Pretty good company – Piper, Tripp, DeYoung, Pink, Horning.
Ok, full disclosure: I delivered those books the day before. But somebody else made sure they were out for everyone to see! It was a delightful discovery.
Archive for May, 2010
What’s on your church book table?
Posted in News on May 18, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Two examples of marriage: perseverance and beginnings
Posted in commentary on May 16, 2010| 1 Comment »
Saturday was a day sharply outlining the realities of marriage.
Very early in the day email started arriving that Mary Pearson had died on Friday night after a 15 month battle with cancer. Mitch and Mary are well known and well loved at Bethlehem. I have personally experienced Mitch’s depth of care and compassion in our situation.
Mitch wrote a powerful testimony to God and to his wife, a portion of which was excerpted on the Desiring God blog on Saturday.
Mitch and Mary walked through deep, long seasons of extraordinary testing. Mary is now free. It is a hard story of what love looks like.
And God has proven most satisfying.
Later in the day Dianne and I attended a reception for our nephew and his future bride. It was for all the family and friends who cannot travel to Alabama for their wedding in June.
This young man comes from a very special family. His older sister lives with significant disabilities. He loves her dearly, as she loves him. He knows what it means to persevere for the sake of a family member.
I’ve watched him grow up. And now here he is, handsome, athletic, college-educated, member of the National Guard, preparing to be a police officer and soon to be married. His bride is beautiful, continuing with college, and clearly excited to join this man in marriage.
Their optimism is wonderful and beautiful. It was a great few hours.
And, someday, God may call my nephew to walk with his wife through cancer. Or he may call this young bride to parent a child with disabilities, like her future mother-in-law has now done for more than two decades.
I am NOT trying to suggest that their optimism is fantasy and soon reality will catch up with them.
In fact, I hope for exactly the opposite for them. I want them to live with a future hope. I want them to live expecting God to be active in their lives. When hard things come, as they always do, I want them both to have a sweet, deep confidence that God will help them, that he will supply every need, and that all things work together for good for those who trust Jesus.
The tenderness that Mitch wrote about Mary and Mary’s savior, on the same day that she died, can be part of their story and our story.
I want that for myself and for this young couple, to be able to say no matter the circumstance:
The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. Job 1:21
Why did ‘great crowds’ follow Jesus?
Posted in Scripture on May 14, 2010| 2 Comments »
Frequently, because he was dealing with disease and disability:
And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan. Matthew 4:23-25
Jesus went on from there and walked beside the Sea of Galilee. And he went up on the mountain and sat down there. And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them, so that the crowd wondered, when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel. Matthew 15:29-31
While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him. And he charged him to tell no one, but “go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray. Luke 5:12-16
Pray to spread a passion for God to the children
Posted in Prayer Requests on May 13, 2010| 2 Comments »
Next week I will be speaking to a younger crowd than usual on this subject of disability and God’s word. My three typically-developing children attend a private Christian elementary school, and there is interest in Just the Way I Am: God’s Good Design in Disability. I’ll be speaking at their regular Friday chapel, which includes children from kindergarten through eighth grade.
It has been a good school for us. Their theme this year has been “Do Hard Things” and their weekly chapel services have included some of the video series that Alex and Brett Harris created to go along with their book of the same name. Their school verse for the year has been 2 Timothy 2:2, “Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.”
But there are other issues at play. Recently a third-grade girl was teased by some boys because her baby brother has Down syndrome. The word ‘retarded’ was thrown at her repeatedly in cruel ways. The principal dealt with it personally, and my third-grade son and sixth-grade daughter took their own initiative to address it with their friends. That was helpful, but that girl, and her rightfully-protective mother, were already deeply hurt.
So, it feels like an opportune moment that God has given. High expectations about student behavior and attitudes have been communicated, but the cruelty of sinful, willful, prideful young hearts has also been revealed. And it was revealed because of attitudes about disability.
Prayers would be greatly appreciated as I prepare for next week’s event. Ultimately, I would consider it a failure if they only understood some words are not acceptable or that they will get in trouble if they use certain words in the presence of adults. Treasuring Jesus is so much more important than that!
Pointing to the Source of Joy
Posted in Book Commentary, Special Events on May 12, 2010| 1 Comment »
We celebrated God’s goodness in giving us Just the Way I Am last Saturday at Bethlehem and Krista was kind enough to provide some remarks which you can hear on this clip:
I was grateful then and now to hear Krista point all of us to God and to his word – a good reminder in where our hope should be!
And I appreciated then and now that all of our children were welcome at this celebration. You can hear a couple of them in the background while Krista speaks.
“Let your requests be made known to God. . .”
Posted in Special Events on May 11, 2010| 2 Comments »
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
We had a wonderful gathering on Saturday at Bethlehem to praise God for his kindness in giving us Just the Way I Am by Krista Horning.
At the request of the Hornings, the gathering was largely dedicated to prayer – so pray we did! Pastor David Michael opened our session in prayer.
I was particularly encouraged by the number of people who came to the microphones to pray.
