I walked out of class a few days ago and I was met by a couple men who were from outside of our community and had come for the day to do some ministry. Clarkston inevitably will draw people because of the rich diversity here so when they approached me, I had a fairly good idea what they were about to do.

“We are just going around asking people if we can pray with them. Is there anything we can pray with you about today?”

I shared a little of my story, missions career, and that I was thankful that people are bold in their witness. I asked them to pray for my wife and son who are struggling through online school. After they concluded the prayer, they asked to walk with me the rest of the way to my house.

The walk was about a 10-minute walk from where we were. We approached a cross street with a light, and I noticed they were a little hesitant to cross. They were standing in front of the pedestrian crosswalk button, so I asked them to press it. They did and there was quite a bit of traffic. When it was time to cross, they sort of just stood there. I told them, “let’s go guys.” They followed me and sort of chuckled because I was leading the way. They may still be standing there if I had not taken the lead; they were not from here and apprehensive.

As we turned down the street to my apartment, I could sense that one of them was trying to form a question about my blindness. I thought about asking the question for him, “So how much can you see?” This is everyone’s favorite question. Everyone I have ever met (I am exaggerating) has asked me this. I went through the whole, “I have very little useful vision routine.” This was then followed by, “Do you mind if I pray for your eyes?”

Okay, this is where it always gets interesting. I say this as if it happens often. It does. 

“You can pray for me. That is a wonderful thing to put your faith into practice but before you pray let me give you a little understanding. I fully believe that God made me how He wanted me to be. God’s power is made perfect in my weakness and it is really because of my disability that makes life and ministry around here as effective as it is. I have only been here a couple months but already people remember me because of the white cane. I make so many connections this way. I never pray for my healing or even have a desire to be healed at this point. You can pray and if God chooses to show His power through healing, then praise be to His name. If He does not, I am totally fine.”

A bit of a pause as they just stepped into something they probably had not encountered before. One of the men pushed forward and asked, “So can I pray for you? Is that still okay?” Yeah, go for it man I replied.

The young man prayed and a couple minutes later he asked if I saw any difference in my vision. I told him I did not. He asked if he could pray for me again but somehow the conversation moved, and I was thankful he never brought it up again.

As we approached my house the other guy needed to use the bathroom and asked if he could use our restroom. I joked and told them that the truth was now revealed of why they followed me home. I laughed and said that a 10-minute walk was a long way to go to the bathroom.

Both men were very respectful in everything they did and said as they approached me. Even the blindness stuff was courteous, and they were understanding as they asked to pray. I tried to explain that every person with a disability is in a different place and someone dying of cancer may be desirous or desperate for healing. It had never really crossed the minds of one of the men that this sort of thing could make a disabled person feel like they were someone in need of fixing. I honestly believe that their perspective was simply an opportunity for God to show His glory and for them to exercise their faith.

I received a text later in the day from one of the men stating that he was very thankful to have met me and that he learned a lot during that day. I do not know if it was the blind conversation or me talking a bit about the diversity of our neighbors. Regardless, his posture was humble.

I guess the moral of the story here is that we as disabled folks really need to keep advocating and giving a different perspective on theology and disability. Though we may grow weary, the conversation is worth it. For the able-bodied, the lesson is to stay humble and not assume that healing is necessary or even needed. Sometimes it is. I get that could be a tightrope to walk but if you love and care about the people you meet it does not have to be awkward or difficult.

The second message is that there are many Christ-followers out there with all kinds of methods in how they are trying to engage people and serve Christ. I am not a cold turkey evangelism sort of guy. I share my faith often in a variety of ways, but rarely does it involve walking up to a stranger. These guys had a different approach. I was able to spin the conversation to a very relational tone and I think we all learned something. For me, the message is that our preferred methods are not for everyone. Everyone does not need to do it my way. I do not need to do it their way. We do though, as ambassadors of Christ, need to engage. May we be ever so careful to give people the benefit of the doubt, not walk away when their ministry approach is not ours, and use every opportunity to relate, care, and give people a glimpse of God’s Kingdom.