Beyond Suffering 1

6/4/13
Today we began with a devotional from one of Joni's books, and then started straight into our classes on the book beyond suffering. During this class time Jason said something that really got me thinking, "the church needs to get messy." That is something that many people in a church are not willing to do, we strive for a picture perfect church community with many members that seem to walk the perfect walk alongside of Christ, when we should really be getting into the community looking for those that are not "normal" and walking the perfect walk. How many churches actually have ramps to the pulpit? Bet you've never thought about it until now. Not many churches expect for someone in a wheelchair to preach. We tend to think that homeless people or other cultures are the least ministered to groups of people, but it is actually people with disabilities. We read a biography by Renee Bondi called "When Disability Strikes". She was sleeping one night and in her sleep dove off the end of the bed, she woke up from her body hitting the floor. She went to the emergency room and is now a quadriplegic. This story was a very strong reminder that we are not promised today, tomorrow or any day. We then heard Mike Hoggatt's testimony which is a really awesome story about him and his wife deciding to adopt, they were approached with a little girl who had lived with her mother who was a drug addict and was also switched between 6 homes in two years. Long story short they adopted her although she had autism and began welcoming her into their family. Three years later she had a tumor growing in her side and had to it along with her kidney removed. She began chemo and radiation and while this was going on they found out they were going to have a baby. He told us all of this to ask what exactly defines a disability. It's a rubric that weighs a measures a person and people with disabilities are found to be lacking. Ultimately if the church was following exactly what Gad says, there wouldn't have to be a special needs ministry at all