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Archive for the ‘commentary’ Category

Joni and Friends TV – When Disability Hits Home

Posted in commentary on October 17, 2009| Leave a Comment »

This 28 minute video (26 if you skip the fundraising appeal at the end) is worth the time.  Dianne and I were greatly blessed by watching it.

Why?  It is a clear-eyed, God-centered look at disability through the eyes of a couple of grandparents of children with disabilities that you may have heard of:  Chuck Colson and R.C. Sproul.

All of the issues we deal with are here: the break-up of marriages, the loss of control, the feelings of helplessness, the disruption to every area of life.

But it is also full of hope in our good and sovereign God!  There is joy!

When Disability Hits Home

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30 Years Ago God Called A Professor to be a Pastor

Posted in commentary on October 15, 2009| 1 Comment »

Yes, I’m  a day late and most people have already seen this post from Justin Taylor on Pastor John’s call 30 years ago yesterday.  But if you missed it, you simply must read it.  And if you saw it yesterday, read it again.

The clothes have changed, the huge cross is gone, and the voice has taken on a richer, sweeter quality, (if you wonder what I mean, listen to this Piper Candidacy Sermon Excerpt January 27, 1980) but the passion for God and his word remains.

Because of the giftings that God gave and sustained through Pastor John, many of us understand that dependence on God in the midst of hard things is a wonderful, hope-filled reality.  And we rejoice with Paul:

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.  Romans 8:18

Thank you, God, for giving us Pastor John and helping him show us who you really are.  And thank you for letting us join him in wanting to spread a passion for your supremacy in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ.

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Church of the Disabled – Part 2

Posted in commentary, tagged on October 14, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Last Friday I posted on the World Magazine article that highlighted a church in Anoka specifically for people with developmental disabilities.  It generated more comments than usual, comments that were thought-provoking and passionate.  Rather than let those comments disappear into the past, and knowing there might be others who would like to enter into this discussion or who have other opinions, I’m going to post those comments again, each in their entirety.

Certainly there are areas of disagreement.  Disability and conflict typically go together in this culture.  And hopefully nobody is shocked that those of us dealing with disability directly will also experience disagreement at times, even though we frequently link arms in common cause.

The Bible is full of disagreements which demonstrate God’s sovereignty over all things.   (more…)

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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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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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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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Stand Flexibly Firm and Gracious

Posted in commentary on October 1, 2009| Leave a Comment »

When disability enters a family, the divergent opinions of multiple perspectives comes with it.  Medical professionals, social workers, educators, neighbors, family and friends may all have different opinions about what they think should be done.

So I smiled with appreciation as I read Caryn Turner’s post, “In Sickness and In Health. . . of Your Child,” in which she points out the things they have chosen to say ‘no’ to in their family.

She is right – every family experiencing disability must make firm decisions or risk being carried along by experts (or even friends and family) who mean well, but who do not necessarily care about the family as a whole or who do not share that family’s perspective about God and his sovereign will.

Yet, as firm as she is in articulating the things they avoid, she closes with this:

I know that there are some seasons that your child with special needs may need more attention, time, and focus. We’ve had several of those seasons with Christian. However, I listed here what we strive to do under “normal” circumstances.

I’m glad she ended on that gracious statement about ‘some seasons.’  I know Dianne and I do things much differently than we did when Paul or any of our children were younger.  Different seasons call for different responses.  And it is good to find a healthy pattern in which to live during those times of ‘normal’ circumstances.

Yet, I have never felt discounted or demeaned by other families at Bethlehem who have chosen different paths.  Some of my choices have been challenged, at times, but never in ways that questioned my desires or affections for my own family or disrespected me as a father.

Given the powerful emotional response that disability can raise up in people (especially me), I find that remarkable and certainly a gift from God.

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Fight Temptation to Compare

Posted in commentary, tagged , on September 29, 2009| 1 Comment »

I’ve gotten in the habit of reading Motherlode, a New York Times Magazine blog that frequently features stories about parenting children with disabilities.  This week they included a piece written by a mother who’s daughter has been diagnosed with a hearing impairment.  You can read that post here.

I would like to say that  I read that post and felt nothing but compassion and hope for that mother.  That would be a lie.  After I finished reading it, words like ‘self-indulgent,’ ‘whiny,’ and ‘pitiful’ were what I thought about that mother, and I unfortunately lingered over those thoughts.

The reason?  I was comparing my son and his disabilities with her daughter’s experiences thus far.  And that comparison did me no good at all. (more…)

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