Posted in Scripture on November 10, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Then you have reason to rejoice because God is certain to help!
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. Romans 8:26 ESV
Posted in Quotes on November 8, 2011| Leave a Comment »
J.C. Ryle, on how to think to rightly about Jesus’ miracles (emphases in bold and paragraph formatting are mine):
Regard every one of His miracles as an emblem and figure of spiritual things. See in it a lovely picture of what He is able to do for your soul.
He that could raise the dead with a word can just as easily raise man from the death of sin.
He that could give sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and speech to the dumb, can also make sinners to see the kingdom of God, hear the joyful sound of the Gospel, and speak forth the praise of redeeming love.
He that could heal leprosy with a touch, can heal any disease of heart. He that could cast out devils can bid every besetting sin yield to His grace.
Oh, begin to read Christ’s miracles in this light! Wicked, and bad, and corrupt as you may feel, take comfort in the thought that you are not beyond Christ’s power to heal. Remember that in Christ there is not only a fulness of mercy, but a fulness of power.
J.C. Ryle, Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots, p. 211.
Posted in Helpful things on November 7, 2011| 1 Comment »
We had multiple blessed experiences at church this weekend. I hope you did as well.
One of the benefits of having a blind son (yes, I said benefits) is that words that used to flow by me land with power. It happened again during one of the songs from Sunday morning, You Are Amazing, by Lincoln Brewster:
You’re the one who welcomed sinners
And You opened blinded eyes
You restored the brokenhearted
And You brought the dead to life
Four miracles right in a row – welcomed by God, spiritual sight, restoration, life. Simple words, but only God can do it!
Yes, he is more than amazing!
Posted in News on November 6, 2011| Leave a Comment »
According to the World Health Organization World Report on Disability Fact Sheet there are now one billion people with disabilities in the world, or about 15% of the total population of the earth.
The church has plenty to do, here and around the world!
Posted in commentary, News on November 5, 2011| 3 Comments »
Sometimes it seems there is no end to news of men behaving badly after their children with disabilities are born. It happened again on Friday.
The incredible statistics on divorce when disability enters a family (70%, 80%, 85%) are, to my knowledge, not actually substantiated by any research (if anyone has seen research, please comment below with a link or reference).
But even one man abandoning his family is one too many.
As God ordains things, I came into my office 20 minutes after hearing that news to an email that included a link to the video below. I had seen this video before some years ago but hadn’t thought about it for some time. The contrast between one man leaving his family and another man narrating the story of his son with a genetic anomaly was stark.
I may have posted this video before, but it is worth seeing again, particularly since it brings an example of a young man trusting in God and leading his family well.
Please, pray for men, particularly daddies, that we would cling to Jesus and serve our families well today.
Posted in Scripture on November 4, 2011| 2 Comments »
Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2 ESV)
There is a strain of thought amongst those who support a liberation theology of disability that disability will follow people into heaven. That’s problematic on a number of fronts.
1 John 3:2 provides a simple and wonderful answer – when Jesus appears we shall be like him! But the greatest thing about that isn’t a freedom from disability (though I believe that is part of it). The ESV Study Bible puts it really well when unpacking that verse:
In eternity, Christians will be morally without sin, intellectually without falsehood or error, physically without weakness or imperfections, and filled continually with the Holy Spirit.
I don’t even have categories for what it will be like to live without sin or error! But even that isn’t the best part. That comes at the end of the verse: we shall see him as he is.
You know what that means, right? The reason we get to see him is because we get to BE WITH HIM! And there’s nothing in all the universe better than that!
Posted in News on November 3, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Did you see this cool article about robots that assist people with disabilities?
Robots! I loved robots growing up. These robots look like they could be really helpful to a lot of people.
Imagine what other things are currently being developed!
As great as that is, and as thankful as I am for it, and as much as we should care about the needs of people right now, there is something both infinitely greater and infinitely worse coming. We need to keep both the suffering of this age and eternal suffering without Jesus in mind all the time.
I’m grateful for how Pastor John framed it during his presentation at the Lausanne Conference about this time last year:
Could Lausanne say—could the evangelical church say—we Christians care about all suffering, especially eternal suffering? I hope we can say that. But if we feel resistant to saying “especially eternal suffering,” or if we feel resistant to saying “we care about all suffering in this age,” then either we have a defective view of hell or a defective heart.
