The quote above comes from Jeff McNair, professor at California Baptist University and writer of the blog, disabled Christianity. That provocative quote by Dr. McNair is in response to an opinion piece from the August 2009 edition of the American Association of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities journal. That journal is not available online, but Dr. McNair offers this quotation from the opinion piece: (more…)
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
“We are killing people and calling that prevention.”
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged abortion, jeff mcnair on September 18, 2009| 1 Comment »
Resource Library Added
Posted in Uncategorized on September 16, 2009| 1 Comment »
You should see a new feature in the right column of The Works of God website: Resource Library.
We are just getting started putting content together in this ‘library’ but decided not to wait any longer to open it up.
There are many resources you can find on the internet regarding disability ministries, so these pages are limited to content created by pastors or members of Bethlehem Baptist Church.
- Disability Radio is the audio we’ve collected thus far that Bethlehem members have presented on disability ministry or the bible and disability.
- Sermons and Commentary right now is a small sampling of items that Pastor John has preached on or written that references disability. We’ll be adding more to this page over time.
- Other Resources is just that, other documents or statements about disability or the disability ministry at Bethlehem Baptist Church. For example, the original document presented to and approved by the Elders that got the disability ministry formally started in 2004 is posted here.
I hope you find it useful. Suggestions for additions to these pages are welcome!
Welcome to The Works of God
Posted in Uncategorized on September 13, 2009| Leave a Comment »
For the past year several of us at Bethlehem Baptist Church have sought to express our joy in and dependency on a God who intentionally created some to live with disability. That blog was hosted here. You might find some interesting things there.
This past week we moved the blog here, to improve accessibility for you and also for the sake of those posting. All are welcome to read and to comment. Please do so!
We try to post almost daily, but I recommend using RSS or subscribing to have it sent to you via email (see button at right). Abraham Piper provided a very helpful tutorial on RSS here.
We hope you find this site useful. More importantly, we seek to bring glory to our sovereign, good, righteous, merciful God.
The Big Bus Comes Again This Morning
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged philippians 4, school on September 8, 2009| Leave a Comment »
For all of us with school-aged children, the day after Labor Day is when it all begins again. An army of people, all listed on my son’s IEP with their official titles and the number of minutes each week he will work with them, will attempt to help him develop skills as much as he is able.
But his favorite part of the day is the enormous bus that will pull up directly in front of the house to transport him to his school, and then back again. He loves the bus. So it’s pretty easy to get him going in the morning – a reminder that the bus is coming is usually enough to have him pop up from his bed.
He’s been getting on that bus since he was three years old. And every year I worry about the bus driver and the bus aides. I won’t let him on the bus with a sole adult, even with credentials and a clean track record – my son is just too vulnerable.
So, every year I am confronted with my responsibilities to him as his dad, and the command to not be anxious:
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
I must do both: carry out my fatherly responsibilities of protection; and not be anxious about anything. This is not a balancing act.
So, in a couple of hours, I’ll put him back on that bus. And pray like crazy.
Test Results vs. the Bible: Round 6
Posted in Uncategorized on August 27, 2009| Leave a Comment »
Actually, I’m not sure what round we’re on. There have been several.
Yesterday we received Paul’s test scores in the mail from last spring’s Minnesota Test of Academic Skills. The Saint Paul schools always send these scores about this time of year.
His score: zero.
And that was on the alternate achievement standards test for kids in special education.
After a few of these I expected it, but the stark reality of the score still makes me pause, because I have a decision to make in that moment:
- Do I consider all the assets Paul has and brings to our house to balance off this rotten score? Do I think about how loving and happy he is? Do I add in how happy his sister is to serve him? Do I consider how he has helped me view the world differently? Do I hope in his innocence?
All of these are good things, but I’m back to me trying to give him some value that can justify his existence. And eventually it just makes me think about all the things he can’t do.
- Or do I obliterate my desire to find comfort in temporal, earthly things, even good things, and remember what God has to say about his creation and his elect? Things like:
Jeremiah 29:11-13 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
Isaiah 43:1-2 But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.
2 Timothy 1:8-12 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher,which is why I suffer as I do.
I do not need to justify my son’s existence to the world. I may and do have to defend him, but God has already confirmed his value because God gave him life. And God created Paul for God’s own purposes, which do not include high test scores. All the other joyful things, like Paul’s generally happy disposition, are just benefits.
So, the score came, and the pause came, and I did not succumb to the temptation to make much of the earthly gifts Paul has. That is a grace from God as I have frequently failed at that first moment. But not this time. Lord willing, not the next time, either.
2 Kings 5 is for Parents of Kids With Disabilities – Part 2
Posted in Scripture, Uncategorized, tagged 2 kings 5 on August 9, 2009| Leave a Comment »
In 2 Kings 5:1, God’s sovereignty was clearly stated. As we walk toward the usual highlight of the cleansing, today we see the first of a whole series of really unusual things happening. And it results in a hard, but good, challenge to me as a parent of a child with a disability.
2 Kings 5:2-3
Now the Syrians on one of their raids had carried off a little girl from the land of Israel, and she worked in the service of Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, “Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”
Does that strike you as odd? A little girl is ripped from her home by violent men, she is placed as a slave in the home of a powerful man, and she seems to want the best for this man who is in charge of the men who took her from her home and made her a slave.
Even more strange, she talks about a cure for his leprosy! Such a cure would not have been a normal thing; why would she have said such a thing?
It is also clear, on this side of the telling of the account, that if that little girl had not a) been taken as a slave, b) been placed in Naaman’s house, c) said something to Naaman’s wife, and d) been taken seriously by Naaman’s wife, then Naaman would not have been healed of his leprosy.
In other words, God is already orchestrating a series of events for the benefit of pagan man who is at the head of an army that is openly hostile and contemptuous of the people of Israel. People in Israel were probably praying to be spared from this man, and God is already showing him kindness, but in ways that Naaman cannot yet see.
God could have started down this road in a very different way: an angel could have been sent, the Spirit could have spoken directly to him, a prophet could have been given a vision to visit him, a donkey could have talked to him.
But God chose a little girl, without power, likely without any standing at all, to bring good news. By any rational account, it is the little girl who needs the help. And we will not read anything more about this girl’s situation in 2 Kings 5.
I have frequently felt powerless when dealing with my son’s care. I stopped counting the medical specialists we had seen after it topped 30. I’m not sure, at this point, how many social workers, teachers, therapists and administrators I’ve met with as well. All have or had pretty serious credentials, and all had some power over what would happen with my son.
But I have never been as powerless as that little slave girl. And, mostly, I have thought only about my situation and not theirs. My eternal situation is secure, and my God is the creator of the universe – should I not be telling, like that little girl did, that there is a cure for the spots on their souls? Some of Paul’s teachers know of my faith in this God, but it isn’t a very high number of the total.
Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible helpfully lays out a series of extraordinary things that are happening in these two verses, but this one sticks with me in powerful way:
- The unhappy dispersing of the people of God has sometimes proved the happy occasion of the diffusion of the knowledge of God, Acts 8:4
Parents, have we not also been given an ‘unhappy dispersing’ from what we wanted or expected our lives to be because of our kids’ disabilities? Should we not at least consider that the very purpose of our childrens’ disabilities is for the ‘happy occasion of the diffusion of the knowledge of God’?
I’ll look forward to your comments when I return from vacation about Aug. 16.
We’ll continue in 2 Kings 5 tomorrow.
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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