A word for January 10 from Joni Eareckson Tade:
As we move deeper into the New Year, today's verse serves as a faithful guide. It seems the days are more dangerous than ever with "wars and rumors of wars" crowding the nightly news programs. It appears as though the entire world is spiraling toward Sodom for "the whole world lies in the power of the evil one" (I John 5:19).
But as Christians, we should not smirk at the misery or the merrymaking of our immoral culture. This is no time for smug self-righteousness. This is no time to get cranky that our country has been hi-jacked by the "radical left." This is a season, perhaps like none other, to truly influence the world, to showcase the love of Christ through ministries of mercy. Others may whine about the triumphs of evil, but not followers of Jesus Christ. We know better. We know that ultimately good will triumph. So we showcase what that will look like by rolling up our sleeves and feeding the poor, telling about Jesus, helping the elderly and disabled, bridging racial distances, and raising the bar of common civility. "For we are... created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" (Ephesians 2:10).
Dr. John Piper has said, "The greatness of Christian exiles is not success, but service. Whether we win or lose, we witness to the way of truth, beauty and joy. We don't own culture, and we don't rule it. We serve it with joy and mercy, for the good of man and the glory of Jesus Christ."[1]
Take a quick attitude check. If you find you are pessimistic about our culture, then commit today to serve it in practical ways which showcase the love of Christ. Lord, make me an instrument of your peace today in my community.
Blessings,
Joni and Friends [and me]
[1] Dr. John Piper,"Brokenhearted Joy," World Magazine, December 13, 2003, p 51.
Taken from
Pearls of Great Price. Copyright © 2006 by Joni Eareckson Tada. Used by permission. Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530
Showing posts with label Joni Eareckson Tada. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Joni Eareckson Tada. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Divine Distastes
And he could bear Israel's misery no longer. --Judges 10:15-16
God has a strong distaste for suffering. His tenderness is aroused by human anguish. But what all of those natural disasters? you wonder. If he's so touched by suffering, why does he allow events like that terrible tsunami that swept across the shores of Asia in 2004? The suffering and loss of life were beyond comprehension.
I can't begin to explain the unexplainable. But I know this: If Adam had never fallen, if the Creator could rewrite the story, he would have never allowed suffering out of the cage. "For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men" (Lamentations 3:33). But sin did leave the cage and, consequently, the curse fell. And ever since man's rebellion in the Garden of Eden, our world has groaned under wars, floods, earthquakes, disease, and much more. Like you, I shake my head at the mysterious plans and purposes of God. Tragedies like these either drive people away from God... or draw them to him. Calamities either harden people's hearts... or soften them as they run to the Lord for help and hope.
And beyond all else, I know this about my Father's heart: "God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him." And again, "God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son" (Romans 5:8, 8:32, The Message).
No one could ever accuse God of "sitting back and watching" while people suffer. How could anyone look at the cross and say anything like that?
Tragedies, great and small, happen every day in your community! How can you become God's hands and feet, his tender touch and his encouraging voice to those who suffer in your city-and in your world? Ask him to express his compassion toward hurting people through you.
Father, may I simply trust your heart, even today, when I can't trace your path.
Blessings,
Joni and Friends
www.joniandfriends.org
Taken from Pearls of Great Price. Copyright © 2006 by Joni Eareckson Tada. Used by permission. Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530
Thank you, Joni, for this blessing today!
God has a strong distaste for suffering. His tenderness is aroused by human anguish. But what all of those natural disasters? you wonder. If he's so touched by suffering, why does he allow events like that terrible tsunami that swept across the shores of Asia in 2004? The suffering and loss of life were beyond comprehension.
I can't begin to explain the unexplainable. But I know this: If Adam had never fallen, if the Creator could rewrite the story, he would have never allowed suffering out of the cage. "For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men" (Lamentations 3:33). But sin did leave the cage and, consequently, the curse fell. And ever since man's rebellion in the Garden of Eden, our world has groaned under wars, floods, earthquakes, disease, and much more. Like you, I shake my head at the mysterious plans and purposes of God. Tragedies like these either drive people away from God... or draw them to him. Calamities either harden people's hearts... or soften them as they run to the Lord for help and hope.
And beyond all else, I know this about my Father's heart: "God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him." And again, "God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son" (Romans 5:8, 8:32, The Message).
No one could ever accuse God of "sitting back and watching" while people suffer. How could anyone look at the cross and say anything like that?
Tragedies, great and small, happen every day in your community! How can you become God's hands and feet, his tender touch and his encouraging voice to those who suffer in your city-and in your world? Ask him to express his compassion toward hurting people through you.
Father, may I simply trust your heart, even today, when I can't trace your path.
Blessings,
Joni and Friends
www.joniandfriends.org
Taken from Pearls of Great Price. Copyright © 2006 by Joni Eareckson Tada. Used by permission. Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530
Thank you, Joni, for this blessing today!
Sunday, November 20, 2011
REAL Test of a Thankful Heart!
My youngest sister Elizabeth posted this on her Facebook page today and it's right on or spot on as my brother says!
"I give God thanks for my quadriplegia. It has become the strange friend which helps me know Jesus better. It is the shadowy companion that walks with me daily, pulling and pushing me into the arms of the Savior where I find grace and comfort. Your affliction falls well within the overarching decrees of God. It comes from his wise and kind hand and for that, you can give thanks. In it and for it." -- Joni Eareckson Tada
It's one thing to thank God IN the middle of your suffering, but quite another to thank Him FOR the suffering itself. This is the challenge of having a really thankful heart! Can I (or you) be thankful FOR the suffering itself?
"I give God thanks for my quadriplegia. It has become the strange friend which helps me know Jesus better. It is the shadowy companion that walks with me daily, pulling and pushing me into the arms of the Savior where I find grace and comfort. Your affliction falls well within the overarching decrees of God. It comes from his wise and kind hand and for that, you can give thanks. In it and for it." -- Joni Eareckson Tada
It's one thing to thank God IN the middle of your suffering, but quite another to thank Him FOR the suffering itself. This is the challenge of having a really thankful heart! Can I (or you) be thankful FOR the suffering itself?
Thursday, October 13, 2011
"Pain - the GIFT Nobody Wants"!
Joni Eareckson Tada writes in her daily devotional today words that speak far more eloquently than I ever could. She speaks with practical and moral authority on the issue of pain. It has been the daily companion who has danced with her for over 40 years!
