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Archive for the ‘News’ Category

Evidences of God’s Grace in 2010

Posted in commentary, News on December 31, 2010| 1 Comment »

This year has been challenging on many levels.  Paul’s still undiagnosed issue has been hard on the family.  We’re grateful for the promises God has given to us.

And we’re grateful for many wonderful things God has supplied this year with regards to disability and the church!

  • Pastor John delivered one of the most helpful sermons I have heard on God’s sovereignty over disability when he preached Born Blind for the Glory of God in January.
  • Just the Way I Am: God’s Good Design in Disability by Krista Horning was released!  Pastor John added an encouraging trailer to why this is an important, helpful book in answering the question of suffering.  The testimonies that have come to me about its impact have been very sweet.
  • Wrestling with an Angel by Greg Lucas was released!  Having had the chance to meet Greg and understand a bit of his heart made this book even more precious to me.
  • They have existed for a few years, but I was introduced to The Elisha Foundation in 2010 and have been personally encouraged by the men who lead them (and that Matt Perman of Desiring God has joined their board!).

And there were others.  Lisa and Larry Jamieson’s book sits in my pile, begging to be read (Dianne has heard Lisa speak and says, “she’s the real deal!”).  There are new developments happening at church that, Lord willing, will help us serve more people.  There’s a young man who has recorded a song that I’m praying the Lord will use to encourage families in our situation.  I’ve heard from several churches that are beginning or expanding their ministries to those living with disabilities.

So, my heart lives ‘as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing’ (2 Corinthians 6:10) as we close 2010.

Happy New Year!  May we all experience the miracle of God’s peace and divine heart protection in 2011:

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7

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News on Suffering, Disability and the Glory of God

Posted in News on December 7, 2010| Leave a Comment »

On suffering:

Thank you to Justin Taylor for pointing to Matt Chandler’s blog posting marking  the one-year anniversary of his surgery for cancer.

Please take a moment to read it if you haven’t already.  I was enormously encouraged by it – I am His! – and deeply challenged to reflect on my own thoughts and behaviors (like praying).

On disability:

Congratulations to Joni & Friends for winning a Silver Telly Award for their production of When Disability Hits Home.

Chuck Colson and R.C. Sproul are prominently featured as the grandparents of children with disabilities.  One of my favorite men, even after having spent a fair amount of time with me, understood a great deal more about the impact of disability on a family after watching that production.

May God use this award to bring even more people into an understanding of God’s sovereign goodness in disability!

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How did you celebrate International Day of Persons with Disabilities?

Posted in commentary, News on December 5, 2010| Leave a Comment »

If you’ve never heard of that day, you missed it.  I did, too.

It has been around for a while.  The United Nations declared in 1981 that it would be celebrated on December 3 every year.

The purpose:

The Day aims to promote a better understanding of disability issues with a focus on the rights of persons with disabilities and gains to be derived from the integration of persons with disabilities in every aspect of the political, social, economic and cultural life of their communities. United Nations Enable

President Obama included this in his presidential declaration for the day:

America stands in solidarity with the growing number of nations around the world that have committed themselves to ending unequal treatment of persons with disabilities.  On International Day of Persons with Disabilities, we acknowledge the contributions of women and men with disabilities around the world, and we recognize our charge to ensure that all individuals can enjoy full inclusion and participation in our societies.

I’m struck by two things:

  1. This was about it from the White House (or Congress for that matter – neither the House nor the Senate even made a statement that I could find).  There were no videos or personal appearances by the President or Vice President.  Since almost 50 million Americans live with a disabling condition, I find that curious.
  2. He doesn’t really recognize his ‘charge to ensure that all individuals can enjoy full inclusion and participation in our societies.’  The unborn children with disabilities who are being exterminated at alarming rates never have the opportunity to be included or participate.

And I believe the greatest acts of celebration have nothing to do with these declarations by the UN or the White House.  This Sunday morning, Lord willing, I will take my entire family to church where I will observe children and adults with disabilities being welcomed, worshipping, and sitting under preaching that honors God.

I’ll take these quiet acts of inclusion 52 times a year over a one-day celebration or a multitude of governmental declarations.

Of course it is imperfectly done at Bethlehem; I know there are some who do not feel included or welcomed.  We need God’s continued help and provision to change that and to serve all who come.  We need his wisdom.  Please continue to pray for us.

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How we understand justification impacts how we respond to disability

Posted in News, Special Events on November 17, 2010| 3 Comments »

The Evangelical Theological Society is meeting this week from Wednesday through Friday.  Their theme this year is “Justification by Faith.”

Why should those of us dealing with disability care if a bunch of smart people get together to talk about these things?

Because how they reason together and think about this issue influences both this and the next generation of leaders in our colleges, seminaries and churches.  Issues discussed at this gathering will impact churches.

A right understanding of justification is immensely important to this issue of disability:

What makes radical, risk-taking, sacrificial, Christ-exalting works of love possible is the fact that Christ’s perfect obedience (counted as our righteousness) and Christ’s perfect sacrifice (counted as our punishment) secured completely the glorious reality that God is for us as an omnipotent Father who works all things together for our everlasting joy in him.  If we begin to deny or minimize the importance of the obedience of Christ, imputed to us through faith alone, our own works will begin to assume the role that should have been Christ’s. As that happens, over time (perhaps generations), the works of love themselves will be severed from their root in the Christ-secured assurance that God is totally for us.  In this way, for the sake of exalting the importance of love, we will undermine the very thing that makes them possible.

