Blind Eyes

"And how was Tiny Tim in church today?" his mother asked.

“As good as gold,” said Bob, “and better. Somehow he gets thoughtful, sitting by himself so much, and thinks the strangest things you ever heard. He told me, coming home, that he hoped the people saw him in the church, because he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant to them to remember upon Christmas Day, who made lame beggars walk, and blind men see.” 

Henri Samoutou is our doctor from Gabon. He is specialized in eye surgery and does dozens of eye surgeries here at Pioneer Christian Hospital. Last Tuesday, I had the privilege of sitting in his office while his post-surgery patients came in to be looked at and have their eye bandages removed. This was an amazing and exciting experience. Have you ever seen someone who has been blind for years, maybe their whole life, look around the room seeing? 

Henri’s wife took a photo of one man pre-surgery, and another afterwards. It was hard to tell that it was the same man. The clear, open eyes and huge smile showed the changed life. He had over one hundred grandchildren he was looking forward to seeing, a lot of them for the very first time.

One man came in and when his bandages were taken off he looked all around, a big smile on his face.  He told Henri to back up far when he held up his fingers. He’d left his cane outside, hopefully never to be used again. Henri told us that he used to have a whole collection of peoples’ old canes: a testimony to his success as a surgeon and the grace of God in his skilled hands.