A Pocket Reminder

     This blog was written by a articulate and very wise student that I've met in my work as a campus pastor. 

It deals with the question of having faith as a person with disabilties. It's an honest look inside the soul of someone, like many Christians with disabilties, who has to live and adapt in this world as a child of God. 

But beyond that, it's a story that all of us, disabled or not, can reflect on and learn from.

                                                    

      Earlier this afternoon, while taking a break from studying, I found an item in my purse that I ended up thinking about after reading a few things from On The Level, and something told me to go and look for this little pocket reminder, and after only a moment or two of looking, I found it in a small pouch where I keep things I feel are important for me to carry because of the meaning they have, and this little pocket reminder was one of those items.

     This small rectangular piece of metal was given to me as a graduation gift from my former pastor who I’m still in contact with, and he told me the reason for giving this particular message to me, which I will divulge in a moment. He explained that I prayed almost every evening after choir practice, and he wanted me to continue to do so, even though there were so many times when I couldn’t be there because of me going away for nine months, and dealing with evening classes during the times when they would practice.

     This small pocket reminder has the word, “Pray”, written on the front of it, and engraved on the back is 1 Thessalonians Chapter 5 Verse 17, which says, “Pray without ceasing.”

     It meant a lot to me when he told me what was written on it, but now that I look at it again, it has a deeper meaning for me, and as a disabled person, I’ve been told to pray for and forgive those who are ignorant and who don’t see me for me, but see me as a blind person who’s in college and who should be praised above everyone else because of doing so much in order to try and pass my classes and do the work involved with it, when it’s really just one simple word, which is adaptation.

     Every professor has a different way of handling things, and I always have to end up adapting to his or her style of learning, and that’s when I have to end up praying for and forgiving those around me who are ignorant about the potential people like me have since not a lot of people who are in my shoes go to college. That’s correct, because only about 25% of blind people actually end up going to college and getting jobs because they want to push for it, and want to live a life on their own instead of having to allow people to hold their hands every day in order to go through life day by day, but I have a feeling that this statistic is slowly changing, and it’s people like me who want to see that change take place, and that’s but one out of several reasons of why I want those who look upon me to realize that I don’t want to be defined by my disability, but the world can’t be changed all at once, and this is where the word, “Pray”, comes into play. For those who’ve been looked at by just their disabilities and nothing more, this is something that’s easier said than done, and it goes for me as well, but I sometimes wonder if prayer is our only solution to the problem, along with forgiving them through God’s help and guidance, because it’s by his grace that he forgives us for every wrong we’ve done in our lives.

     There are times when I feel like I’ve failed him, and other times when I feel as though I’m completely fallen and can’t get up because of what people want to put on my back, when being blind, having a boyfriend, and being in college is enough for one person to handle and worry about. A close friend of mine told me to only worry about those three things, and to allow God to let everything else fall into place, and the one prayer he told me to say before anything else is, “God, who am I before you?”

     He told me I’d get an answer from God, and it may not be something I’d like or want to hear, but I know if I listen for his word and his response, I’ll know what I need to do in order to better myself in his eyes, and as a Christian. So, with the words on this pocket reminder in mind, I leave with this hope that all of us, including those who are ignorant of us to keep praying, and through God, forgiving those who turn away from us since they don’t seem to notice who we truly are as people, and just see the disability.

- Sarah Stanford

A Simple,yet profound, thought about God.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. 

Hosea 4:6 (ESV)

Recently an old high school friend of mine and I have reconnected and we've been using the wonderful opportunities  of the social media offers to catch up, after several decades after losing touch since our high school years growing upon Long Island in New York.

We will sometimes have short Facebook messages every now and again to sometimes comment on each other's Facebook status postings. Being a pastor, I'll usually post a lot of things that are religious and spritual in nature. 

One evening I received a message from my friend and he commented as a old friend would about 

My most recent postings about living a Believers life, and he said something that stopped me in my tracks mentally. Here's what he wrote;

I like the positive God-centered posts that you put up, but I wanted to share a small thought with you that always comforts me when I am depressed or feel lost.  I like the idea that when I talk (pray) with God, the Almighty takes the time away from running the entire universe just to listen to me.  What an awesome and comforting though, huh?

