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Archive for October, 2009

Be Not Anxious – Including About Finances?

Posted in News, Scripture on October 11, 2009| Leave a Comment »

The Star Tribune had a good summary of the impact of having a child with a disability on the financial planning of a family in today’s paper.  Appropriate levels of life and disability insurance, special-needs trusts, and other plans are all important and familiar to most families experiencing disability.  Many of those plans are driven by a concern about what the future will hold, both for the child and for the rest of the family.

But being prepared or knowledgeable is not the same as living without anxiety.  For me, those plans actually serve to raise my anxiety while I’m in the midst of thinking about and finalizing those plans.

Paul brought together both things – reasonableness and living without anxiety – in his closing of his letter to the Philippians:

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:4-7

Rejoice – always?  Yes, the Lord is at hand!  Do not be anxious about anything?  Pray that God will help in all that we need.  God will provide, even after we can no longer take care of our children with disabilities ourselves.

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Congratulations, President Obama. But I Do Not Hope In You

Posted in commentary, tagged on October 9, 2009| Leave a Comment »

President Obama has been awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.  It is one of the most visible and prestigious awards in the world.

From the announcement of the award:

Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world’s population.

Nominations for the award must be received by February 1. President Obama would have been in office less than 10 days before being nominated.

On his second full day in office, he rescinded the Mexico City Policy, which prevented the U.S. government from funding clinics or groups that offered abortion-related services overseas, even if funding for those activities came from non-government sources.  Apparently expanding abortion services are the values the Nobel Prize Committee believes the majority of the world shares.

The President has been in office 262 days.

At 2005 rates, 861,369 babies have been aborted in the United States since he became president.

How many of those babies were aborted simply because they had a disability?

I do not share the Nobel Prize Committee’s source of hope for a better future.  But I do have a hope:

He established a testimony in Jacob
and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our fathers
to teach to their children,
that the next generation might know them,
the children yet unborn,
and arise and tell them to their children,
so that they should set their hope in God
and not forget the works of God,
but keep his commandments;
and that they should not be like their fathers,
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not steadfast,
whose spirit was not faithful to God.

Psalm 78:5-8

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Church of the Disabled: Good idea?

Posted in commentary, tagged on October 9, 2009| 5 Comments »

World Magazine last month ran an article on a church in Anoka which specifically serves those with disabilities.  The article describes the work of one man, Don Anderson, who decided to actively pursue ministry with and for those with developmental disabilities.  World Magazine summarizes it this way:

So instead of trying to integrate the disabled into the church of the able, Anderson, now 52, integrates the able into the church of the disabled. Now an ordained pastor, he holds a church service twice a week where the developmentally disabled sing in the choir and lead the music, take the offering, read Scripture when they can, offer prayer requests, and make as much joyful noise as they want to.

For his work, Don Anderson and his church, Christ for People, has been nominated for a Hope Award for Effective Compassion by World Magazine.

Not everyone wants him to win. (more…)

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Please Respond Soon!

Posted in Helpful things on October 8, 2009| Leave a Comment »

The event for mothers and the event for fathers of children with disabilities are both coming up soon.  It would be helpful if you could contact the two coordinators if you plan on attending.  If you’re not sure, still come if you can!

If you live outside of the Twin Cities area and cannot attend, consider arranging (or asking your church to arrange) one in your area.  Disability is hard.  Parenting a child with a disability in this culture is really hard.  Joining together with other women or other men, encouraging each other in the faith, supporting each other in the difficulties associated with disability, veteran parents mentoring new parents – God moves in powerful ways through these gatherings.

And we now have access to Pastor Kempton’s talks at Joni Camp in August!  While the audio is a little hard to hear at times, it is worth it!  If you’re not sure, Dads, about attending the fathers event, listen to this and you’ll want to come!

Turner, Kempton Talk 1 at Joni Camp Minnesota Aug 2009

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Mothers Gathering Next Tuesday!

Posted in Special Events on October 7, 2009| Leave a Comment »

A special event just for mothers of children with disabilities is happening next Tuesday, October 13 at 7:00 p.m. in the south metro!  You can find more information here.

