Suddenly, like a blanket of thick fog lifting, I can see what was already there. I rub my eyes and smile.

Yesterday while visiting with a friend I recalled this Bible story. I was thinking about how nuance is lost on contempory readers ...

Mark 10:46-52
New International Version (NIV)
Blind Bartimaeus Receives His Sight

 46 Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
 48 Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

 49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”

   So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” 50 Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.

   51 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him.

   The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”

   52 “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.

And for a shortcut to express my premise that the finer details of the story are likely "fuzzy" I pointed to the following example from The Bible Illustration Blog:

... In picture 3, Bartimaeus has discarded his blanket, (Mark 10: 50), and is kneeling at the feet of Jesus. The act of discarding his cloak is very significant as it was his only possession. (He had forsaken all to follow Jesus!) This cloak would have been his only protection from the cold at night, and his only shade from the hot sun during the day. So important was a poor man's cloak that the Bible, (in Exodus 22: 26-27), sets down strict regulations regarding its use as property. It states that even if this garment has been pawned, it must be returned to its owner before sun down, for "What else will he sleep in".

I've heard, although I've not checked it out, that begging in Bible times was a recognized profession for those who were unable to support themselves, (e.g. those who were blind and lame etc), and that beggars wore a cloak that identified them as beggars, a kind of official uniform! This made the discarding of this beggars uniform an act of faith on the part of Bartimaeus, trusting that he would no longer need it. I'm not sure if Josephus mentions anything about this. I would be interested to know if there is any evidence to suggest what color a beggars cloak might have been. ...

The idea of someone leaving their jacket behind just isn't even noteworthy in "my" world. It is true that I have been quite grouchy about lost Northface jackets and have held firmly to my promise of not replacing carelessly "misplaced" outerwear ... Uh oh ... rant alert! Believe it or not, even my highly prized jacket was "borrowed" and not returned! It's a real quandary because I don't want things in my life that are too precious to share, and on the other hand, I don't want to share a replacement jacket. But ... This is totally off track I think!

"throwing his cloak aside..." Significant. A big big deal.

I love to read a well written story ... a few people write so well that they are able to make a walk around the block an adventure that blows my hair back from my eyes ... some people write words like these To my left, Scorpius's tail, embedded in the Milky Way, is dragging billions of stars west." Words so sweet make me sigh. Why wouldn't the Creator of the Universe have beautifully textured tales to tell? Uh ... It's probably me. I haven't learned to read the Bible well. But ... This story, Bartimaeus' story, I did get a bit of the subtlety.

And then this happened last night ... I woke up around three and I was thinking about this blind guy letting go of his security blanket and realized that I wrap myself in my house and the security that it represents and ... I am blindly afraid to venture towards what is not known. Yeah, I'm talking about a move ... The Move ... but not just that, I'm thinking about how it might have really felt to Bartimaeus (some say his name translates to mean son of a blind man). Systemically unable to see (and what if his heritage was also blind).

... he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.

Wow! His "jump" was a leap of faith. I might be able to practice something like that. My little watered down safe and sound version of that.

This is where "trust" wants to grow.