Going Blind

Some time while we were living in the country I had my infamous blind experience.

I was riding the bus to school and began bragging to a friend that I could shut my eyes and concentrate so hard that I couldn't open my eyes again. When I was challenged to prove it - I did. I shut my eyes and pretended I couldn’t open them.

When we got to school, I forgot to stop pretending. My friend told me to open my eyes - we were at school. But I said I couldn't. So he got the bus driver. The bus driver told me to open my eyes and again, I said I couldn’t. The teacher came next following a similar pattern. And then came the principal. By now I realized I had dug a deep hole and didn't know how to get out. They led me into school and told me to sit at my desk. I thought it was a trap to see if I would peek. So I kept my eyes firmly shut. Next, my parents were called and then finally we went to the doctor.

At the doctor's office, I had x-rays taken. The doctor asked if I had had my head hit recently.

Fortunately, the week before I had fallen out of the truck while it was moving. I hadn't been hurt - but this at least provided my way out. While laying there, I gradually developed the ability to open my eyes. The doctor decided that it might be a delayed reaction to my fall and sent me home to rest for the remainder of the day. My eyesight never failed me since.

My parents and my brother never found out I was faking until I was 43 years old. I was preaching a sermon at the First Christian Church in Lebanon and used this story as a sermon illustration. That Sunday my parents decided to visit and they heard the true story for the first time.

My brother found out the truth shortly after that. He had felt guilty for decades believing he was at fault. For when I had fallen out of the truck, it was because he had pushed me. The door hadn't been fastened securely and the push was just enough to make the door open and for me to roll right into the ditch - not hitting my head or getting hurt in the least. That's how I became blind.