Wonderful things happen when God’s people gather together to proclaim his goodness and sovereignty!  If you doubt me (since I obviously wasn’t there), here are some evidences from a gathering a few months ago.

Disability is hard, and God is good to provide for all of our needs.  And isn’t God especially good to provide them through other people experiencing the same things we are with our children!

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God Uses Pastors Who Love their People to Create More People Who Love

Posted in commentary, Helpful things on October 6, 2009| 2 Comments »

God has used certain couples in our lives to encourage us and build us up as a family to keep treasuring and trusting Jesus.  Jan and Mark Lacher are such a couple.  You might be familiar with Jan as she wrote the very helpful Creations of God Impacted by Disability that can found in our resource library.

Recently Jan wrote to me another reason why we praise God for Bethlehem and its leadership.  With her permission, I’ve included most of that email of a couple weeks ago below.

To give context, Jan and Mark attend Bethlehem’s North Campus with their four children.  Michael is their youngest and lives with significant disabilities. In addition to the time she has spent in hospitals with Michael, Jan has also spent time there as a nurse.

This past Sunday, Mark and I were talking to Jon Grano (Bethlehem’s Pastor for Operations) about handicap decals being placed on the floor in areas that could be designated for wheel chairs.  While the north site is extremely accessible, visibility is not great if you are in the middle of a back row in a wheel chair as (a congregant with a disability) was this past Sunday.

As Jon, Mark, and I were talking, Pastor John was leaving and walked down our aisle.   (more…)

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It isn’t always the kid with disabilities that makes us late

Posted in commentary, Sermons on October 5, 2009| Leave a Comment »

On Sunday morning several things went wrong as we prepared for church – except for Paul, who ate well, tolerated his shower and was dressed and ready with plenty of time.  The climax of the pre-church routine came seconds before I thought I would be heading out the door.

As I was putting the juice away from breakfast, an unopened gallon of milk tipped over and in very slow motion tumbled to the floor with a loud crash.  That crash was accompanied by a small split which shot milk in all directions, but fortunately only a couple of cups worth rather than the whole gallon.

I was already grumbling about things in my heart, with a heavy emphasis on the children’s part in making us late. (more…)

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Spread the Word: DG Conference in ASL

Posted in Special Events on October 4, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Desiring God has posted all the messages from the 2009 Desiring God National Conference in American Sign Language.  Spread the word!

And pray that God would raise up more sign language interpreters for Bethlehem and for other like-minded ministries.

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What’s With the Twitter Updates?

Posted in News, tagged , on October 3, 2009| Leave a Comment »

If you visit this website, you’ll notice a new section has appeared on the right that provides updates from @theworksofGod.   To begin with, it will focus primarily on Biblical texts, especially on what the Bible has to say about disability.  We’ll see what emerges over time.

Pastor John started tweeting earlier this year, and wrote a very helpful blog posting on why he was doing so.  I want to join him (and many others!) who use twitter and other social media to make much of God.

Pastor John sets the bar pretty high, but it is a good one to reach for:

Try to fill these media with as much provocative, reasonable, Bible-saturated, prayerful, relational, Christ-exalting, truth-driven, serious, creative pointers to true greatness as you can.

I hope you find it useful and, more importantly, glorifying to God.

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Church Membership: Is It a Right?

Posted in commentary on October 2, 2009| 4 Comments »

Does a man with severe disabilities have the right to become a member of a church?  That isn’t a hypothetical question.  The 9Marks blog dealt with that question yesterday.

9Marks is a great organization that “wants to help local churches re-establish their biblical bearings and re-think their ministry methods.”  Matt Schmucker, their executive director, I have met only once, but I have seen the fruit of his work and appreciate his God-centered heart.

Here is what he wrote yesterday on the subject of membership:

I took a call from an elder in a church yesterday asking about membership for one who has “special needs”, who is apparently severely limited in his ability to relate and converse, to the point of an inability to convey the gospel in any meaningful way.  The parents of this 30 year old man are anxious to have him received into membership.  This family lives in the southern part of the U.S. and, as the elder described it, believe membership is a “right.” (more…)

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