After more than four decades of permanent paralysis, I can attest that only a daily, hourly, even momentary placing of our throbbing into his strong hands can protect us from the crippling ravages of fear. There are countless "fear nots" in scripture, each one of them covering the whole spectrum of human experience. Every "fear not" can be embraced and impressed on our hearts and repeated in the presence of our adversary. Then we will press to our hearts this poem by Miss Margaret Clarkson, a woman who was bedridden for years with chronic pain...
Lord Jesus, King of pain, Thy subject I;
Thy right it is to reign:
Oh, hear my cry, and bid in me all longings cease;
Save for Thy holy will's increase.
Thy right it is to reign O'er all Thine own;
Then, if Thy love send pain, find there Thy throne,
And help me bear it unto Thee,
Who didst bear death and hell for me.
Lord Jesus, King of pain, my heart's adored,
Teach me eternal gain is love's reward:
In Thee I hide me; hold me still
Till pain work all Thy perfect will.[1]
When I struggle with pain, dear Lord, teach me to wait on Thee and remember the example of Jesus, the King of Pain.
Wherever the hours of this day may fall for you, seek Him who truly is the King of Pain! He will dance with you through all the hours and days and years of pain! He is the Partner Who never stops dancing and Who will carry you when your feet and heart can no longer keep dancing!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] E. Margaret Clarkson, "In Pain," Grace Grows Best in Winter, (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company: Grand Rapids, MI), pg. 54.
After more than four decades of permanent paralysis, I can attest that only a daily, hourly, even momentary placing of our throbbing into his strong hands can protect us from the crippling ravages of fear. There are countless "fear nots" in scripture, each one of them covering the whole spectrum of human experience. Every "fear not" can be embraced and impressed on our hearts and repeated in the presence of our adversary. Then we will press to our hearts this poem by Miss Margaret Clarkson, a woman who was bedridden for years with chronic pain...
Lord Jesus, King of pain, Thy subject I;
Thy right it is to reign:
Oh, hear my cry, and bid in me all longings cease;
Save for Thy holy will's increase.
Thy right it is to reign O'er all Thine own;
Then, if Thy love send pain, find there Thy throne,
And help me bear it unto Thee,
Who didst bear death and hell for me.
Lord Jesus, King of pain, my heart's adored,
Teach me eternal gain is love's reward:
In Thee I hide me; hold me still
Till pain work all Thy perfect will.[1]
When I struggle with pain, dear Lord, teach me to wait on Thee and remember the example of Jesus, the King of Pain.
Wherever the hours of this day may fall for you, seek Him who truly is the King of Pain! He will dance with you through all the hours and days and years of pain! He is the Partner Who never stops dancing and Who will carry you when your feet and heart can no longer keep dancing!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] E. Margaret Clarkson, "In Pain," Grace Grows Best in Winter, (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company: Grand Rapids, MI), pg. 54.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Disability, Chocolate Bunnies and Easter Eggs
What does disability have to do with chocolate bunnies and Easter eggs? Well, nothing really! But persons affected by disability - which, in a sense, includes everyone because we are all broken in various ways - need so much more than chocolate bunnies and Easter eggs. Chocolate bunnies might fix the chocolate craving temporarily. Easter eggs are dyed pretty colors and hidden for happy children to find. But neither chocolate bunnies or Easter eggs offer hope for change to people affected by disability.
Disabilities profoundly change the way life is lived. Disabilities affect more than the individual - the whole family is affected. Children affected by disability are often not included in "normal" activities like an Easter egg hunt for a variety of "reasons." These exclusions contribute to the isolation many who are affected by disability feel. Sometimes people with disabilities find that they have no friends. They are often over-looked or intentionally excluded because of their disability.
It’s an ugly reality of our society that perfection is honored and disability is distained. It is so sad that often people who can dress up and fix up and live to such a standard of “perfection” are really very broken people themselves.
People affected by disability are just like anyone else. They want friends. They need meaningful relationships. They deserve being treated with dignity and value. They want to be able to contribute to life and family in significant ways. They want to be included. They want to make significant contributions.
Just the other day I was at an office where a young man affected by disability was being coached in sound editing using certain software. He sat diligently with his headphones carefully listening and making adjustments. Being given a significant task and knowing he is making a difference is huge encouragement for him!
The real truth is, we all need each other. People affected by disability can teach the rest of us so much about endurance and hope and persistence. They are living parables of how to face challenges. We can all learn from each other. We all can contribute to the completeness of the whole.
Yesterday was Easter. For many people Easter means little more than candy and egg hunts.
For people affected by disability Easter should be the most wonderful day in the whole year. Easter is our celebration of Jesus coming back to life. The hope of the resurrection is the best news of us all and especially for people affected by disability! Jesus promises to “make all things new.” That includes broken bodies and minds! That includes broken relationships! That includes broken dreams and dashed hopes!
Jesus promises to “make all things new” (Rev. 21:5). This ULTIMATE makeover begins with Easter, continues when we journey with Jesus through life until that day in eternity when He will totally “make all things new”!
I have my own missing and/or broken body parts so I’m looking forward to “being made new.” My “issues” pale in significance when I consider how some live. Joni Eareckson Tada who has been a quadriplegic in a wheelchair for over 40 years wrote a devotional I received by email just today:
“My girlfriend arrived to get me up and ready for the day. It had been a rough night - sleeplessness, and stabbing, razor-sharp pain in my neck and shoulders. When I told her about it, she sighed and said, "Joni... I'll bet you just can't wait for heaven." As she brushed my hair, I sat and dreamed about what I've dreamed of a thousand times: my eternal home, just over the near horizon. … Some people look at my wheelchair, hear my enthusiasm for heaven, and conclude that it's a death wish. Now it's true, when I was first injured, I only viewed heaven as a place where I could get back what I had lost. I would receive hands that worked and feet that walked and even danced. … My attitude changed as I studied the Scriptures. I realized that heaven was mainly focused on Jesus, not me. (Joni Eareckson Tada, Pearls of Great Price, 2006)
And Joni knows what I also know: Heaven is the “getting” place for NEW in every sense of the word!
Disabilities profoundly change the way life is lived. Disabilities affect more than the individual - the whole family is affected. Children affected by disability are often not included in "normal" activities like an Easter egg hunt for a variety of "reasons." These exclusions contribute to the isolation many who are affected by disability feel. Sometimes people with disabilities find that they have no friends. They are often over-looked or intentionally excluded because of their disability.
It’s an ugly reality of our society that perfection is honored and disability is distained. It is so sad that often people who can dress up and fix up and live to such a standard of “perfection” are really very broken people themselves.