Like with writing these blogs, and the work I do as a campus pastor it's a daily struggle for me, as it is for any of us, to know my faith and articulate it. Life is complicated and, as a result, our lives become complicated. Speaking as a person with disabilties to other persons with disabilties there are complications enough in just trying to live a daily life.

What my friend said was that he was amazed that God could love us enough that He could create and sustain this whole universe and still care for the needs of one person.

In this thought is the overwhelming idea of Gods grace and mercy, and His sovereignty.

What my friend gave to me was something I once knew but had forgotten. A simple but concrete thought with deep implications. My busy, self absorbed life had caused me to forget.

The prophet Hosea had a similar problem when he was called to speak to Israel about forgetting God. They forgot God and His Word as a nation, and they seemed complacent about it. They began to forget even the simple things about God, the things written about Him in the Law.

When the simple facts are forgotten the complicated ones are forgotten eventually as well with, unforeseen, consequences . Israel lost its right in the priesthood. They lost the right to bring sanctification to the world on the behalf of God. They lost the right to speak for God. They ignored even the basics. 

To be fair to my friend, I'm sure he didn't mean to impart a dark thought, such as Hosea threatened the wrath of God. I was just immediatly struck by how our faith is built on simple thoughts of God. My friends words were meant as comfort. Oddly enough, so were Hosea's words. He meant to call a nation back to Gods way of doing things, Gods way of remembering who He was. Hosea just went further than my friend did to warn us of the consequences of forgetting. Once we start to foget then he we often easier for us to keep forgetting because it's easier to go our own way than someone else's. 

The simple thoughts are forgotten in our time as they were in the prophet Hosea's time.

The thoughts of prophets are often simple.

God's Law begins with this simple thought: "in the Beginning God..." .  

No other religion starts the same way or has the same thought. It is a thought that runs though the whole of scripture. The whole of scripture is a letter to all of us and says "remember me? God?"

Unfortunately sometimes we don't remember the things we should. Thank my old friend, for reminding me.

Being "on The Level"

Make level paths for your feet, so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.

Hebrews 12:13 (NIV)

I've been often asked why this blog is called "on the level". Since this blog has been launched fairly recently, I thought an explanation would be in order. A good way to start the New year perhaps.

This is a blog for Jabez Ministries. Jabez Ministries is, in short, a ministry of pastoral care, spirituality, and disabilities. 

The approach that that Jabez ministries takes is somewhat different than most tend to view disabilities.  

There are two predominate, generalized veiws that are taken towards understanding disabilities. 

One veiw sees disabilities as "not normal". Using this world as a template for "normal" some have decided that a person who has a disability is outside of what is considered  "normal".
Others say that disabilities are just a normal occurence of a normal world. 

Both views state, in short, bad things just happen to good people.

But we are to take Scripture seriously enough then we realize its testimony to us is that we are broken by sin, this world, the whole of created order is broken by sin. Therefore it begs the question of what is truly normal, that is to say, how is normal really defined.

Some may call me simplistic, but I take normal to be the way God has established in the creation of the world. The creation before the fall into sin. Since the fall, the created order is not quite what was intended originally by the one who created it. This is not the "normal" world, free of sin, that God had. Intended.

You might say that the world we now inhabit and exert our influence over is, indeed, abnormal.

In light of this view, bad things are happening because it is the consequence of living as a fallen creation. In an abnormal world, disabilities are normal.

To paraphrase Francis Schaefer, how, knowing this, should we then live? More specifically, both as those of us with disabilities and those who are more abled bodied?

It means this perhaps, if continue to think as the world teaches that disabilties are something abnormal then then standard by which we've established to define what is normal is, theologically speaking, very flawed.

