For years, when I used to read to my children every night, I had no idea that I was turning their ears into eyes. Occasionally, as I was reading aloud, I also pictured in my mind the scenes and actions described and formed images of the characters. To my surprise, when I saw The Lord of the Rings at the movies, there were scenes that almost exactly matched my imaginations.
But I forgot all that until last year when I began listening to audible books on my daily commutes. Now, as I’m driving, I am picturing places, incidents, and people in my head and marvelling at how the readers can muster up some many different voices of a plethora of characters. Currently I’m nearing the end of Dickens’ Nicholas Nickleby read by a Ghanian named Kobna Holbrook-Smith who has at least 25 different English male and female voices and accents. He and Dickens have turned my ears into eyes.
So far I’ve listened to A Room with a View, Ben-Hur, Romeo & Juliet, Bitter Wash Road, The Rosie Project, Huckleberry Finn, Robinson Crusoe, A Passage to India, The Nickel Boys, David Copperfield, Machines Like Us, Crime & Punishment, and The Lost Man – classics and current bestsellers. I’m only in the car for an hour a day, but that’s a lot in just about 8 months!
Anyway, this experience has reminded me of how I have often prayed that, when I am preaching, the Holy Spirit will turn my listeners ears into eyes. Perhaps you could pray the same for your pastor now that you might be hearing him via a podcast or live streaming. Or you might catch up on all the classics you missed by becoming a listener of audible books.
In My Life 
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