People affected by disability are just like anyone else. They want friends. They need meaningful relationships. They deserve being treated with dignity and value. They want to be able to contribute to life and family in significant ways. They want to be included. They want to make significant contributions.
Just the other day I was at an office where a young man affected by disability was being coached in sound editing using certain software. He sat diligently with his headphones carefully listening and making adjustments. Being given a significant task and knowing he is making a difference is huge encouragement for him!
The real truth is, we all need each other. People affected by disability can teach the rest of us so much about endurance and hope and persistence. They are living parables of how to face challenges. We can all learn from each other. We all can contribute to the completeness of the whole.
Yesterday was Easter. For many people Easter means little more than candy and egg hunts.
For people affected by disability Easter should be the most wonderful day in the whole year. Easter is our celebration of Jesus coming back to life. The hope of the resurrection is the best news of us all and especially for people affected by disability! Jesus promises to “make all things new.” That includes broken bodies and minds! That includes broken relationships! That includes broken dreams and dashed hopes!
Jesus promises to “make all things new” (Rev. 21:5). This ULTIMATE makeover begins with Easter, continues when we journey with Jesus through life until that day in eternity when He will totally “make all things new”!
I have my own missing and/or broken body parts so I’m looking forward to “being made new.” My “issues” pale in significance when I consider how some live. Joni Eareckson Tada who has been a quadriplegic in a wheelchair for over 40 years wrote a devotional I received by email just today:
“My girlfriend arrived to get me up and ready for the day. It had been a rough night - sleeplessness, and stabbing, razor-sharp pain in my neck and shoulders. When I told her about it, she sighed and said, "Joni... I'll bet you just can't wait for heaven." As she brushed my hair, I sat and dreamed about what I've dreamed of a thousand times: my eternal home, just over the near horizon. … Some people look at my wheelchair, hear my enthusiasm for heaven, and conclude that it's a death wish. Now it's true, when I was first injured, I only viewed heaven as a place where I could get back what I had lost. I would receive hands that worked and feet that walked and even danced. … My attitude changed as I studied the Scriptures. I realized that heaven was mainly focused on Jesus, not me. (Joni Eareckson Tada, Pearls of Great Price, 2006)
And Joni knows what I also know: Heaven is the “getting” place for NEW in every sense of the word!
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Long Time - No See - New Year
I'm involved in a journey. It began in 2008. My good friend is dying of cancer. It is a special gift to be walking this journey of pain with her and her daughter.
Today Joni Eareckson Tada writes in her daily devotional about New Year resolutions and 2 Corinthians 4:16: Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
My friend is outwardly wasting away. The cancer has a death grip on her body. My prayer for her and her daughter is that they will discover the secret of God's inner renewal. It's the only way to make this painful journey with peace and confidence!
Cancer is an ugly disease. Unseen it winds its nasty tentacles through organs, tissue and bone until it chokes out life. There are treatments like chemo and radiation. There are drugs for the pain. There are friends like me for loving support, but the truth is that none of these stop the deadly onslaught of the disease process once it is well-established. The body outwardly and inwardly wastes away.
The ONLY hope to hold onto is God's restoration of the heart!
On His way to Gethsemene and betrayal, Jesus spoke words of comfort to His disciples. He knew they would soon desperately need the truth of what He spoke. He said, "Don't let this throw you. You trust in God, don't you? Trust Me. There is plenty of room for you in My Father's home. If that weren't so, would I have told you that I'm on My way to get a room ready for you? ... I am the Road, also the Truth, also the Life. No one gets to the Father apart from Me." (John 14:1-6, The Message)
Jesus was promising "heart renewal" for now and for ever. That's the only hope to hold onto - Jesus, the Road to God and heaven! He's the only path to heart restoration! He promises to make "all things new" (Rev. 21:5) - even bodies riddled with cancer!
Today Joni Eareckson Tada writes in her daily devotional about New Year resolutions and 2 Corinthians 4:16: Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
My friend is outwardly wasting away. The cancer has a death grip on her body. My prayer for her and her daughter is that they will discover the secret of God's inner renewal. It's the only way to make this painful journey with peace and confidence!
Cancer is an ugly disease. Unseen it winds its nasty tentacles through organs, tissue and bone until it chokes out life. There are treatments like chemo and radiation. There are drugs for the pain. There are friends like me for loving support, but the truth is that none of these stop the deadly onslaught of the disease process once it is well-established. The body outwardly and inwardly wastes away.
The ONLY hope to hold onto is God's restoration of the heart!
On His way to Gethsemene and betrayal, Jesus spoke words of comfort to His disciples. He knew they would soon desperately need the truth of what He spoke. He said, "Don't let this throw you. You trust in God, don't you? Trust Me. There is plenty of room for you in My Father's home. If that weren't so, would I have told you that I'm on My way to get a room ready for you? ... I am the Road, also the Truth, also the Life. No one gets to the Father apart from Me." (John 14:1-6, The Message)
Jesus was promising "heart renewal" for now and for ever. That's the only hope to hold onto - Jesus, the Road to God and heaven! He's the only path to heart restoration! He promises to make "all things new" (Rev. 21:5) - even bodies riddled with cancer!
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Disability, Disease and Death - WHY?
This week I had an encounter with death. This week I also encountered disability and disease. My good friend's beautiful Siberian Husky died Monday night. Several good friends live with significantly serious disability. A good friend has terminal cancer. Other close friends live with blindness, neurological disabilities or diseases and the prospect of their pain increasing. Some of these friends will never be better this side of heaven.
Disability, disease and death happen. Why? Where is God? Is He asleep at the switch (or even sending a text message like the engineer in California recently was when his train collided with another train killing and seriously injuring many passengers) when this kind of pain comes?
The WHY? question is our feeble attempt to make some sense out of pain and suffering and death. More often than not, we don't know the answer to WHY? We scream "WHY?" into the darkness of death, disability and disease. Does this kind of terrible pain happen because God is just not powerful enough to stop the big stuff or because it slips past His notice?
Are disability, disease and death part of God's plan? Or are they the result of mis-laid plans or even evil intent? Are disability, disease and death horrible, tragic coincidences? Is evil spinning out of control? Is God either unwilling or incapable of stopping these big three: disability, disease and death?
Rabbi Harold Kushner wrestled with the WHY? question following the death of his son. He concluded that often there are things God just isn't powerful enough to stop - like disability, disease and death. Rabbi Kushner's conclusion is certainly not what the Bible says.