This flaw become apparent when a communty of believers, though having the most Godly of intentions, attempts to "include" persons with disabilties into themselves. This "culture of inclusion" is a popular concept in today's Church. As a system of ethical belief it is broadly applied to any group that is disenfranchised, for our purposes here, it speaks to persons with disabilties who have been marginalised by their faith communties in some way and the community respond sympathetically by finding places where those from the margins can "fit" in or receive an accommodation of some kind that will allow them to occupy a more centralized place.

Some of you are probably saying "What flaw?" 

You would rightly respond that it's the duty of every believer to include others into the body of Christ. No  argument from me.

What then is the "flaw" in the thinking of the culture of inclusion that I'm. Speaking of?

Frankly, the flaw is often subtle. Many times we encounter it with realizing it. We engage it innocently thinking we are doing something good. For someone else.

The flaw I'm speaking of is I thinking inclusively towards persons with disabilities involves some sort of "normalization" of those with disabilties with a standard that says "we are normal, you are not, and the way we are and live is the way you should to the best of your ability" this is based on the flawed understanding that disabilities are abnormal in a normal world.

Scripture so quite clear that we need to strive to see ourselves, all of us, as fallen into sin. This whole creation has fallen with us. Nothing is "normal". Our relationships to our God and to each other are not what they should be. Nor will they be until Our Lord comes again.

Until then we are all "abnormal" as far as God is concerned.

This thought should lead us to the conclusion that we are all disabled by sin and the journeys we take in this life toward our God are difficult, uneven, full of holes, hills, walls, and anything and everything that this world can put up to make getting to love the Father more difficult. These are the "paths" mentioned in the text above.

The Christian's journey, disabled or not, is one of sanctification, becoming holy as God is holy, and that means to learn and discern Gods word and His will for our lives. It also means that the relationship with our neighbors is also involved in our sanctification.

Others before us have discerned Gods word and will and have leveled the pathway for others to walk and their subsequent duty becomes to make the paths level for other sojourners on The Way. What it takes to do this is understanding that we are all on the same "level" to begin with. The path is difficult for all of us, disabled or not, and it needs to be kept level for all to have access to our God.

 

   

Just a thought for Christmas Eve, 2013-

"But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 

 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). 

When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife,  but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus. 

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king."

(Matthew 1:20-2:1a)

Beautiful, timeless words. Please keep in Mind the last sentence. Note the wonderful irony.

The God incarnate came when a mere human assumed he had power to control lives and shape destiny as a divine right.

Herod was a larger than life figure. Built much of the Holy Land into a kingdom to be reckoned with. He was a man with great ambition, and great cruelty. 

The was a saying that it was safer to be Herod's pig than one of his sons.

Later we read that Herod attempted to kill the child Jesus, seeing the threat to his power.

Into this, Jesus was born.

The true king of the universe. 

Herod died, and remains dead. His kingdom has crumbled. His legacy died with him.

How different are we really from Herod? Maybe we aren't despotic kings, but we are fallen humans who often put our own agendas before anyone else's, let alone God's. 

Maybe we think we can control more of our own affairs than we actually are capable of.

Whether we like it or not we are closer to  Herod in our lives than we like to believe.

Into this, Jesus still comes as the true king.

Peter j. Gordon

The Mighty Fortress - by Doug Nol

Just a brief word of introduction, this post is written by a colleague here at Jabez Ministries. His contribution to this ministry is invaluable and his story is an important one. You'll be reading more from Doug in future blogs. Please read. -Pete

                                                          The Mighty Fortress

                                                                By Doug Nol

 

There is a popular hymn in the church today entitled “A Mighty Fortress is our God” which you may have heard or sung in church.  This song has always been a personal favorite of mine and I wanted to use it as the theme to kick off my debut contribution to the Jabez Ministry Blog. But before I go into why I chose this theme I wanted to tell you a little bit about myself. My name is Doug Nol; I am a 29-year old man withmild cerebral palsy, who is driven by three attitudes.

