Seeing Beyond What You Can See

Seeing Beyond What You Can See

Imagination is needed as much with church life as it is with daily life. Too many times we tend to see what we think we see or what we’ve always seen. The other day, I had the opportunity to catch up on a movie I had recorded. It was a true story based on the life of a neurosurgeon Ben Carson. He is currently the Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He struggled with school, and his illiterate mother challenged him continually to “see beyond what you can see”. Along with general scholar struggles, he also struggled with an imagination.

When the present times were seemingly impossible, this phrase would be tossed his way. Though it wasn’t easy, he finally grasped the concept of what it meant to “see beyond what you can see.” He was looking at the surface and not looking at the possibilities that were actually before him.

On one such occasion, he was down because he wasn’t making the grades like he would like. He had to come up with an alternative way to study in order to “make the grades”. On another, though just a resident, he was “forced” to operate on the brain of a patient who came in from the ambulance. Most doctors were at a conference, and the others were not able to be contacted. He risked serious jeopardy for both him and the hospital. Remember, he is still a “student” doctor, performing surgery on someone’s brain/skull. He pulled it off!

The climax of the movie is in retrospect with the issue that arises in the beginning. German Siamese twins joined at the back of the head. He wants to wait, but the phrase comes back up in his head. He labors for days and weeks trying to figure out how to make this work. He is able to “see beyond what he can see”.

Too often, in the church, we are so used to things a certain way that we forget to “see beyond”. Medicine has advanced. Technology has advanced. The church, this church, needs to advance. We must continually look at things “beyond what we can see”. We may think we see something one way, when actually our vision may be a bit off. Something we think God intended, may not actually be at all what He intended for us. However, we’ve caused something to be “authorized” based on tradition or our own personal view.

Imagine medicine with no anesthetics. Imagine technology with no electricity. Let’s go back to biting on clothes to endure the pain or getting up and going to bed based on the available sunlight. These worked well for many years didn’t they? However, someone or a group of people, “saw beyond what they could see” and made the first steps of progress that has multiplied into making things so much better for us today.

As you look at the future of this church, I challenge you to “see beyond what you can see”. Let us look at ideas, programs, projects, etc., as ways to be out of the box and see the possibilities that are before us to help expand the Kingdom!