Joni Eareckson Tada writes in her devotional book Pearls of Great Price: It's one thing for God to deliberately let something awful happen for reasons we may not understand, but it would be another for God to wish He could have prevented it, but have one hand tied behind His back. Either God rules, or Satan sets your life's agenda and God is limited to only reacting. In which case, the Almighty would become the devil's clean-up boy. Although God would manage to patch things up, your suffering would be meaningless. ... No, the real tragedy is that any Christian would settle for such darkenss with the light of the Bible shining so clearly. If God didn't control evil, the result would be evil uncontrolled. Our suffering has meaning because " ... His kingdom rules over all." (Psalm 103:19) (from "The Real Tragedy," November 30th)
Nothing else makes sense! Nothing less gives comfort in the midst of disability, disease and death! Only the sure knowledge that God is God and that He is working His plan in the world and in individual hearts brings peace and comfort in the midst of struggling with disability, disease and death!
God's promise is sure: "For I know the plans I have for you ... plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11) God always keeps His promises! We can count on that no matter what we encounter. We can be sure that no matter how dark the darkness disability, disease and death may bring that God is there with us in the pain and darkness. He sees and knows what is happening. He is still on His throne, and He does have BOTH hands on the switch. Nothing happens (not even disability, disease or death) outside His plan! His plan is to give hope and a future and not to harm us ever!
Disability, disease and death happen. Why? Where is God? Is He asleep at the switch (or even sending a text message like the engineer in California recently was when his train collided with another train killing and seriously injuring many passengers) when this kind of pain comes?
The WHY? question is our feeble attempt to make some sense out of pain and suffering and death. More often than not, we don't know the answer to WHY? We scream "WHY?" into the darkness of death, disability and disease. Does this kind of terrible pain happen because God is just not powerful enough to stop the big stuff or because it slips past His notice?
Are disability, disease and death part of God's plan? Or are they the result of mis-laid plans or even evil intent? Are disability, disease and death horrible, tragic coincidences? Is evil spinning out of control? Is God either unwilling or incapable of stopping these big three: disability, disease and death?
Rabbi Harold Kushner wrestled with the WHY? question following the death of his son. He concluded that often there are things God just isn't powerful enough to stop - like disability, disease and death. Rabbi Kushner's conclusion is certainly not what the Bible says.
Joni Eareckson Tada writes in her devotional book Pearls of Great Price: It's one thing for God to deliberately let something awful happen for reasons we may not understand, but it would be another for God to wish He could have prevented it, but have one hand tied behind His back. Either God rules, or Satan sets your life's agenda and God is limited to only reacting. In which case, the Almighty would become the devil's clean-up boy. Although God would manage to patch things up, your suffering would be meaningless. ... No, the real tragedy is that any Christian would settle for such darkenss with the light of the Bible shining so clearly. If God didn't control evil, the result would be evil uncontrolled. Our suffering has meaning because " ... His kingdom rules over all." (Psalm 103:19) (from "The Real Tragedy," November 30th)
Nothing else makes sense! Nothing less gives comfort in the midst of disability, disease and death! Only the sure knowledge that God is God and that He is working His plan in the world and in individual hearts brings peace and comfort in the midst of struggling with disability, disease and death!
God's promise is sure: "For I know the plans I have for you ... plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11) God always keeps His promises! We can count on that no matter what we encounter. We can be sure that no matter how dark the darkness disability, disease and death may bring that God is there with us in the pain and darkness. He sees and knows what is happening. He is still on His throne, and He does have BOTH hands on the switch. Nothing happens (not even disability, disease or death) outside His plan! His plan is to give hope and a future and not to harm us ever!
Friday, August 15, 2008
Fit for the King
I have a recipe called "Cabbage Fit for a King." It's pretty good with cheese, cabbage, sausage and tomatoes. It's a great dish on cold winter evenings that is delicious enough to serve for company or take to a special dinner.
This morning I was reading Joni Eareckson Tada's devotional from her book Pearls of Great Price*. (I received a copy of that book when I was out at Joni Headquarters this summer. It's even personally signed by Joni.) Joni's devotional today has to do with being "ripe for the Kingdom" related to bananas. I could totally track with her description of how she buys bananas. I too buy green bananas. Unlike Joni, I can't stand bananas but other people here like them so I buy them green. I too don't consider them fit for human consumption after they turn all mushy with lots of spots - yuck!
Joni relates the statement about the Scottish Covenanter pastor Richard Cameron who was martyred in 1680 for the bold stand he took against the earthly king of England in defense of his loyalty to the heavenly King of Kings. The statement was that Richard Cameron was "ripe for glory" (aka: "fit for the King"). Cameron and his small band of warriors against the crown fround themselves faced by a far superior force. They were quickly overrun. Cameron prayed just before the final battle that ended his life, "Lord, spare the green and take the ripe." (Apparently Cameron believed God "shops" similarly to how I choose bananas.)
One thing I learned when my dear brother Ed went to heaven is the truth of Job 14:5. Ed was a vital recently retired Marine who had lived an exciting career doing what he loved as an officer in the USMC. He never got a serious scratch from his service to his country as far as I know. Just two weeks after he retired he was out bush-hogging a hillside on his North Carolina farm. The tractor turned over on him and crushed his chest. "(Ed's) days were determined; you (God the King) have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed." (Job 14:5, NIV)
It was not an accident that Saturday afternoon when Ed left the bounds of this earth for heaven. He was "fit for the King"! One of my questions for God when I get to heaven is why was God's clock wound just that way, but the fact remains that it was. Ed's time had been set before the foundations of the earth were laid and he could live not a moment longer nor die a moment sooner.
Ed had learned (sometimes through hard process) to live and love each day in the beauty of God's restoration of Ed's heart. When Ed went to heaven, he was fit for THE KING! His heart is now completely restored.
Living here in our world isn't always easy. It often isn't fun, but God calls us to live each moment ready to live and ready to die (aka: "fit for the King")! It's the way of the restoration heart!
Then at just the right moment - when God Who sees and knows all decrees - we become "fit for the King" in a moment. That's the moment of true and final restoration as well!
*If you would like to read Joni's devotional, go to "Joni and Friends Home Page" and search for "daily devotional" for August 15, 2008.