Pastor Kempton closed our time of prayer.
We then enjoyed more time together.
And Krista kindly signed books to very end.
God was very kind to give us this book. But it is just the beginning.
There is much opportunity to make much of God on this issue of disability and his sovereignty. May God be pleased to use us to magnify his name!
Our Story – extended version with more of Dianne’s story
Posted in Helpful things on May 9, 2010| 9 Comments »
Andrew Laparra was kind enough to give us an extended version of This Was Grace, with more of Dianne’s story and testimony. This version is 4 minutes and 20 seconds.
On this Mother’s Day 2010, I’m particularly aware of and grateful to God for the preciousness of a God-centered wife and mother.
Dianne makes a brief reference to her health in this video, which is stable. And be sure to watch to the very end for a special surprise.
“This was grace” – extended version.
Shot on:
-7D in 24
-5D in 30p down converted to 24p for slow motion.
Post in Final Cut Pro,
Coloring in Magic Bullet Looks,
Director, DP, and Lighting: Andrew Laparra
Camera Op, Audio Tech: Stefan Green
Did Jesus really say that about disability and sin?
Posted in commentary on May 7, 2010| Leave a Comment »
The podcast I stumbled on yesterday with a pastor, a Muslim scholar and a Rabbi is still bothering me. The ‘pastor’ stated that God’s word equated disability with sin.
Jesus was very specific that there is something much worse than having a disability. In fact, that something is so much worse, we should intentionally DISABLE OURSELVES rather than succumb to it:
“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’” Mark 9:42-48
That doesn’t read like Jesus was equating sin with disability. Jesus is telling us to do anything to keep from sinning, because the result of sin is eternal condemnation.
Unfortunately, we all sin. Cut off hands and feet, rip out eyes – we will still sin. But there is a great answer to our problem! Jesus!
If you want to know this Jesus, Pastor John explains the gospel in this short video from a few years ago:
Now that was a mistake. . . but it showed me my kids know a good argument from a bad one
Posted in commentary, Scripture on May 6, 2010| 2 Comments »
After enjoying the podcast done by Tim Challies and David Murray on Tuesday I thought I would look for other podcasts on this subject of disability and faith.
That was a mistake. At least so far.
The first one I found was this one. I don’t recommend it. No, let me be stronger – it is terrible. If you wanted to conduct a case study on unbiblical, illogical, unfair treatments of scripture, the seven minutes that Reverend Guy Pujol spoke could be the primary example. He managed to distort Leviticus 21, John 9, Mark 2 and 2 Corinthians in his few short minutes.
John 9 might have been the most egregious example of his distortions in that he quotes the disciples’ question about who sinned, and then he completely neglects Jesus’ response:
As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.” John 9:1-3
I can only conclude that his mistreatment of scripture was intentional and that he did not want his audience to hear the whole text. What he was afraid they might hear, I can only guess.
I didn’t listen to the Muslim scholar or the Rabbi who were also part of the podcast. I wanted my seven minutes back by the time he was through.
But we have NOTHING to fear from this kind of treatment – his argument was so weak a child could answer it. In fact, I asked one of my children (Hannah) how she would respond to someone who said that John 9:2 proves that the Bible equates sin and disability. Her confused reply (she was truly confused about the question) was, “well, the next verse sort of answers that.” Her younger brother paraphrased Exodus 4:11 for his response, “God says he makes some to live with disability.”
That made me happy.
Let us be Biblical Christians on this subject. God certainly is not ashamed of his sovereignty over disability as proclaimed in his word, and neither should we.
All conference audio and video for The Works of God: God’s Good Design in Disability are now available at Desiring God!
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Three glorious pictures of disease and God’s sovereignty
Posted in commentary, Scripture on May 19, 2010| 3 Comments »
Yesterday Dianne and I attended the God-centered, Christ-exalting service in memory of Mary Pearson. If Pastor John’s sermon is posted at Desiring God or hopeinGod.org, I’ll let you know because you will want to hear what he said.
Pastor John preached on 2 Timothy 4:6-8:
For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.
Early in his remarks he connected it with Psalm 139:16:
In your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
I love that section in Psalm 139 because of the picture it paints for those of us dealing with disability. Every day is known; every human being is intentionally made. And every one of us has an ending day written down. God knows everything.
Later in the day, I watched this video on Pastor Matt Chandler’s progress in his battle with cancer. His news was positive. And he says things that we’ve had to say about Dianne’s cancer:
This is a broken, fallen world. Frequently it is hard:
For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. (Romans 8:22-23).
One mother is called away from her four children and into paradise with Jesus after 16 months of battling her disease. Another mother is granted more than five years and counting with her four children. A young pastor with a passion for Jesus and a rising reputation is called to publicly walk through fire as he battles his disease.
And we have nothing ultimately to fear:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 1 Peter 1:3-9
“According to his great mercy” – what a statement! And what a hope. Yes, we will rejoice!
Thank you, Father, for the examples of Mary Pearson, Dianne Knight, and Matt Chandler.
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