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Let’s do less of this, and more of that.

April 18, 2012 by John Knight

Verinata Health describes their purpose this way:

Verinata Health, Inc. (Verinata), a privately-held company, is driven by a sole and extraordinary purpose — maternal and fetal health. Our initial focus is to develop and offer non-invasive tests for early identification of fetal chromosomal abnormalities through our proprietary technologies.

They are very careful not to use the words terminate, termination or abortion on their website. But that’s really what this is about – finding out early in a pregnancy if a child has Down syndrome and then ending the pregnancy.

Matthew Rabinowitz, CEO of Gene Security Network – yet another company that is developing tests for Down syndrome – clarified what it means for parents:

“If a couple finds an abnormality, and chooses to terminate the pregnancy, it’s better to do it earlier,” Rabinowitz said in a telephone interview.

Explain to me exactly how this improves maternal and fetal health?

I’m a big proponent of scientific research so that we can save and improve the lives of more babies. But this isn’t about saving babies. I would be ok, even in a down economy, with fewer businesses like these.

Contrast that news with the work one brother did to serve his brother with autism: he created an iPad app! Why did he create it?

“I found that parents and therapists felt the communication apps currently on the market were very limiting, over priced, and not user friendly,” says Izak.

I’m not endorsing this product as I’ve never even seen it yet alone used it.

But wouldn’t it be great if more people invested into the lives of people with all kinds of disabilities, rather than sought profits through destroying them? What kind of benefits would we all experience if we worked harder to see the gifts people with disabilities have and then let them use those gifts for God’s glory and for our good?

Posted in News | 1 Comment »

God’s sovereign goodness in all things, like trips and tornadoes

April 17, 2012 by John Knight

Lord willing, I’ll be in Woodward, Oklahoma by this evening (Tuesday) to visit some friends.  Early Sunday morning a tornado hit this small town and six people entered eternity, with more than two dozen injured and many homes destroyed.

I’m not going because of the tornado; this trip was planned several weeks ago.  But a tornado came, and I know it can raise questions about the goodness of God.

The family I’m visiting is rock-solid in their understanding of God’s goodness and sovereignty over all things.  But what of the others I will meet, if even only once?  I’m assuming God will present opportunities to speak of his goodness in all things, including the hardest of things.

Just a few weeks ago Pastor John wrote on this very subject after tornadoes claimed 38 lives.  And he reminded me there is always a greater purpose God has in mind:

Therefore, God’s will for America under his mighty hand, is that every Christian, every Jew, every Muslim, every person of every religion or non-religion, turn from sin and come to Jesus Christ for forgiveness and eternal life. Jesus rules the wind. The tornadoes were his.

But before Jesus took any life in rural America, he gave his own on the rugged cross. Come to me, he says, to America — to the devastated and to the smugly self-sufficient. Come to me, and I will give you hope and help now, and in the resurrection, more than you have ever lost.

If there’s one thing I’ve experienced and learned about suffering, it is that suffering people hold credible other people who have suffered, even if the circumstances of their suffering are very different.  Maybe God will use our Paul, again, to help people see we aren’t playing around with religion, but clinging to Jesus.  Maybe he’ll help them see Jesus.

So, please pray for Woodward, Oklahoma.  And please pray for me, that God would let me be useful while I’m down there, for his glory and for the ultimate, eternal comfort of hurting people.

Posted in News, Prayer Requests | 1 Comment »

“Get their hearts out of their little worlds and help them to feel something big.” John Piper

April 16, 2012 by John Knight

Pastor John was speaking specifically of missions in the video below, but he could easily have also been talking about disability ministry!

When we have a big view of God, when we soak in what God has to say in his word, when we feel the joyous burden to do something to bring him glory, some will be called into foreign missions, some will be called to serve those with disabilities here, and some will be called to do both.

I know that’s true because Paul’s current aide at church does a lot of disability ministry for us and a lot of support for those serving in other parts of the world.

