November 3, 1999
Kingwood layman sees
miracles in hands-on missions
___By Mike Creswell
___SBC International Mission Board
___RAKOVITSA, Bulgaria--James Martin likes to see miracles, so he does them every chance he gets.
___At least, that's how it looks as he fitted eyeglasses to handicapped Bulgarians and they walked out seeing--often for the first time in many years.
___Most of the year, Martin is a computer analyst for a major oil company in the Houston area. But a couple of times a year, he heads to Mexico or even further on mission trips in which he serves as an eyeglass fitter.
JAMES MARTIN of Kingwood tests 4-year-old Georgi Slavchev for a lazy eye during a mission trip to Rakovitsa, Bulgaria. Martin is a member of Forest Cove Baptist Church, and he normally works in computer applications for a petroleum company. Mission action has gotten in his blood, however, and he regularly gives his time as a volunteer. (IMB photo by Grace Robinette)
___Using a simple lens-equipped device, he has patients look at wall-mounted eye charts and read parts of a gospel tract to determine what their eyeglass needs are. Then he matches their needs with eyeglasses.
___"I can see!" a man exclaimed in Bulgarian after being fitted with special glasses that compensated for his astigmatism.
___For Martin, that's the payoff.
___But he also feels God has led him to this unusual ministry. It began when he decided merely attending Forest Cove Baptist Church in Kingwood wasn't enough. So he asked about collecting money for a men's retreat. Then he began greeting people at the front door for Sunday services.
___Then he began helping prepare people for baptisms and helping with the cleanup afterward, a job he still loves.
___After hearing missions pastor Chuck Oak preach on missions, Martin decided to go on a mission trip.
___At first he wanted to decline painting and street witnessing, but after prayer decided he would do even those tasks.
___On his first trip to Mexico, he set up computer classes, using computers donated by an oil company. Then in 1997 he learned to fit people with eyeglasses. Now he can tell about what strength eyeglasses a person needs by seeing how closely they hold something to read.
___He tells of meeting a 70-year-old man who was so blind he would run into a tree. Martin fitted him with a pair of glasses, and the man walked out, seeing for the first time in 30 years.
___He tells of another time when he felt joy in seeing a 4-year-old girl point excitedly to a picture of a house she suddenly could see with the tiny, pink-framed glasses Martin had just put on her.
___In Bulgaria, he told a woman whose 4-year-old son had a "wandering eye" how a simple patch might save his sight.
___"I want to go on every trip possible like this," he said in Bulgaria between patients. "I'm excited because I'm serving the Lord, both in my church and around the world."
___Seeing miracles is extra.
__
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