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Why did ‘great crowds’ follow Jesus?

May 14, 2010 by John Knight

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

Posted in Scripture | 2 Comments »

Pray to spread a passion for God to the children

May 13, 2010 by John Knight

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!

Posted in Prayer Requests | 2 Comments »

Pointing to the Source of Joy

May 12, 2010 by John Knight

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.

Posted in Book Commentary, Special Events | 1 Comment »

“Let your requests be made known to God. . .”

May 11, 2010 by John Knight

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!

Posted in Special Events | 2 Comments »

Our Story – extended version with more of Dianne’s story

May 9, 2010 by John Knight

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

Posted in Helpful things | 9 Comments »

Did Jesus really say that about disability and sin?

May 7, 2010 by John Knight

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:

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Now that was a mistake. . . but it showed me my kids know a good argument from a bad one

May 6, 2010 by John Knight

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.

Posted in commentary, Scripture | 2 Comments »

One of these things is not like (most) others

May 5, 2010 by John Knight

Tim Challies and David Murray are friends of Desiring God who recently began their own Podcast at their Facebook site, Connected Kingdom: Connecting Truth & Life in a Digital Age (also can be accessed through iTunes).

Their most recent podcast focused on disability and the church!  Even better, they had two dads of children with disabilities as guests:  Justin Reimer, founder of The Elisha Foundation, and Paul Martin, pastor of Grace Fellowship Church in Toronto.

About ten minutes into their conversation I just leaned back and enjoyed listening to four masculine voices engaging on this issue, brothers in the cause for the sake of our children and the church.  That is unusual.

In fact, I cannot remember ever listening to a podcast or radio program on disability and the church that included only men (my memory could be faulty).  On top of that, men who love and trust God!

In terms of service, women dominate the field of disability, at least in these childhood years.  I am grateful to God for all the women involved in Paul’s life – from doctors to therapists to aides to educators.  And I am grateful for all the women God has called to serve in the ministry at Bethlehem, providing access to dozens of families by serving individual children.  It is wonderful to experience such treasure from God!

And I pray for men to get involved, and God has provided.  I’m praying for more.  So, to have men engaging this issue seriously and hopefully in this podcast, that is a gift to me, and to God’s church.

Thank you, Tim and David!

Posted in commentary, News | Leave a Comment »

How to use Facebook for the glory of God

May 4, 2010 by John Knight

A woman I know quite well used Facebook recently to bring glory to God:

5am breakfast of oral contrast – berry flavor – in preparation for the 7:30 CT scan. The scan went fine, now waiting for Paulie to get home so we can go to Hannah’s softball game. I have already “passed from death to life.” John 5:24.

She’s a great example to me to hold all temporary things loosely and all eternal things tightly.  And she also reminded me that Facebook can be used to bring glory to God.

I’m grateful to God that she is my wife.

Posted in commentary | 1 Comment »

“How will my son be saved?”

May 3, 2010 by John Knight

Many of us follow Greg Lukas’ blog, Wrestling with an Angel.  His post last Thursday considers the question about salvation for our children with significant cognitive disabilities:

I have poured over God’s promises like a doctor searching for a cure of the deadly disease in his own child, looking for hope and confidence in this grey area of my son’s life. There are many passages that give hints to the question I pose, but in the end I believe the passage in Ephesians 2 brings the most peace to my own soul—that Jake’s state is really no different from my own.

I recommend the entire post.

I sure hope to meet this brother someday!

Posted in commentary, Scripture | 1 Comment »

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