The Lord Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. (Deuteronomy 31:8, NIV 1984).
My Musings – Since my wife Eileen was blind, we had our own grocery shopping ritual/system. I would hold onto the front of the shopping cart and pull it behind me. Eileen would hold onto handle behind the cart. I was in charge of steering (naturally) and normal braking. Eileen had control of the emergency brake. She had an uncanny sense of what aisle we were on. If she thought, I missed something on the list or if she decided to add something not on the list, she would stop walking and hold on tight. This was a bit annoying to me, because everyone knows the only thing worse that a “backseat” driver is a blind “backseat” driver. But almost without fail, where she stopped the cart was just where the item was in the aisle.
During the winter, after we checked out, I would pull out of the checkout lane and pull off to the side of the exit aisle while we zipped our coats and put our gloves on. There was one time (only one) where after I had my gloves on I naturally took off out of the store and towards the car. After popping the trunk, I turned around, and to my surprise, no Eileen. In full panic mode, I slammed the trunk and raced back to the store pushing the still unloaded cart. All the while wondering where she had “dropped off.”
She was just where we had stopped to zip our coats and put on our gloves. After she had finished putting on her gloves she had reached out for the cart. It was not there. Quietly she called my name. No Steve. She sensed she was close to the wall on her left (yes, she had that sense too), slowly edged towards it, and patiently not so patiently waited for my eventual return. Once I reached her, I sheepishly said “sorry,” to which she replied, “very funny.” Honestly, I really don’t think she thought so. But we laughed about it many times since, and it became one of our stories we liked to tell to put people at ease about her blindness.
My Musings – Unlike the people we put our trust in here on earth we can, without fail, trust that the Lord always “goes before [us]” and “will never leave [us] nor forsake [us]. Unlike me with Eileen, He “will [always] be with [us].” There is no need for us to “be afraid…[or]be discouraged.” And blind or not, there is no need for us to be backseat drivers.
“Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20, NIV 1984).
The Brew Is A Musing 