Whether in missions or in serving those who experience disability, there is so much to do.  I’m grateful that “my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19 ESV).”

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“We all need God” – Ryan Pittman

April 15, 2012 by John Knight

Ryan Pittman, a young man who lives with Down syndrome, gives his testimony of faith in Jesus.

His testimony takes about two minutes.

The entire video is pretty special as well.  He has served as a missionary to Peru!

May we all work harder to find and use the gifts that God himself has given to each of us, for his glory and for our joy.

Thank you to Jill Krummen for pointing me to this video.  May your Jonathan’s gifts be used mightily for the sake of the Kingdom!

Posted in commentary | 2 Comments »

“Why do Americans Balk at Euthanasia Laws?” – The New York Times

April 14, 2012 by John Knight

If you want an overview for how some people view ‘religion,’ euthanasia, disability and health care in the United States, the eight essays associated with the New York Times ‘Room for Debate’ series Why Do Americans Balk at Euthanasia Laws is a quick and telling read.

To be fair, none of the writers was given much room to explain their positions.  But the hostility to those of us who hold a theistic worldview is pretty clear.

We see the world so differently.  We understand the value of human life so differently.

And I just can’t let one of the writers off the hook, even with the lack of space she was given for her editorial.

Dr. Petra da Jong, a proponent of assisted suicide wrote:

In the Netherlands, euthanasia and assisted suicide have been regulated by law since 2002. Euthanasia has been openly debated since the 1970s, by doctors, patients, attorneys, judges and politicians. This has been a decades-long process. Slowly, the legal system here became more lenient toward doctors performing euthanasia on humanitarian grounds, as requested by the patients.

She entirely neglected that in 2004 The Groningen Protocol was approved to protect doctors who euthanize infants with disabilities.  Those children most certainly never requested that their caretakers kill them.

Posted in News | 3 Comments »

Are you perplexed about God’s providence in your pain?

April 13, 2012 by John Knight

Mark Talbot lives with chronic pain. And he lives with persistent hope.

Emphasis in bold and paragraph formatting are mine:

I have known afflictions far worse than my paralysis. I have had seasons of perplexity about God’s providence that have been so deep that night after night sleep has fled from me.

Yet these griefs have been God’s gifts. For only by such severe suffering has my loving Father broken me free of some of my deeper idolatries. In the nights’ watches, while others sleep, my wakeful heart must find its rest in him or it will find no rest at all.

Mark Talbot in his chapter, “All the Good That Is Ours in Christ”: Seeing God’s Gracious Hand in the Hurts Others Do to Us,” from Suffering and the Sovereignty of God edited by John Piper and Justin Taylor, pp. 75-76.

Dr. Talbot will be speaking at the November 8 conference, The Works of God: God’s Good Design in Disability. I encourage you to come hear him speak on ‘Longing for Wholeness: Chronic Suffering and Christian Hope.’

I am excited to hear from Dr. Talbot. I hope you will join us!

Posted in Quotes, Special Events | 2 Comments »

Dad, do you long for a normal life?

April 12, 2012 by John Knight

I often wonder what it would be like to be a normal dad, of a normal family, with a normal son. I sometimes imagine sitting through an entire church service or ball game or date with my wife without having to answer an urgent alarm activated by Jake. I would probably have more friends, more time, and more worldly accomplishments. I would definitely have more pride.

In exchange, there would be less opportunity to recognize the amazing grace that God displays each and every day through the disability of my son. It is this grace that humiliates my pride, humbles my soul, deepens my shallowness, and allows me to see what is most important in life.

Greg Lucas, Wrestling with an Angel: A Story of Love, Disability and the Lessons of Grace, Kindle Locations 411-416).

Greg will be speaking at the November 8 conference, The Works of God: God’s Good Design in Disability.  I encourage you to come here him speak about God’s goodness in parenting a child with disabilities ‘when your heart is continually crushed,’ for God’s glory, and for your good.

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Why come to this conference on disability? To see more of God.