The first attitude is to serve the Lord Jesus Christ with everything I have, the second is to build relationship and unity with everyone I meet through the love Jesus Christ and the third is to be a voice empowerment and encouragement to people with disabilities.  Now that I have given you a little of my personal worldview, I also wanted to briefly share with you my personal testimony about my life and my struggles with cerebral palsy , but I also wanted to share my story from the perspective of my relationship with Christ and how my personal experiences have influenced my faith.

While it is often difficult for person to summarize his or herlife in a few words, for me it has become almost second nature,because it is extraordinary story that never really gets old.  But last thing I want to do is bore you to death with details, so I’ll only tell you the highlights and let the Lord do the rest.

From the day I was born I had to be a fighter, and sometimes I didn’t even know I was fighting.  For example when I was born I was diagnosed with Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and while the name pretty much speaks for itself the best way I can summarize it  is I was born 3 months too early and because I was so small it was difficult for my heart to keep beating. In fact my heart stopped and started at least 12 times before it continued beating on its own, but the Lord was watching over me and I stayed alive.

When I was 16 months I was diagnosed with a disorder called hydrocephalus which is a big word for “water on the brain.” In other words my spinal fluid would not go from my brain and out of my body like it was supposed to so it would it would cause my brain to swell and I would need a plastic tube called a shunt put in to drain it, but with the shunt I could function normally, and there were not any complications.

When I was 2 years old, I was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and it was this struggle in particular that seemed like the most difficult to fight through because no matter how hard I tried I was not able to walk or stand up on my own. The doctor pretty much said that even if I was able to walk with surgeries and physical therapy, it would be very unlikely that I would be able to walk on my own without walking aids.

For a while, he was right.

It actually took me 9 surgeries and years of physicaltherapy before I was able to walk without a walker, but I think it is only fair to mention that the Lord had a hand in it too! When I was 5 years old I had gotten to the point where I could walk with a walker, but still not strong enough to try to walk on my own. Truthfully, it had gotten to the point where I was so used walking with a walker I never thought I would ever need to, but God had another plan in mind.

One day I was kicking around a soccer ball in my Grandparent’s backyard and I was dragging the walker around with me in the process. Then suddenly I heard a voice in my head and the voice said that “If I believed I could walk, I would.” At first, I didn’t think much about it, but then I heard it again and again, and then I thought “What if I could” so I told my Dad that I wanted to walk over to him by myself. While my dad did not think it was a good idea, I didn’t want to take no for an answer.  While it was difficult at first to get the courage to begin, I took one step forward, then another and another and before I knew it I had walked fifteen feet to my Dad by myself.  I had done what the doctors had said was impossible. Those steps were literally steps of faith and from that point on I believed that not only was the Lord with me and saw that I could do anything with him leading and guiding me.

At the beginning of blog I mentioned the “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” hymn and said that I would explain why I used that hymn as my theme.  If you ever have sung that hymn before you know that it begins with the lyrics “A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing, our helper he amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing, for still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe. His craft and power are great and armed with cruel hate. On earth is not his equal.” While that is a lot to digest especially with the old-language, there is still a message to consider and that is that God is our fortress, He is the very foundation that holds us up and he understands the physical trials and illnesses we go through as humans. When that happens it is easy for us to become discouraged and the evil one Satan often does his best to make sure we don’t forget it, but because Jesus has overcome the world through his death and resurrection we should believe what scripture said in Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.” While that may be hard to believe at times remember that according to the doctor I was not supposed to walk, but have been doing independently for over 20 years.

So……What does that tell you about God and his love?  Think about it.      

     

 

 

 

​      

Welcome to "On The Level" the blog for Jabez Ministries!

Greetings!

As the title suggests, this is a blog of Jabez Ministries. Jabez Ministries, to put it simply, is a ministry to persons with disabilities. 

Currently this ministry is focusing its efforts towards the pastoral care of students with disabilities as they realize goals in higher education.

Theologically, Jabez Ministries has it sights on going beyond the college or university campus and addressing the broader issues of disabilities and theology, disabilities and the Church, and what does the Scripture say about disabilities and the people who have them.

This blog is a forum intended  for that discussion.

I suppose the first question should be: "Why the name 'Jabez Ministries'?"

