Physical blindness brings spiritual sight

PAPUA NEW GUINEA — As a young man, James Ego was almost completely blind to the spiritual aspects of life. A very sociable person, he devoted much of his time to going out with his friends. The more he went out, the more he neglected his family. It was to take a very dramatic incident to change his way of life.

Taken to hospital

One Christmas Eve, Mr Ego and his friends decided to fuel their celebrations with some extremely strong home-made alcohol. Before long, they had drunk so much of this concoction that they became unconscious and were taken to hospital. Regaining consciousness there some time later, Mr Ego realised that he had gone blind. He pleaded with the doctors to do everything possible to restore his sight, but they had to break the news to him that they could not do so. Even worse news was to follow: of all the friends who drank the home-made alcohol, he was the only one who had survived.

Forced by his blindness to adopt a new lifestyle, Mr Ego began by learning to read Braille. As the initial shock of losing his sight diminished, he started to sense a need to know God and to ask his forgiveness. It was then that he turned to the Bible Society of Papua New Guinea, which was able to supply him with biblical materials to assist him in his quest to ‘see’ spiritually.

Closer to God