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Please Pray for Desiring God’s National Conference

September 26, 2009 by John Knight

Don’t pray because it is about disability or suffering – it isn’t.  It is on Calvin and you can follow it here.

Pray because people who get saturated in God-honoring, Christ-exalting, prayfully-dependent teaching and preaching that, Lord willing, is happening at the conference deal with the issue of disability and suffering in much more helpful ways.

And if you’d like to hear some good teaching on suffering, the 2005 Desiring God National Conference, Suffering and the Sovereignty of God, is very good.  It includes a wonderful message from Joni Eareckson Tada I recommend.

Thank you for praying!

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Helpful Things: Organizers

September 25, 2009 by John Knight

I’m speaking of the human kind, not the paper or digital variety.

Yesterday I posted a letter that Pastor John sent to Dianne and me just after Paul was born, where he sent a specific word of hope to us and also a call to the church to embrace this little boy as a gift.

On Tuesday I mentioned the long-term care given to us of meals, both those prepared and those underwritten by gift cards.

Today, one of the outcomes of Pastor John’s persistent call to Bethlehem to ‘run toward need rather than comfort.’

On October 12, 2004, Dianne received a diagnosis of cancer.  On October 15, 2004, she was told that the cancer had already spread from her breast to her bones in her back and ribs.  It was Stage IV disease – there is no Stage V.  She had to enter immediate, intensive, and frequent treatment that would leave her very weak and sick for months.

Unlike 1995 when we ran from the church, this time we ran to the church.  Immediately, elders gathered to pray for all of us (which will be the subject of a future post), and the broad, international networks of prayer warriors was engaged.

Two women, neither did I know before Dianne’s diagnosis of cancer, stepped forward at church to say they would help organize the meals (and I’m not sure how many other things as well).  This was not like a small group (which was also in flux for us as our best friends and small group leaders had just left for the mission field), this was inviting complete strangers into our lives at a moment of crisis.  Would we sacrifice a facade of independence and competence to allow people to really help us? Continue Reading »

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Helpful Things: Pastors Who Love Their People

September 24, 2009 by John Knight

It can be easy to think of Pastor John as DR. JOHN PIPER.  But his heart is tuned primarily to being the pastor of a local church with real people who have real needs.

On July 4, 1995, our son arrived and we knew he would be blind as he had no eyes. On July 5, Pastor Tom Steller, now the Dean of Bethlehem College & Seminary, walked up my front sidewalk with a letter from Pastor John, which I’ve included below.  It would also be published in the Bethlehem Star, the weekly church newsletter that was sent to members and regular attenders.

Sadly, in our pain and bitterness and hopelessness and sin-filled pride, we would walk away from Bethlehem just a couple of months later, rejecting both God and the people of God.  But, thanks be to God, that would not be the end of the story!  And this letter from Pastor John would be one of those building blocks that God used to call us to himself. Continue Reading »

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Helpful Things: Gift Cards

September 23, 2009 by John Knight

When Dianne was in active treatment for her cancer (chemo, surgery, radiation), we had an army of people providing things for us.  God was doing an extraordinary thing for us, and we knew it and were (and still are!) very grateful that he provided so abundantly!

The most common thing was meals – and what meals they were!  Only the best, usually completely home-made from scratch and enough for three days.  Think Thanksgiving at Grandma’s house, Christmas with the in-laws and Easter with your best friends.  That was the quality of food we were getting.

This was happening three times a week, every week, for more than nine months.  We were certainly cared for very well in that arena.

Occasionally somebody would give us a gift card for a restaurant instead.  And that was a different kind of treat.  We could go whenever we felt like it, it was usually to someplace we wouldn’t normally go, and we got to choose the food, or have a variety of things.  And gift cards are better than giving money – money would probably go to an existing expense rather than to the rest and recreation you intend to provide (and they may need).

So, if you are stumped on how to help a family with a disabled member, gift cards are an option and should not be considered impersonal or unwanted.  Sometimes they are just the right thing.  But make sure the restaurant has take-out, just in case the family really can’t get out of the house.

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Memories of When I Wrote Almost the Exact Same Thing to Pastor John

September 22, 2009 by John Knight

More than 13 years ago I wrote an email to Pastor John in which I said I thought it would have been better if Jesus hadn’t healed the man born blind in John 9.  His response was used by the Holy Spirit to point me to Jesus, and I am very grateful to this day for that email.

So imagine my surprise, as I was wandering through the journal Disability Studies Quarterly, “the first journal in the field of disability studies,” and found this in an article by Jennifer L. Koosed, Ph.D. and Darla Schumm, Ph.D. entitled, “Out of the Darkness: Examining the Rhetoric of Blindness in the Gospel of John.” Continue Reading »

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Reminder: Breakfast for Dads on October 17

September 21, 2009 by John Knight

Pastor Kempton Turner is bringing a special message of hope in God to fathers of children with disabilities on October 17.  Call or email to reserve your spot today.  Click here for more details.

Pass it on and encourage men to attend!

Kempton’s previous message for dads can be downloaded here.

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Pray for our colleges and seminaries

September 20, 2009 by John Knight

One of the reasons I’m praying for the Bethlehem College and Seminary is because they are filled with passionate faculty!  Please consider subscribing to their weekly prayer email so you can pray with them through the year.  Affections for God are important, and should not be assumed.  Here’s why:

I’m reading an old Journal of Biblical Literature article from 1970 on Mark 2 and the use of the term ‘son of man’ in the account of Jesus healing the paralytic.

It is very dry.

But that isn’t the problem because the subject is inherently interesting for me.

The problem is that the writer is completely lacking any affections for the scripture, God or Jesus. Or if he has some, those affections are so buried under his academic language I can’t find them!  And that leads to a bigger problem.

Continue Reading »

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When New Tests = Disappearing Babies

September 19, 2009 by John Knight

Al Mohler has been a consistent voice of support for unborn children with disabilities.  Yesterday in his blog he also noted how parents of unborn children with Down syndrome are aborting at astonishing rates – over 90%.

Dr. Mohler quotes Dr. Brian Skotko, a clinical genetics fellow at Children’s Hospital Boston who has a sister with Down syndrome: Continue Reading »

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“We are killing people and calling that prevention.”

September 18, 2009 by John Knight

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: Continue Reading »

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Helpful Things: Mature, Wise, Christ-Exalting Veteran Parents

September 17, 2009 by John Knight

Every church needs at least one couple who have been through long-term, intense suffering and who continue to praise God for his goodness in the midst of their hardships.  Families that include a child or children with disabilities benefit greatly from the wisdom of parents who have been there – and are still standing.  Just knowing they exist God uses to bring hope to other families! Continue Reading »

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