This morning I was reading Joni Eareckson Tada's devotional from her book Pearls of Great Price*. (I received a copy of that book when I was out at Joni Headquarters this summer. It's even personally signed by Joni.) Joni's devotional today has to do with being "ripe for the Kingdom" related to bananas. I could totally track with her description of how she buys bananas. I too buy green bananas. Unlike Joni, I can't stand bananas but other people here like them so I buy them green. I too don't consider them fit for human consumption after they turn all mushy with lots of spots - yuck!
Joni relates the statement about the Scottish Covenanter pastor Richard Cameron who was martyred in 1680 for the bold stand he took against the earthly king of England in defense of his loyalty to the heavenly King of Kings. The statement was that Richard Cameron was "ripe for glory" (aka: "fit for the King"). Cameron and his small band of warriors against the crown fround themselves faced by a far superior force. They were quickly overrun. Cameron prayed just before the final battle that ended his life, "Lord, spare the green and take the ripe." (Apparently Cameron believed God "shops" similarly to how I choose bananas.)
One thing I learned when my dear brother Ed went to heaven is the truth of Job 14:5. Ed was a vital recently retired Marine who had lived an exciting career doing what he loved as an officer in the USMC. He never got a serious scratch from his service to his country as far as I know. Just two weeks after he retired he was out bush-hogging a hillside on his North Carolina farm. The tractor turned over on him and crushed his chest. "(Ed's) days were determined; you (God the King) have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed." (Job 14:5, NIV)
It was not an accident that Saturday afternoon when Ed left the bounds of this earth for heaven. He was "fit for the King"! One of my questions for God when I get to heaven is why was God's clock wound just that way, but the fact remains that it was. Ed's time had been set before the foundations of the earth were laid and he could live not a moment longer nor die a moment sooner.
Ed had learned (sometimes through hard process) to live and love each day in the beauty of God's restoration of Ed's heart. When Ed went to heaven, he was fit for THE KING! His heart is now completely restored.
Living here in our world isn't always easy. It often isn't fun, but God calls us to live each moment ready to live and ready to die (aka: "fit for the King")! It's the way of the restoration heart!
Then at just the right moment - when God Who sees and knows all decrees - we become "fit for the King" in a moment. That's the moment of true and final restoration as well!
*If you would like to read Joni's devotional, go to "Joni and Friends Home Page" and search for "daily devotional" for August 15, 2008.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
"When Pretty Things Get Broken"
Today I've been listening to a new CD I got while we were in California at Joni and Friends International Headquarters. One song "When Pretty Things Get Broken" by Joni Eareckson Tada is hauntingly beautiful and reminiscent of her own life:
My life was just like china, a lovely thing to me,
Full of porcelain promises of all that I might be.
But fragile things do slip and fall as ev'rybody knows,
And when my vase came crashing down those tears began to flow.
But don't we all cry when pretty things get broken?
Don't we all sigh at such an awful loss?
Jesus will dry those tears as He has spoken
'Cause He was the One broken on the cross.
But Jesus is the Porcelain Prince.
His promises won't break.
His holy Word holds fast and sure.
His love no one can shake.
So if your life is shattered by sorrow, pain or sin,
His healing love will reach right down and make you whole again.
Joni Eareckson Tada is a beautiful woman. She is beautiful inside and out! Is her body broken? Yes! For more than 41 years she's been in a wheelchair. It's not easy. There is even pain that a quadriplegic feels deep in the bones and gut apparently, but Joni is NOT a broken woman! And Jesus is the reason! He has restored her heart and given her a song and a beautiful smile even on those days when that chair and the pain are almost too much.
I remember that September Saturday afternoon in 1977 when my neck was broken. I was out running errands. The trunk of my new car was actually filled with greenware (porcelain in its green state ready to be prepared for firing). The greenware was actually the pieces for many nativity sets I planned to paint to be Christmas gifts for my brothers, sisters and parents. The car came out of nowhere from behind and hit me full force when I was stopped in traffic. My car crunched. I crunched. The greenware crunched. Greenware isn't a pretty thing. It's just in the process of becoming a pretty thing. Most of what was in my trunk was shattered into powder. It never would be what it could have been.
My story turns out better (at least physically) than Joni's but only by the grace of God. Actually I think our necks broke in almost the same place which makes my story even more remarkable. Why did God protect me from paralysis and allow Joni to be in a wheelchair? Well, I don't have all of that answer. BUT what I know is that God is good all the time. God was with Joni in the Chesapeake Bay 41 years ago, and God was with me that Saturday afternoon. Very few people know my name and story, but people all over the world know and love Joni just because she is in that chair! God has used her life and ministry in incredible ways mostly because she is paralyzed.
But more significant than that is the story of what God has done in both Joni's heart and mine over the years. God has taken brokenness and brought restoration. God gives grace for each and every day no matter what happens.
God has powerfully demonstrated that He uses the weak things (and people) to demonstrate His incredible strength to a world dying for need of restoration in both Joni's life and mine. God has proved His faithfulness to us both. God has made His promise true: "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision (substitute "paralysis") or uncircumcision (substitute "not paralysis") has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself in love." (Galatians 5:6)
"Faith expressing itself in love" is the true demonstration of heart restoration!
My life was just like china, a lovely thing to me,
Full of porcelain promises of all that I might be.
But fragile things do slip and fall as ev'rybody knows,
And when my vase came crashing down those tears began to flow.
But don't we all cry when pretty things get broken?
Don't we all sigh at such an awful loss?
Jesus will dry those tears as He has spoken
'Cause He was the One broken on the cross.
But Jesus is the Porcelain Prince.
His promises won't break.
His holy Word holds fast and sure.
His love no one can shake.
So if your life is shattered by sorrow, pain or sin,
His healing love will reach right down and make you whole again.
Joni Eareckson Tada is a beautiful woman. She is beautiful inside and out! Is her body broken? Yes! For more than 41 years she's been in a wheelchair. It's not easy. There is even pain that a quadriplegic feels deep in the bones and gut apparently, but Joni is NOT a broken woman! And Jesus is the reason! He has restored her heart and given her a song and a beautiful smile even on those days when that chair and the pain are almost too much.
I remember that September Saturday afternoon in 1977 when my neck was broken. I was out running errands. The trunk of my new car was actually filled with greenware (porcelain in its green state ready to be prepared for firing). The greenware was actually the pieces for many nativity sets I planned to paint to be Christmas gifts for my brothers, sisters and parents. The car came out of nowhere from behind and hit me full force when I was stopped in traffic. My car crunched. I crunched. The greenware crunched. Greenware isn't a pretty thing. It's just in the process of becoming a pretty thing. Most of what was in my trunk was shattered into powder. It never would be what it could have been.