April 11, 2012 by John Knight

Why do I think you should come to the November 8 conference, The Works of God: God’s Good Design in Disability? 

To hear from people who have experienced suffering on the deepest level, and found Jesus.  People like Nancy Guthrie, who wrote about what prayer was like for her after her daughter Hope was born with a fatal genetic disorder (paragraph formatting is mine):

So how were praying for Hope? I wish I could tell you that I was a great woman of prayer in those difficult days. Truth is, I wasn’t.

I was really grateful that so many people were praying for us, no matter what they were praying, because I didn’t have many words, mostly just groans and tears. I was grateful to know that the Holy Spirit was interceding for us with “groanings too deep for words” (Romans 8:36).

When I was able to sputter out a prayer, it was shaped most profoundly by something a friend said to me on the phone a couple of days after Hope was born. She said that I could be confident that God would accomplish the purpose he had for Hope’s life in the number of days that he gave to her.

So in my prayers I began to welcome him to accomplish that purpose. I prayed that my own sin and selfishness and small agendas would not hinder his purpose. I prayed that that his purpose for Hope’s life would be enough for me, even a joy to me.

Nancy Guthrie, Praying Past Our Preferred Outcomes, posted April 4, 2012


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Two additional benefits for attendees of Desiring God’s Conference: God’s Good Design in Disability

April 10, 2012 by John Knight

Immediately following Pastor John at the November 8 conference, The Works of God: God’s Good Design in Disability, Krista Horning, author of Just the Way I Am, God’s Good Design in Disability will share a brief testimony with the audience.

Bible pours out of this young woman and her life is a testimony to the goodness of God.  It would not surprise me if her ten minutes are the highlight of the day for many people.

The other benefit is that Bethlehem’s Disability Ministry will be sponsoring a time for networking, information sharing and informal conversation immediately following the close of the conference and into the evening.  Opportunities to hear about other disability ministries, for people with common issues to be introduced to each other, and even addressing difficult theological questions are part of the plans for the evening for those who can stay.  It would also not surprise me if this gathering was the highlight of the day for many people!

More details are coming as we get closer to the conference, including opportunities for volunteering.

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Why a conference on disability and the Bible?

April 9, 2012 by John Knight

Desiring God is sponsoring a conference on November 8, The Works of God: God’s Good Design in Disability.  I hope you will consider coming!

The easy answer as to why a conference on disability and the Bible is that God has a lot to say on the subject in his book – for his glory and for our good – and that it impacts a lot of people – more than 1 billion people around the world.

It will be like none I’ve experienced or seen, but one I’ve longed to see for quite some time.  The emphasis will be on God’s sovereignty over disability, suffering and even death.

It will be full of Bible.  Each of the speakers takes God’s word very seriously for the sake of their own joy.

If you’ve ever searched for sermons or conference messages on disability and the Bible, you already know there’s a lot of bad stuff out there.  It will be good to have more edifying, God-centered materials available and accessible to people searching for the truth.

And with this conference, Desiring God and Bethlehem are getting into the stream that is growing on this issue of disability in ways that make my heart beat faster in anticipation about what God might be doing.

So, I hope you will come!

And if you would, please pray for me as I prepare a series of blog postings for the Desiring God blog.  I want to encourage people who normally would pass on this subject of disability to see that this conference is also for them.

That isn’t a complaint (thanks be to God for changing my heart on that one! I didn’t work very hard to kill the sin of bitterness for a long time). There are many people who do not see this as important for their churches simply because they don’t see it every day like we do.  But just from demographics alone, we know that every pastor and church leader will eventually have families like ours in front of them.  

I want them to be ready and full of anticipation about what God might be pleased to do when he brings those who are different because of disability into their churches.  Maybe some will even be called to do incredible things for the sake of those this culture believes should not exist at all.

So I would be grateful for your prayers for my writing, and for the Holy Spirit to do a marvelous work in bringing many to Bethlehem’s North Campus this fall!

Posted in News | 5 Comments »

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