Vision

It's been said that JIM THORPE was the greatest athlete of all time. After winning the Decathlon in the Stockholm Olympics, the King of Sweden said to Jim: “Sir, you are the best athlete in the world”.

Jim was a Native American, and many despised him because of that, but they couldn't help acknowledging his greatness. He was a man of vision. Some said he was a bit mad, because he always saw farther than others, and achieved his goals.

When he was on the ship to Sweden with the US Olympic team, he would lie down on deck, close his eyes, and say, “I've just jumped seven metres...I'm running the 100m race in first place”. Everyone laughed at him, but in the real races, his dreams came true.

Often we live so oppressed by current and future events that we cannot see the way forward. Sometimes when a problem comes up we feel so bad that we can't go on, and we think we are the unhappiest people in the world.

The prophet Elisha and his servant were surrounded by the enemy, but each reacted differently. The prophet was unmoved, but his servant (the “normal” fellow) couldn't stop worrying about what he saw coming.

Then the prophet Elisha said enigmatically: “O Lord, open his eyes so he may see“. And his servant saw that there were many more on their side than on the enemy's!

Elisha was a man of vision who could see and feel things as God saw them. This is so important for us! Maybe today you have a problem that is upsetting you so that you can't see reality any more.

But those who are with us are more than those who are against us. We need to learn to see what is really around us. God controls everything so that some day we will know that it was all for our good (Romans 8:28).

We only need vision to look at things differently: the way God sees them.