Yet the freedom and the courage to love is what the world desperately needs to see in the church and from the church. The world does not need to see strident, triumphalistic evangelicals laying claim on their rights.  The world needs to see the radical, risk-taking, Christ-exalting sacrifice of humble love that makes us willing to lay down our lives for the good of others, without the demand of reward on this earth. For the sake of this display of the glory of Christ, I plead for our allegiance to a robust, biblical, historical vision of Christ whose obedience is counted as ours through faith alone. John Piper, The Future of Justification: A Response to N.T. Wright, pp. 187-188.

Disability (usually) shatters the illusion of independence we probably lived under before God graciously removed that illusion from our lives.  We need God to call other people to get involved with us in our churches to make disability ministry happen; we need them to freely love without any anticipation of reward on this earth (but isn’t God good to frequently give them affections for us and for our children that feels like a reward to them!).  We need God to help them see that people with disabilities are gifts to the church and have gifts for the church.

Similarly, we should be very wary of the ‘hero’ status that some people want to confer on us for parenting children with disabilities.  It is God’s strength that allows us to continue every day; it is God’s grace that lets us see him for who he is – perfect in all his ways and all his works, and able to make ‘all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose’ (Romans 8:28).

This emphasis on justification would be reason enough for us to care about this gathering.  But in addition to that emphasis for the plenary sessions, there will be papers presented and discussed on issues of deep importance in the areas of bioethics and health.  For example, Catholic ethicist, philosopher and Baylor professor Francis Beckwith is presenting a paper, Recent Challenges to Fetal Personhood: A Critical Analysis.

So, please pray for this gathering of scholars and pastors and seminary students, that God would be given all the glory, and they would stay true to their doctrinal basis:

The Bible alone, and the Bible in its entirety, is the Word of God written and is therefore inerrant in the autographs. God is a Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each an uncreated person, one in essence, equal in power and glory.

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Thank you, Disabled American Veterans

Posted in News, Scripture on November 11, 2010| 1 Comment »

November 11 is Veterans Day in the United States.  It is a day to honor and to remember.

As President Obama wrote in his proclamation of the day:

As a grateful Nation, we are humbled by the sacrifices rendered by our service members and their families out of the deepest sense of service and love of country. On Veterans Day, let us remember our solemn obligations to our veterans, and recommit to upholding the enduring principles that our country lives for, and that our fellow citizens have fought and died for.

Of the 26 million living veterans, more than 3 million live with a permanently disabling condition.  This includes 53,000 disabled veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

War is a terrible consequence of sin.  Sometimes evil leaders and evil movements must be confronted by military force, which means that people will be killed and disabled and displaced.  And God is sovereign over war, and the results of war.

Thankfully, someday war will no longer be an issue, because Jesus will assert his authority and power over those who war against him:

They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful. Revelation 17:14

And after all that has been accomplished, God will establish the new heavens and the new earth for those he has chosen and called:

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.  He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.  The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.” Revelation 21:3-7

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“All children are welcome” – Pastor David Michael

Posted in News on November 10, 2010| 1 Comment »

On Monday David Michael and I spoke to the first-year seminary students for Bethlehem Seminary.  Thank you to all who prayed for us!

I would say it went well.  We were received warmly, the men were attentive, and they had good questions.  They are clearly serious about their studies.  Who knows how the Holy Spirit might use those couple of hours for the sake of the kingdom!

And I walked away – again! – with a deep appreciation for what God has done through David Michael at Bethlehem.  He cares deeply about ALL the children at Bethlehem.  And he made it clear to the young men that this value really wasn’t optional for a church body  – all the children God has given as gifts should be considered as such!

I’m grateful God provides these encouragements to me.  They are deeply helpful to my soul and lead me to worship a God who provides such men in leadership at my church.

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Pray for the unreached deaf peoples of the world

Posted in News, Prayer Requests on November 7, 2010| 3 Comments »

On Friday at Desiring God we heard an incredible report of what God is doing through the global church.  Several staff had travelled to the Lausanne Congress a couple of weeks ago, and we finally had the chance to hear from a few of them.

Included in their report was a list of the 632 unengaged, unreached people groups with populations over 50,000.  “Unengaged” means these people groups have NO full-time workers involved in evangelism and church planting.

If I counted correctly, 52 of those groups represent deaf people in various parts of the world.  Regardless of whether deafness is considered a disability or a culture, please pray that God would raise up workers for the millions of deaf people around the world who currently have no access to the gospel.

You can read more about all the unreached people groups at Finishing the Task.

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Special $10 Book Offer from Desiring God!

Posted in News on November 5, 2010| Leave a Comment »

I just learned of this myself on Wednesday – Desiring God is offering four books (including Just the Way I Am) for $10!  Not each; $10 for all four!

The four books are:

It is listed as Bargain Set 1 on the Christmas Sale page for Desiring God.

There are other specials as well – DVDs for $10, sets of books especially for students and the like.

And shipping is free for orders of more than $25.00 (in the United States).

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Moms: register by November 5 for the gathering of mothers!

Posted in News on November 4, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Mary Horning is speaking!

A panel of mothers speaking!

You will be encouraged!

More information can be found here!

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God prepared Matt Chandler for suffering

Posted in News on November 1, 2010| Leave a Comment »

If you haven’t already seen this post on Justin Taylor’s blog, One Year Later: An Interview with Matt Chandler, please take a few minutes to do so.

Here is an excerpt:

I’m not sure how men and women without a strong view of God’s sovereignty and authority over all things handle things like this.

There were at least 3 meetings with my doctors early on where I felt like I got punched in the soul. In those moments when I was discombobulated and things felt like they were spinning out of control, my theology and the Spirit were there to remind me that “He is good and He does good”—to remind me that God has a plan for His glory and my joy that He is working. I was reminded that this cancer wasn’t punitive but somehow redemptive (Romans 8).

 

 

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