” How could I have missed it? “I must hurry,” I thought. “The sun is rising quickly, now.” I quickly moved toward the words and stood on “I see!” And there it was. The sun positioned in the very center of the cross. In fact, in its brilliance, the risen sun seemed to eclipse the cross itself. And I thought of Easter. The old wooden cross of death, which on Friday had held fast the Savior of the world, now on Sunday stood old and tattered against the risen Son of God. Death had been defeated. Darkness had been replaced with radiant and dazzling light. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!