In 1929, The Seeing Eye was incorporated in Nashville, Tennessee, with the purpose of training dogs to guide the blind.

Dorothy Harrison Eustis, an American living in Switzerland, was breeding and training German shepherd dogs for service to the Swiss Army and European police departments. While Mrs. Eustis realized the desirable characteristics of the breed—its alertness, stamina, and responsibility—she didn’t know the dog’s full potential. On a visit to a school, she saw German shepherds being trained as guides for blinded veterans of World War I. Deeply impressed, she wrote an article about the dogs, entitled “The Seeing Eye.”

That article reached a young man from Tennessee, Morris Frank, who wrote, “Thousands of blind like me abhor being dependent on others. . . . Train me and I will bring back my dog and show people here how a blind man can be absolutely on his own.” After training Mr. Frank in Switzerland with his dog Buddy, the three returned to the states and opened The Seeing Eye school in Nashville, Tennessee. Since 1929, the school has matched nearly 13,000 specially bred and trained dogs with nearly 6,000 men and women in North America.

During his three-year ministry on earth, Jesus didn’t just train the blind—he completely restored their sight (Matthew 9:27-31; 12:22; Mark 10:46-52). But Jesus’ mission was far more than just healing the physically blind. Jesus called those who were blind to their sin—the spiritually blind—to recognize their sin and turn to him for forgiveness. How is your spiritual eyesight?

Then Jesus told him, “I have come to judge the world. I have come to give sight to the blind and to show those who think they see that they are blind” (John 9:39).

To Do

Take a look at 2 Peter 1:3–9. Make a list of all the ways we are to grow if we have “spiritual sight.”

Also on this day . . .

1913—Richard M. Nixon was born.

1902—New York State introduced a bill to outlaw public flirting.

1953—The United Nations opened its headquarters in New York City.

From Betsy Schmitt and Dave Veerman, 365 Trivia Twist Devotions: An Almanac of Fun Facts and Spiritual Truth for Every Day of the Year (Cincinnati: Standard, 2005). Scripture quotations are from the New Living Translation unless otherwise noted.