What Does The Kid Know?

You’ve seen it of the buttons of an ATM, or an elevator panel. Those raised dots in different patterns that can be read by visually impaired people. What is it called?

Barbier.

What? That’s not it. But it’s probably should have been.

You see the inventor of this method was a man named Captain Charles Barbier. It was an ingenious military invention he called Night Writing used so soldiers could read orders in the dark without having to light a lamp and give away their position.

Eventually, Barbier introduced his concept to the blind. A thirteen-year-old boy at the Royal Institute for the Blind was one of the first to learn the new system. He was excited by the opportunities it offered but thought it might be too complex. So he offered Barbier some ideas on how to simplify and improve it. Barbier did not welcome his suggestions. He was incensed that a mere boy could imagine he had something to offer and stalked out of the room, He angrily refused to even consider making changes.

So the boy began to work on his own to make improvements His system proved simpler and superior thought he was always as always quick to credit Barbier for his role in development.

That’s why the system isn’t named after it’s creator but it’s perfecter Louis Braille.

A poor yet wise lad is better than an old and foolish king who no longer knows how to receive instruction.

Ecclesiastes 4:13

Age has its advantages but one should never assume the younger don’t have anything to offer. Wisdom can from many sources. No matter how old or sure of ourselves we are it never hurts to listen to others in how we can improve.

Those that think they know everything there is to know have a lot to learn.

Comments

Until Midnight

In Acts 20, there is the tragicomic event surrounding a young man by the name of Eutychus. He did what a lot of folks before and after him did, he fell asleep during a sermon. Unfortunately, he was setting in in the third story window at the time. So instead of nodding off and hitting the pew in front of him, he fell to his death. The good news was the apostle Paul was delivering the sermon and had the ability to bring him back. I don’t know, however, if we can judge Eutychus too harshly. The sermon had gone on till midnight. Paul wouldn’t finish it up till daybreak. That’s a long lesson. I know some folks that might want to jump out of a window if I had a lesson that long, yet these Christians wanted to be there to hear Paul. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not pushing for all night sermons but I think we might need to adopt these folks' dedication. They knew that Paul was only in town for a limited time only and they were determined to ...

The Mighty Gulf

It is hard to get people on two sides of an issue to come together. Each has their own viewpoint, their perceptive, their own foibles, their own understanding. To gain any common ground there must be something in common. Something or someone that can bridge the gulf between the two. Could there be a greater gulf than there was between God and man? How could a holy perfect God find a way to connect to the fallen, imperfect mankind? How can one without temptation connect to those who are beset by it? How could limited mortal beings understand an omnipotent eternal God? In 1 Timothy 2:5, we read, “ For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus .” The phrase mediator here describes a person that bridges the gap, a go-between. Jesus was one who could stand in both worlds. A perfect holy one who can understand our temptations, a man who would die yet live eternally, One who was God yet became flesh and dwelt among us. ...

Why Does A Lion Tamer Use a Chair?

Ok, I know you have seen the image. A lion tamer enters in the cage of the beast and forces it to obey his commands using a whip, a gun and a chair. Now you can see how the whip and gun could come in handy but you might be wondering why a chair would intimidate an animal as powerful as a lion? Clyde Beatty taming a lion with a chair It's not that the lion is afraid of the chair -- it's that the lion is confused by the chair. Cats are single-minded, and the points of the chair's four legs bobbing around confuse the lion enough that it loses its train of thought. Casually put, the chair distracts the lion from wanting to claw the lion tamer's face off. The powerful creature could destroy the chair in moment’s notice but instead it is distracted into submission. It’s not too much different than how Satan controls us today. By the power of God we could overcome anything that he would use to subdue us. We can overcome the evil one (1 st John 2:13-14). ...

Ecclesiastes 12:10

Search This Blog