Here is a brief answer to that question, starting with a reference from God's Word:

Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez saying

“I gave birth to him in pain.” Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh that you would

bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm

so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request. I Chronicles 4: 9-10 (NIV)

The Biblical account of Jabez is the story of a person who wants to live with honor and

dignity as a child of God not according to the preconceptions or the circumstances of

life, nor to be a burden to others, but to have a meaningful existence in God’s kingdom.

To persons with disabilities who are living lives of faith, the goal is to live that life and

worship God on the same terms as persons who are temporarily able bodied, a “level

playing field” if you will. This is no less true for students with disabilities, in colleges and

universities, as it is for people with disabilities of faith who are in society at large,

working towards having a meaningful life and worshipping God. God gives us each

other, in community with Christ, to live, work, and worship as one body.

Please read the next two blogs, as further introduction to Jabez Ministries, and see how God has defined this ministry in the lives of people involved.

Meeting Friends



In September 2012 I had the pleasure of starting to work as a Campus Pastor for a small community college in downtown Grand Rapids. I was invited by Rev Harry Lew of Campus Directions to see how his ministry works and how I might find my own niche in campus ministry as a pastor and as a campus pastor to students with disabilities.


There was some reluctance at first because a ministry to students with disabilities was a rather new approach to doing ministry. The first order of business in any proposed ministry is to establish need for that ministry.  Second, was my desire to learn how to be the best campus pastor I needed to be. Along those lines Harry graciously asked me to observe and work alongside him, and Nancy Janisch of True North campus ministries of the PCUSA, 


The need for a ministry to students with disabilities became apparent almost immediately when I was introduced to some of the members of the group. Along with that introduction the campus ministry I was called to do was also introduced.  When that happened some students began to come forward with their stories of living with their disabilities. I also have met students who are studying for careers in which they will work with those with disabilities. There quickly developed a momentum in the work I came to do. I became very certain of Gods calling for me.


Something we began to do early on was set up information tables to recruit new members and to reach out to the college students, staff, and faculty in a public way to engage in conversations about the faith. Along with this came the usual bible studies, service projects, and social events that the group there did as part of its regular activities. From all of this I have met several students that have helped shape my approach and growth as a camps pastor. 

I have met students studying to be ASL interpreters, I have met a hearing impaired student who is studying music, and I have met students with physical disabilities. I have met people with varying degrees of ADHD, ADD, Asperger’s Syndrome, and others with conditions along the autism spectrum. I have met students with speech impediments, learning disabilities of all kinds as well as those with different kinds of mental illnesses and the list goes on.


The meeting that stood out most to me was when I was introduced to a young woman who happens to be visually impaired. In early October, we had an information table set up near the student cafe. We had a brisk flow of people engaging in great conversations. One of the other students had brought this person to speak with me. We began talking. It was clear from the beginning that she found the idea of having a campus ministry to students with disabilities very important.


She asked me why I was there repeatedly as if she wanted to make no mistake. I began by explaining that as a person with disabilities myself, I felt I could understand pastorally the unique needs and challenges those students with disabilities, who have faith, face spiritually. Again she asked why I was there. I responded that I was there for students with disabilities .We continued to talk and I explained that one of other goals was to also minister to those without disabilities. She asked me why I was there again and I said I was there for them as well. 

Pursuing that line of thought further, I explained that I was hoping for persons with disabilities to share their stories with those without disabilities and for those without to express themselves concerning disabilities. The hope was to encourage community.
She asked me again why I was there.
I said that I was here for us. She responded "you here for us?" 
I said I here for all of us.
It was a rather emotional moment for both of us.


Later the young student explained to me that she was taken by the fact that I never once mentioned her visual impairment. That her blindness had not become a topic of conversation with someone she just met.
She explained it doesn't always happen but happens enough to be at best annoying, at worst embarrassing. Here we had a whole conversation about a ministry to those with disabilities and it didn't come up once. She was happy that she was seen as a person who just happened to blind.
This something all persons, disabled or not, ask for.