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PRAYER FOR THE WEEK
Jesus, help me remember that I don't need to understand something new all at once! Amen.

Jesus saw a blind man begging. "Whose fault is it that he's blind - his or his parents'?" Jesus' followers asked. "Neither," Jesus said. "He's blind so others can see God's power in him." Then Jesus healed the man. People kept asking, "How did Jesus cure you?" The man replied: "Only someone from God could." And he followed Jesus.

Having to learn something new can send a kid into a panic. You look at that page of unfamiliar homework or those directions you're supposed to follow and freeze up: "There's no way I can do this!"

You might be looking at things the wrong way. You assume you're supposed to understand it all right now - when, really, all you need to do is take the first step.

No one understands a new subject or directions all at once; that's why questions are numbered 1, 2, 3! Right now, you only have to look at number one, not the entire page.

This week's Gospel (John 9:1-41) is about people who panic, and two who don't: Jesus and the blind man He heals. Jesus meets the man and gets questions heaped on Him: Whose fault is it that the man is blind? How does Jesus heal him? How can Jesus heal people?

Jesus focuses on one thing: healing the man, so more people will believe in God.

Then everyone asks the man questions: What does he think of Jesus? Why does he think Jesus healed him? The man focuses on one thing: Someone who can do miracles must come from God. So he follows Jesus.

The crowd is acting like a kid faced with learning something new: panicking, trying to understand it all at once. Jesus would rather they take the first step: just start believing in Him.

The man He heals is smart enough to do that. When you're struggling with something new, can you put aside your panic and only take the first step?[[In-content Ad]]

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