I’m not going because of the tornado; this trip was planned several weeks ago.  But a tornado came, and I know it can raise questions about the goodness of God.

The family I’m visiting is rock-solid in their understanding of God’s goodness and sovereignty over all things.  But what of the others I will meet, if even only once?  I’m assuming God will present opportunities to speak of his goodness in all things, including the hardest of things.

Just a few weeks ago Pastor John wrote on this very subject after tornadoes claimed 38 lives.  And he reminded me there is always a greater purpose God has in mind:

Therefore, God’s will for America under his mighty hand, is that every Christian, every Jew, every Muslim, every person of every religion or non-religion, turn from sin and come to Jesus Christ for forgiveness and eternal life. Jesus rules the wind. The tornadoes were his.

But before Jesus took any life in rural America, he gave his own on the rugged cross. Come to me, he says, to America — to the devastated and to the smugly self-sufficient. Come to me, and I will give you hope and help now, and in the resurrection, more than you have ever lost.

If there’s one thing I’ve experienced and learned about suffering, it is that suffering people hold credible other people who have suffered, even if the circumstances of their suffering are very different.  Maybe God will use our Paul, again, to help people see we aren’t playing around with religion, but clinging to Jesus.  Maybe he’ll help them see Jesus.

So, please pray for Woodward, Oklahoma.  And please pray for me, that God would let me be useful while I’m down there, for his glory and for the ultimate, eternal comfort of hurting people.

If they reach that consensus, the applicant will be introduced tomorrow as a candidate for the position.  The congregational vote will be in May.

Pastoral leadership means a great deal in a church.  As I’ve said before, I’ve only known of one healthy disability ministry in a church that did NOT have the support of its senior pastor.

And I also know enough of the elders to know these are Christian hedonists who love the Lord and love the church.  I have lived with a remarkable lack of anxiety about this entire process knowing how seriously these men take their responsibilities to the church and lean on God for help.

Bethlehem belongs to Jesus; he will do what he deems best.

And I know that God listens to the prayers of his elect.  So, if you would, please pray for Bethlehem’s elders today as they consider God’s leading.

Usually I prepare something new.  But I heard from more people than usual on my blog posting from a couple of weeks ago regarding prayer, so I offered that one, slightly modified, for the DG blog later this week.

I have one main hope for all those postings, even the unpleasant ones about abortion, euthanasia and genocide: that people would see God in disability in all his sovereignty and goodness.

And then, in seeing God this way, they would act to embrace and include and prepare all those, created in his image, who live with disability in this present age for the work he has prepared for them to make him look glorious.

Please pray that God would do more than we could possibly hope or expect!

That’s 1% of the world’s population!

According to The Joshua Project, there are 33 Deaf people groups around the world that are considered unreached, which means less than 2% of that people group are Evangelical and less than 5% are adherents to Christianity.

33!

In a printed report from The Joshua Project, they listed 52 Deaf people groups that are unengaged, which means no full-time workers involved in evangelism or church planting.

52!

Some of those countries were no surprise – Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Myanmar.

Others were quite a bit more surprising – France, Germany, Italy.

I don’t have an answer for this, but I know that God does.  Please pray he would provide for our Deaf brothers and sisters around the world, and that he would call millions more to him, for his glory and for our collective good.

1.  For Bethlehem, that we would recognize all people have gifts and we would welcome all.

2.  That God would bring more helpers for our disability ministry – from sign language interpreters to classroom 1-1 aides to the host of other needs

3.  That God would end abortion, if not through laws, than through changed hearts, and that he would let us be agents of change for his glory.

That very night a young man introduced himself and said he would be volunteering soon – that was encouraging!  And a young man no less (Please don’t misunderstand – I love all the ladies who serve families like ours.  It’s just nice to welcome another man!).

And we need to keep praying.  We can, in one sense, measure our progress on number 2 and 3 – more volunteers, fewer abortions.  Hearts that are truly welcoming also have outward evidences, but that can be harder to see.

In all three cases, it is God who does it!

I will thank you forever, because you have done it. Psalm 52:9 ESV

A little boy we know is having exploratory surgery today.  He lives with a persistent condition that is as yet undiagnosed.

His parents are wonderful; I’ve known the mom since she was a girl.  The boy’s grandparents are pillars of faith, grace, mercy and hospitality.  What God did through them for us cannot be measured.

All of them grieve over the pain this little boy lives with.

And the thing they wanted on Monday night was prayer.  And we wanted to pray with them.