My story turns out better (at least physically) than Joni's but only by the grace of God. Actually I think our necks broke in almost the same place which makes my story even more remarkable. Why did God protect me from paralysis and allow Joni to be in a wheelchair? Well, I don't have all of that answer. BUT what I know is that God is good all the time. God was with Joni in the Chesapeake Bay 41 years ago, and God was with me that Saturday afternoon. Very few people know my name and story, but people all over the world know and love Joni just because she is in that chair! God has used her life and ministry in incredible ways mostly because she is paralyzed.
But more significant than that is the story of what God has done in both Joni's heart and mine over the years. God has taken brokenness and brought restoration. God gives grace for each and every day no matter what happens.
God has powerfully demonstrated that He uses the weak things (and people) to demonstrate His incredible strength to a world dying for need of restoration in both Joni's life and mine. God has proved His faithfulness to us both. God has made His promise true: "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision (substitute "paralysis") or uncircumcision (substitute "not paralysis") has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself in love." (Galatians 5:6)
"Faith expressing itself in love" is the true demonstration of heart restoration!
Monday, July 21, 2008
California Lutheran University and Laundry
God showed up in the laundry room at CA Lutheran U tonight! Who would think that an "old" lady and a crippled guy doing laundry would encounter two cool black guys also doing laundry? Who would think Jesus might be found in a college dorm laundry room? But Jesus did show up there! There were no hymns or Scripture or sermons - nothing like that!
It's really quite simple - being friendly - getting to know two strangers and being started - by God's grace - in a laundry room. I can't say these two guys know they have encountered Jesus tonight, but they have.
These guys might forget the "old" lady, but I just bet it'll be a long time before they forget the guy on the skateboard talking openly and honestly about being twisted and crippled.
It's obvious these guys are more than a little intrigued with Amos' story of Joni and Friends International Institute of Disability and some of what we've learned this week. They never heard of Joni Eareckson Tada and her ministry's Family Retreats (“Joni Camp”). But I don’t think they will soon forget their encounter with Amos tonight.
But, more than that - they were seeing Jesus shining forth in a broken body with a beautiful being-restored heart!
I don't normally expect God to show up in the laundry room - especially in a CA Lutheran U dorm. BUT I know God showed up at CA Lutheran U tonight, and it was a beautiful thing to watch!
(Amos personally approved this blog submission.)
It's really quite simple - being friendly - getting to know two strangers and being started - by God's grace - in a laundry room. I can't say these two guys know they have encountered Jesus tonight, but they have.
These guys might forget the "old" lady, but I just bet it'll be a long time before they forget the guy on the skateboard talking openly and honestly about being twisted and crippled.
It's obvious these guys are more than a little intrigued with Amos' story of Joni and Friends International Institute of Disability and some of what we've learned this week. They never heard of Joni Eareckson Tada and her ministry's Family Retreats (“Joni Camp”). But I don’t think they will soon forget their encounter with Amos tonight.
But, more than that - they were seeing Jesus shining forth in a broken body with a beautiful being-restored heart!
I don't normally expect God to show up in the laundry room - especially in a CA Lutheran U dorm. BUT I know God showed up at CA Lutheran U tonight, and it was a beautiful thing to watch!
(Amos personally approved this blog submission.)
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
"A Heart That Won't Quit"
"A Heart That Won't Quit"! I stole the title for today's blog post from Joni Eareckson Tada's wonderful devotional Diamonds in the Dust for June 25. I just love this devotional book. I know that I am a daughter of the King of kings. I guess that makes me a diamond, but I don't always feel or act or think like a diamond. That's my bad! Many days I'm a "diamond in the dust."
Just last week I was talking to a new friend at my grandson's birthday party. I happen to know that she thinks my grandchildren are something of a handful. I don't know exactly what she said to me, but my response was, "Well, my grandmother used to say: It's harder to raise race horses than cabbages but then you have a lot more when you get through." My new friend stood in a totally silent pause for some long seconds before she responded, "I never heard that before but it's a great description of what raising some children is all about (or words to that effect) ."
I come from a long line of "race horses" and John and I have perpetuated "race horses" in our children and grandchildren. That's not bragging. It's just the truth! There are many times in each generaton of those "race horses" from stories I've heard about former family generations and from my own life experience when "race horses" presented more as cabbages but underneath beat the heart of a race horse. It's that heart that produces the "race horse" in the end!
I recently read a story from the life of the famous missionary David Livingston. Livingston went to Africa from England in the 1800's. Apparently some friends sent a communication to Livingston offering to send men to help him in his mission. They ended their letter with the question, "Have you found a good road into your area yet?" Livingston's response was: "If you have men who will only come if there is a good road, I don't want them. I want men who will come if there is no road at all."
That's the heart of a "race horse" Christian! One who will still come and serve "if there is no road at all"! Of course, there is always a "road" but it may be well obscured! God alone may know the way. But His sure promise is to "never leave us or forsake us" (Hebrews 13:5b)! God is even better than Garmin, TomTom or OnStar.
Joni relates how she had to be lifted from her wheelchair and laid on the couch in her office four times in one day due to "shallow breathing and skyrocketing high blood pressure." She honestly shares what she mumbled under her breath, "Where do I go to resign from this stupid paralysis?" I just have a sense that Joni has asked that question before and will ask it again and again. She has a heart that won't quit. Jesus is with her, so she will keep going on in her place "where there is no road at all" until she finally goes to heaven and gets to resign from her paralysis to trade her present body in for one that is brand-spanking new!
God calls us to be willing to walk where there is no road. All He asks is faithful obedience. God calls us to step outside our comfort zones to follow him. God is absolutely in the business of stretching our faith especially when we walk where we cannot see a path. It is only on that path, pursuing that adventure of obedience that I (and we) plumb the depths of God's faithfulness!
I don't know what this adventure of obedience looks like for you. I'm too busy discovering what it looks like for me. It's risky to walk "by faith and not by sight" (2 Corinthians 5:7)! It is on that often "invisible" road that God gets the total glory for what He is doing in my heart and in my world! We have to go to the place of KNOWING we can't go there on our own for Him to get the glory!
Joni knows that. When she gets out of her wheelchair, someone has to lift her. She can't do it on her own. When I walk with Jesus today to some place outside my comfort zone or when you do the same, we can do so only because God has given us hearts for Him and hearts for a broken world around us - hearts that won't quit until Jesus comes back!
"Lord, give me a heart today that won't quit - a heart that knows I can't live this day on my own - a heart that follows You even where there is no path!"