Yes, let us care about all suffering, especially eternal suffering!
Robots are great and I look forward to all the good that could come from this technology. But that will be a poor use of time and resources if we don’t also let people know about Jesus.
Posted in Book Commentary, Quotes on November 2, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Last week Justin Taylor posted on The Best Christian Novel You’ve Never Heard Of. Wow, was he right!
The Hammer of God is more than I expected. It is excellently written, deeply moving and very clear about the realities of the Christian life. Each of the three main characters experiences God in fresh, wonderful ways that makes much of God in the midst of temptation to doubt or self-righteousness.
Mostly, I enjoyed it because Bo Giertz loves God and God’s word and he communicated truth in compelling, worshipful ways:
In his death all woe was turned into blessing. The very suffering became a gate of Heaven, and the cross, that instrument of torture, became a sign of victory and spring of mercy.
Walking with him is going to glory through suffering itself and seeing the springs rush forth everywhere through the valley of weeping and the deserts of thistles.
Bo Giertz, Hammer of God, p. 315.
I could hardly put it down.
Posted in Scripture, Sermons on November 1, 2011| 1 Comment »
Well-meaning preachers and writers will suggest that God never ’causes’ disability, but when disability shows up he is ready and able to do something about it. I believe that most who say and write such things are hoping to protect God from being accused of doing bad things.
But God takes credit for even worse things than disability. Like initiating the death of his own son.
And he does it for his glory and our eternal good.
Pastor John’s sermon on Sunday, Jesus Died to Gather the Children of God, landed with unusual power and helpfulness on our family. The connections to God’s sovereignty – for our good – in really hard things was everywhere, like in the following (emphases in bold are mine):
Caiaphas prophesied (in John 11:49-52), that is, he spoke God’s words, and God said: “It is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” God said that. “Better that Jesus die.”Better. “Better than any other plan in the universe.” This is what God said.
Therefore, the death of Jesus was not mainly a tragic set of events which God turned for our good. It was a loving set of events which God planned for our good. God himself served the death warrant on his own Son. He did not just predict it. He unleashed it. This word of prophecy tracked Jesus down into Gethsemane and put him under arrest. There was no escape. This was the word of God. “It is better that he die.”
Pastor John concludes the sermon with five applications, of which this is the first:
Be strong in the face of hard times and seeming defeat, because God is not simply watching and waiting to turn it all for good. He is in it from the beginning planning it for your good.
From the outside, the words of Caiaphas simply looked like a hostile human plan that would bring the Messiah to ruin. But from inside, John shows us that the very words of execution were not just the words of Caiaphas, but God’s words— and God had a totally different plan for these events that anyone could see. And so it will be in your life, again and again. You will see the outside. It will look hostile and destructive. Inside God is at work—for your good.
Don’t judge by appearances. Trust the sovereign planning of God for your good. He gets many victories through apparent defeats.
God is never surprised, nor is he ever defeated. The best plan ever initiated by God looks like total failure, for a season. But everything, including disability, will work for your good and my good. Eventually we will see that clearly, and we will praise him for eternity for it.
The Works of God 
“He is welcome here.”
Posted in commentary on November 9, 2011| 1 Comment »
It was surreal. I was carrying my 16-year-old son through a sea of typically-developing high school students. They were all so. . . . independent and articulate and put together.
What does a boy who lives with blindness, autism, cognitive disabilities, and eating, sleeping and seizure disorders have in common with these young people?
It made me ask of myself, do I really believe that my son is indispensable to this group?
Yet, when Pastor Kempton said, “he is welcome here,” the tears came, because I believed him. And he wasn’t speaking to me, but to that same sea of young people now seated in the young adult Sunday School class. It was a personal, public proclamation.
After 16 years, disability is no longer a new concept in our family. Yet the same questions still rise in my mind – will he be accepted? Will he have a place? Will he be safe and affirmed and loved? God grants Paul inherent dignity and value, but it is still nice to hear words of affirmation.
We have details to work out; Paul may never be a regular participant in that class. He slept through his whole introduction because his days and nights are mixed up again.
And I have no illusions about American teenagers at my church. I know some of them may have our culture’s strange, unbiblical view about the worth of people with severe disabilities confirmed by Paul’s unusual movements and noises, or sleepiness.
But how sweet it is to hear those words of welcome and not have a single doubt those words are true not just from this one man, but from the very heart of my church.
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