Adaptation Or Transformation

My daughter is home for her spring break from college.
I love to see her face and hear her footsteps in the house.
I love to listen to her heart and sit in the kitchen and talk over a cup of tea.
We have some things planned for the week but mostly we will enjoy being together.

The first thing we needed to do was to go to the Apple store concerning her phone.
She had been telling me that her phone was not holding a charge.
Even when I am able to charge it, within minutes, the battery is down to nothing again.
My phone is shutting off at random times; I know something is wrong.

She called Apple Support from school and talked to someone about the problem.
Amazingly, they were able to do a diagnostic check over the phone as she talked to them.
They concluded the problem was indeed with the battery and it would need to be replaced.
Of course, the warranty had passed, so we would be responsible for purchasing a new one.

USA Today ran a news article about the five largest malls in the U.S.
The mall that we needed to go to is number two on the list.
It is not my favorite place to shop mostly because of the sheer size.
You could spend an entire day there and not see everything there is to see.

Repairing her phone was important so an appointment was made.
My daughter and I had naively gone to the Apple store without an appointment once before.
We were there for hours.
We learned our lesson.

Our appointment was at 3:10 in the afternoon.
When I go into the store, I always feel as if I enter another world.
A high-tech world to which I am a mere spectator.
I know my way around the computer, thanks to my children’s tutorials, but this is different.

Every seat was taken.
Every available space to stand had a person standing in it.
Employees wearing navy shirts with an apple logo were everywhere.
They were clean cut, pierced, dread-locked, and tattooed.

They were knowledgeable.
They were efficient.
They were helpful.
They were constantly on the move.

They spoke into hidden microphones that were beneath their shirt.
They listened in the earpiece that was in their ear.
They had an iPad upon which they recorded everything about the visit.
They handled each situation with ease.

I marveled at the sheer size of the operation.
My limited knowledge felt like child’s play as I watched them expertly handle problems.
I happened to see one employee typing more than the others.
She was helping someone else at the large table where we were sitting and waiting.

She would type and then hand her iPad to the customer.
The customer would type and hand it back to her.
This went on for quite a while.
The customer never spoke nor did she.

Another employee walked up to her and tapped her on the shoulder.
She turned and he signed to her.
She signed back.
This amazing employee was deaf.

I was fascinated with her efficiency.
Her deafness was no barrier to her ability to handle each case that was before her.
Every customer seemed highly satisfied with the professional way she took care of them.
She moved from person to person and case to case with ease.

I tried to imagine what it must be like for her.
She could not hear the din of voices that filled the store.
She had no earpiece in her ear or no hidden microphone beneath her shirt.
Yet she communicated beautifully to the hearing world around her.

I watched other employees sign to her.
I thought about how they needed to learn the correct way to communicate with her.
Both the deaf employee and the hearing employees gleaned from each other.
Each learned about the other in a very hands-on way.

It was a beautiful thing to see.
Some people think that a disability means a non-productive life.
They could not be more wrong.
A disability simply means that everyday things will be done  a bit differently; that’s all.

Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk and they begged him to place His hand on the man. After He took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put His fingers into the man’s ears. Then He spit and touched the man’s tongue. He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh, said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”). At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly. Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.” (Mark 7:31-37)

Jesus opened the ears of the deaf.
Jesus opened the eyes of the blind.
Jesus healed the lame so they could leap like deer.
He has done everything well.

Those who are not in Christ do not have ears to hear or eyes to see.
Spiritual deafness and blindness is a terrible thing.
Spiritual deafness and blindness affect eternal life.
God still opens the ears of the deaf and the eyes of the blind.

The young woman I saw had to adapt her everyday life to accommodate her deafness.
She was able to do that expertly.
People who are spiritually deaf and blind cannot adapt their life on their own.
They need the Holy Spirit to open their ears and their eyes for them.

I thought about that as I watched this young woman.
She could not hear the din around her, yet she communicated beautifully.
Spiritual deafness and blindness prevents one from hearing or seeing the things of God.
The things of God are spiritually discerned.

The Holy Spirit is the key.
He quickens the heart and the mind to understand the things of God.
He opens the blind eyes and the deaf ears so the things of God can be heard and seen.
He gives the person a new heart.

No adaptation.
Rather, it is transformation.
It is being made new.
It is being able to see and hear God clearly and live with Him forever.

Amen.