Just last week I was talking to a new friend at my grandson's birthday party. I happen to know that she thinks my grandchildren are something of a handful. I don't know exactly what she said to me, but my response was, "Well, my grandmother used to say: It's harder to raise race horses than cabbages but then you have a lot more when you get through." My new friend stood in a totally silent pause for some long seconds before she responded, "I never heard that before but it's a great description of what raising some children is all about (or words to that effect) ."
I come from a long line of "race horses" and John and I have perpetuated "race horses" in our children and grandchildren. That's not bragging. It's just the truth! There are many times in each generaton of those "race horses" from stories I've heard about former family generations and from my own life experience when "race horses" presented more as cabbages but underneath beat the heart of a race horse. It's that heart that produces the "race horse" in the end!
I recently read a story from the life of the famous missionary David Livingston. Livingston went to Africa from England in the 1800's. Apparently some friends sent a communication to Livingston offering to send men to help him in his mission. They ended their letter with the question, "Have you found a good road into your area yet?" Livingston's response was: "If you have men who will only come if there is a good road, I don't want them. I want men who will come if there is no road at all."
That's the heart of a "race horse" Christian! One who will still come and serve "if there is no road at all"! Of course, there is always a "road" but it may be well obscured! God alone may know the way. But His sure promise is to "never leave us or forsake us" (Hebrews 13:5b)! God is even better than Garmin, TomTom or OnStar.
Joni relates how she had to be lifted from her wheelchair and laid on the couch in her office four times in one day due to "shallow breathing and skyrocketing high blood pressure." She honestly shares what she mumbled under her breath, "Where do I go to resign from this stupid paralysis?" I just have a sense that Joni has asked that question before and will ask it again and again. She has a heart that won't quit. Jesus is with her, so she will keep going on in her place "where there is no road at all" until she finally goes to heaven and gets to resign from her paralysis to trade her present body in for one that is brand-spanking new!
God calls us to be willing to walk where there is no road. All He asks is faithful obedience. God calls us to step outside our comfort zones to follow him. God is absolutely in the business of stretching our faith especially when we walk where we cannot see a path. It is only on that path, pursuing that adventure of obedience that I (and we) plumb the depths of God's faithfulness!
I don't know what this adventure of obedience looks like for you. I'm too busy discovering what it looks like for me. It's risky to walk "by faith and not by sight" (2 Corinthians 5:7)! It is on that often "invisible" road that God gets the total glory for what He is doing in my heart and in my world! We have to go to the place of KNOWING we can't go there on our own for Him to get the glory!
Joni knows that. When she gets out of her wheelchair, someone has to lift her. She can't do it on her own. When I walk with Jesus today to some place outside my comfort zone or when you do the same, we can do so only because God has given us hearts for Him and hearts for a broken world around us - hearts that won't quit until Jesus comes back!
"Lord, give me a heart today that won't quit - a heart that knows I can't live this day on my own - a heart that follows You even where there is no path!"
Friday, June 6, 2008
God's Heart
At a Restoration Church gathering here in the South Hills of Pittsburgh, we are committed to having God's heart for the South Hills and beyond. Joni Eareckson Tadi challenged my understanding of what this means in her succinct devotional for June 5 (Diamonds in the Dust) on the "Heart of Jesus."
She reflects on the various healings Jesus did while He walked this earth. She ponders what He was thinking and feeling when He told the paralyzed man to "take up his bed and walk" or when He spit on blind eyes to bring sight and myriad other encounters with people who struggled with some disability. Joni rejects the notion that Jesus did all these wonderful miracles ONLY to prove His power and authority as the Messiah of God. These wondrous signs did indeed prove Jesus' power over death and life. But they also reveal God's heart.
Joni writes, "Christ did not use helpless people to advance His own agenda. He did not enlist hurting men and women only as audio-visual aids to teach an important lesson about Himself. "
People who struggle with "a different way of being" in whatever form: autistic, blind, deaf, epileptic, lame, missing a vital chromosome or even paralyzed (among many other issues) do so as part of the effects of sin not on necessarily on that particular individual but inbred into the human race because of sin. But there is another aspect to suffering. Suffering is a part of God's plan.
I was struck with this truth years ago when I read the wonderful little book Don't Waste Your Sorrows. The author points out that suffering in and of itself is not necessarily related to sin because suffering is a part of the nature of God Himself. God Himself anguishes over His children. God Himself sent His one and only Son to die on a cross all for His larger plan. And in all this suffering, God's plan is always to show His great mercy, grace and love at the point of our greatest need.
It is mind-boggling that God would want to have a relationship with His creature especially when we are such dolts and so unfaithful, but He does. And because He does, He reaches out to us at exactly that particular point of our greatest need to show His love and strength.
2 Chronicles 16:9 says it well, "For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him. ... "
Joni ends her devotional with this prayer, "Lord, may I never doubt what's on Your mind and heart when I suffer. You are full of love and compassion. Thank You for only permitting in my life what I am able to endure with Your grace. Bless You for Your unfailing love." For a woman who has spent over 40 years in a wheelchair as a quadriplegic, that's pretty powerful! The beauty of her faith and her appreciation for God's love for her even with the body she has that daily reminds her of her need for God's restoration now and in the world to come challenges my heart to model God's heart in my world - the South Hills of Pittsburgh!
She reflects on the various healings Jesus did while He walked this earth. She ponders what He was thinking and feeling when He told the paralyzed man to "take up his bed and walk" or when He spit on blind eyes to bring sight and myriad other encounters with people who struggled with some disability. Joni rejects the notion that Jesus did all these wonderful miracles ONLY to prove His power and authority as the Messiah of God. These wondrous signs did indeed prove Jesus' power over death and life. But they also reveal God's heart.
Joni writes, "Christ did not use helpless people to advance His own agenda. He did not enlist hurting men and women only as audio-visual aids to teach an important lesson about Himself. "
People who struggle with "a different way of being" in whatever form: autistic, blind, deaf, epileptic, lame, missing a vital chromosome or even paralyzed (among many other issues) do so as part of the effects of sin not on necessarily on that particular individual but inbred into the human race because of sin. But there is another aspect to suffering. Suffering is a part of God's plan.
I was struck with this truth years ago when I read the wonderful little book Don't Waste Your Sorrows. The author points out that suffering in and of itself is not necessarily related to sin because suffering is a part of the nature of God Himself. God Himself anguishes over His children. God Himself sent His one and only Son to die on a cross all for His larger plan. And in all this suffering, God's plan is always to show His great mercy, grace and love at the point of our greatest need.