It really is amazing what God does through praying with other people.  The one constant in every prayer was a cry for help, recognizing weakness in ourselves and clinging to promises.

Tears flowed.  The sorrow is real.

After we finished praying, we talked and laughed and simply enjoyed each other.  What a gift authentic friendship is.

And that friendship is fueled by going hard after God through suffering.

Yes, it is good to experience 2 Corinthians 6:10 with other people and live with gratitude to God for all things:  as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.

Here is a portion of their email, which I am using with Jan’s permission.  Please read it – especially linger over the last paragraph – and marvel at God’s sustaining power in the midst of extraordinary pain:

This diagnosis was difficult to hear.  Even though it is just a label, there is much sorrow in it.  It is difficult to see Michael with his disabilities in ways that other people see him.  I am much more aware of his disabilities when I am out of my home.  I tend to respond to how others respond to Michael and have a heightened awareness of his weaknesses.  That is one of the reasons leaving the home with him is so difficult.  There has to be a great deal of courage to do so.

Typically, when I look at Michael, I really don’t see a person with disabilities.  With great affection,  I see  ”Michael–the Fox”–as a person. He can’t do what others can, but he does have a charm about him that is unique to him.  He can be mischievous as many of you have witnessed when he unexpectedly knocks a cup or plate out of your hand; he experiences pure pleasure when eating chocolate pudding or an ice cream sandwich as exemplified by his “mmmm” with each bite; he displays his affection as he rests his head on my shoulder or taps his foot on my thigh; and he belly-laughs when Mark “wrestles” him on the mat.  He seems to recognize my greeting every morning of “this is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”  I am beginning to think that achievement is over-rated!

Every day for us continues to be a walk of faith in our Lord–one that looks to Him for what we need–for the strength, for the courage, for the hope, and for the grace to go forward, one step at a time, one day at a time, and frequently, one minute at a time.  The unrelenting nature of Michael’s situation is daunting, but God promises to work this out for our good–to those of us who love Him and are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)  We know that God’s Word is always, always, always, true.  He never will contradict Himself.  It is not in His nature to do so.   He can be trusted even though we do not understand all that He does.  We rest in that promise.

We welcome any prayers said on our behalf.

Jan L

Please join me in praying for this dear family.

Lord willing, on November 8, 2012 Desiring God will be hosting a one-day conference on the Bible and disability.

Please be in prayer about all the preparations that must be made.

More than anything, we want this to make much of God – that he is both sovereign AND good over disability, that there is lasting joy in treasuring Jesus above good but tempoary things like health or physical ability, and that we can trust him who made us and who has numbered our days.

More details will be coming over the next several months.

The topic is on missions – this is a massively important conference!

There are hundreds of millions of people around the world who are disabled – when we add in their families and caretakers, the numbers of people impacted by disability easily exceeds a billion people.

Every culture, every ethnicity, every economic strata, every geo-political entity experiences disability.

They need to know about Jesus and the real God of the Bible.  And they need to know that the health, wealth and prosperity ‘gospel’ is a lie – disability is no sign of disfavor from God nor are they ‘lacking’ faith if God calls them to live with it their entire lives.

As Pastor John has said:

There are only three kinds of Christians when it comes to world missions: zealous goers, zealous senders, and disobedient. May God deliver us from disobedience!

Please pray that God would help everyone at this conference to see him more clearly and understand their role in missions, for his glory and for our good.

And also about God’s word.  I love how the Bible is full of God’s pointing us to his glory through disability!  It was easy to share that part of the story with them.  I hoped to encourage them that people like us, in the pews, can love the word and what it teaches us about our God.

I almost began to cry, somewhere in the middle of my time with them, at the goodness of God in providing these men, most of them young men in their 20′s, who are earnestly seeking God – with head and heart – for the purpose of proclaiming his glory.

These men are preparing to stand in the gap for me and for you – against a culture that prizes comfort and hates those with disabilities, against theologians and ‘teachers’ who seek to strip the word of its meaning and undermine God’s sovereignty, against even the evil in my own heart.

They are preparing themselves to tell the truth about God.  It is God’s sovereignty over all things, including disease and disability, that provides the ultimate hope and access to joy.

It was a privilege to be in their presence and imagine what God might be preparing them to do, for his glory and for our good.  Please pray for Bethlehem College and Seminary students.  The future of the church will be in their hands, and I look forward to watching what God has in store to make his name great through them.