It is mind-boggling that God would want to have a relationship with His creature especially when we are such dolts and so unfaithful, but He does. And because He does, He reaches out to us at exactly that particular point of our greatest need to show His love and strength.
2 Chronicles 16:9 says it well, "For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him. ... "
Joni ends her devotional with this prayer, "Lord, may I never doubt what's on Your mind and heart when I suffer. You are full of love and compassion. Thank You for only permitting in my life what I am able to endure with Your grace. Bless You for Your unfailing love." For a woman who has spent over 40 years in a wheelchair as a quadriplegic, that's pretty powerful! The beauty of her faith and her appreciation for God's love for her even with the body she has that daily reminds her of her need for God's restoration now and in the world to come challenges my heart to model God's heart in my world - the South Hills of Pittsburgh!
Friday, May 16, 2008
In the Grip of Grace
Yesterday I read Joni Eareckson Tada's "From the Heart" letter in her April issue of "Joni and Friends Newsletter." She describes how she needs help (helping hands) because her hands don't move. She's been a quadriplegic for over forty years. She needs the hands of others to dress, to reach things, to eat, to hold books and on and on. She has a team of friends who serve her daily by coming and getting her up and dressed and ready for the day.
Joni dove into the Chesapeake Bay at age 17 and broke her neck. She wouldn't have survived the accident except that a crab bit her sister's toe causing her sister to turn around and call to Joni. Then she saw Joni floating face-down in the water.
Joni describes in her writings (her books) the emotional and spiritual and physical sturggles she encountered and endured in the aftermath of her accident. There were many times she wanted her life to be over as living seemed just too hard.
One of her stories is about a friend who snuck into her dark hospital room, lay on the floor facing up so Joni could see her face (as Joni was lying upside down in a Stryker frame) and sang hymns to and with Joni.
Once a friend - my sister - did something similar for me. She came into my hospital room and slept on the tile floor to be with me. It was a dark time! Her presence was a gift of love that still wraps my heart in warmth.
God was faithful to Joni. He brought her through the pain to be a shining testimony of God's grace. Joni is a living example of being kept in the grip of God's grace! In the painful process of learning to live with a body that doesn't move, Joni received a heart transformed by God's grace and love. Today she heads the fabulous ministry - Joni and Friends International.
After my husband, a young teenage friend and I went to one of Joni and Friends Family Retreats last summer just to observe, our young friend came home and told her mother, "O, Mommy, you could just feel the love of Jesus there everywhere!" This coming summer nine people from A Restoration Church will be spending an entire week at a Joni Family Retreat being hands, feet and a loving heart for a person or family with "a special way of being."
Joni dove into the Chesapeake Bay at age 17 and broke her neck. She wouldn't have survived the accident except that a crab bit her sister's toe causing her sister to turn around and call to Joni. Then she saw Joni floating face-down in the water.
Joni describes in her writings (her books) the emotional and spiritual and physical sturggles she encountered and endured in the aftermath of her accident. There were many times she wanted her life to be over as living seemed just too hard.
One of her stories is about a friend who snuck into her dark hospital room, lay on the floor facing up so Joni could see her face (as Joni was lying upside down in a Stryker frame) and sang hymns to and with Joni.
Once a friend - my sister - did something similar for me. She came into my hospital room and slept on the tile floor to be with me. It was a dark time! Her presence was a gift of love that still wraps my heart in warmth.
God was faithful to Joni. He brought her through the pain to be a shining testimony of God's grace. Joni is a living example of being kept in the grip of God's grace! In the painful process of learning to live with a body that doesn't move, Joni received a heart transformed by God's grace and love. Today she heads the fabulous ministry - Joni and Friends International.
After my husband, a young teenage friend and I went to one of Joni and Friends Family Retreats last summer just to observe, our young friend came home and told her mother, "O, Mommy, you could just feel the love of Jesus there everywhere!" This coming summer nine people from A Restoration Church will be spending an entire week at a Joni Family Retreat being hands, feet and a loving heart for a person or family with "a special way of being."
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Pittsburgh's Terrible Towel and Disability
Yesterday a Pittsburgh legend died - Myron Cope. Myron Cope was a legend.
- His unique voice and broadcasting style became the voice of Pittsburgh Steeler's football games.
- His ingenuous idea of the "Terrible Towel" will live long into the future. The Terrible Towel is essential gear for Pittsburgh Steeler fans! It is a small yellow towel printed in large black letters - "Terrible Towel." The Terrible Towel is twirled by loyal Steeler fans at memorable moments or just any old time during Steeler games or Steeler celebrations.
Reading Myron Cope's biographical information yesterday gave me some further insights into the man. I learned that he has an autistic son Daniel who lives at Allegheny Valley School here in Pittsburgh. Myron Cope donated all the royalties and rights from the sales of the Terrible Towel to the Allegheny Valley School.
What strikes me most about Myron Cope isn't his fame as a sports announcer or even his invention of the Terrible Towel - what impresses me about Myron Cope is that behind his fame was a family dealing with disability. And Myron Cope had a heart to help other families dealing with disability. He donated all the rights to the Terrible Towel to the Allegheny Valley School.
I went to the web and read about Allegheny Valley School. At just one of their locations here in Pittsburgh, they take care of 184 residents in five residential buildings and six group homes. Daniel Cope is one of those residents. I was stunned to read that those residents range in age from 15 to 87.
The "disabled world" is a large people group in our culture. Many families impacted by disability struggle with all the challenges their loved one and they face. There is a lonliness in that struggle.
There are some wonderful ministries stepping up to bat to reach out a helping hand. One of them is Joni Eareckson Tada's Joni and Friends Family Retreats held all over the country for a week just for the entire family of a disabled person to come and be specially loved for that week. My husband and I had the opportunity to observe one of those camps last summer. I will never forget what I saw and learned. I saw a level of love in action that was beyond incredible!
What strikes me most about Myron Cope is that he knew the pain disability brings to a family as well as the joy of loving that disabled person. I wonder if many people knew this rest of the story about Myron Cope.
We aren't Allegheny Valley School, but A Restoration Church is just beginning in the South Hills of Pittsburgh because we too realize that there is a world of brokenness in many forms. We want to reach out a loving, helping hand to bring God's love, grace and mercy to that brokenness wherever we find it.
We welcome you to be part of God's story as we pray, work, worship and reach out with God's love!
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