Notes from the Holler: March 2013

March 31, 2013

Amazing Love

We've just returned from spending time with Seth's family but I don't want to let today finish without posting something about the amazing, deep love that the Author of Life, the Creator of the Universe has for . . . me . . . that He should make a wretch His treasure. A love showcased by the death of Jesus on the cross and sealed with His resurrection from the dead. Do you know this love?

This is a current favorite song . . .

"How Deep the Father's Love for Us" by Stuart Townend

How deep the Father's love for us,
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure

How great the pain of searing loss,
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the chosen One,
Bring many sons to glory

Behold the Man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice,
Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that left Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished

I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection

Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom

March 22, 2013

New Arrivals (again)

After our grey and red chickens went to the Great Chicken Coop in the Sky, I decided it was time to start looking for some new chickens to take over the egg-laying duties of our aging flock.

I didn't want to go through the process of raising chickens from the beginning (see here and here and here), so I checked craigslist for older chickens who were closer to the point of lay. And I found some. But they were really far away.

And so I moved on to Plan B -- purchasing baby chicks from our local farm supply store. I figured I'd get four from breeds that were good layers -- two Rhode Island Reds and two Barred Rocks. What I didn't count on was Seth taking an interest in our new chickens.

When we stopped by the store after church last Sunday, we took the boys to see the baby chicks and the baby rabbits. After wandering around for awhile, looking at the breeds available, Seth decided he wanted more green eggs (courtesy of two Araucana / Easter Eggers), some dark red eggs (courtesy of two Welsummers), and . . . I quickly reminded him that it was important to have excellent layers like a Rhode Island Red, so we added one of those. And then he chose another good layer -- a black Speckled Sussex.

(Just for fun--here is a pic of Kieran
checking out the baby chicks
we got three years ago)

And we ended up with six new chicks.

Which are now hanging out in a box in our kitchen.

"They're so cute!" according to the boys

Kieran and Cael are enjoying them, but I have no idea what I'm going to use to house them all when they get bigger in a week or two.

I'm rethinking my hen-only, earn-your-keep philosophy -- maybe it would be easier (for me) if we added a rooster to our flock and the hens raised their own baby chicks from the beginning . . . .

March 19, 2013

22 Months

He has a mind of his own.

In case you're wondering why he doesn't have his shirt on the whole way, he wanted it that way because he was in some kind of snit about something the morning I took these pictures. I'd put it on, he'd pull his hand back out, so finally I just left him alone. It's one of those "choose your battles" things that I didn't choose to fight.

He likes to count to 10, except that when he gets to 9, he skips to 14.

Have I mentioned he has a mind of his own?

He's also boss.eee. When I'm calling Kieran to put his shoes on, Cael is right there beside me, "KEEWAN, come put your shoes on WIGHT NOW." Thanks, Cael, I think I've got this.

I have no idea where he gets that particular trait from. Although I should mention that Seth is fairly sure he knows. And he doesn't think it's him. I admit it's definitely an experience hearing myself echo in his little mouth. Here's hoping (and praying) that he channels that, um, leadership quality into something constructive in the future!

March 18, 2013

The Indispensable Ones

Last Friday night, I had the opportunity to speak to a group of children's ministry leaders about teaching children with special needs.

I am not an expert on this topic so I decided to present a brief overview of the theology of disability and then offer some more practical tips that I, as a mom of a child with special needs, would appreciate in a children's ministry. I talked to several relatives and friends who have more experience with this area to get their perspective and included a lot of what I learned in the presentation. (Thank you to those who took the time to share with me!)

After I finished, I spent about 15 minutes answering questions from those in attendance and then was able to talk some more with individuals after everyone left for the presentation that followed mine.

I'm posting a transcript of my talk for those who are interested (the beginning sections are adapted from a presentation I gave last year).

If you were giving a presentation on this topic, what would you discuss? If you were attending such a presentation, what would you like to see discussed?

The Indispensable Ones: Teaching Children with Special Needs

Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: The General Sense
Part 3: The Specific Sense
Part 4: The Goodness of God
Part 5: The Glory of God
Part 6: The Naturalistic Alternative
Part 7: Ministering to the Indispensable Ones
Part 8: Be Willing
Part 9: Be Ready
Part 10: Be a Learner
Part 11: Be Flexible
Part 12: Be Blessed
Part 13: Be a Comfort
Part 14: Our Future Hope

The Indispensable Ones: Part 14 -- Our Future Hope

We not only have hope for our life here on earth, we have hope for our future life on the future earth. Those of us who have received the gift of eternal life look forward to the time when, after we die, the Lord will resurrect our bodies and will make us whole and complete, just as God intended for people to be when He created them in the beginning.

“Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:1–4, NKJV)

Seth and I look forward to spending eternity with Kieran. Only he won’t have the difficulties he has on this present earth—his body will be strong, his mind will be strong, he’ll be able to do the things he wants to do without effort or difficulty.

Let me add here that we don’t know now how much Kieran will understand and embrace about the gospel. But it’s not really up to us to determine that, is it? It’s not up to us to figure out which children will understand that Jesus loves them and died for them and offers them eternal life. Instead, it’s up to us to present that glorious message to each and every child who is part of our ministry. We’re teaching Kieran about God and Jesus and the Bible in our home and we expect that his teachers at church will teach him the same things.

Paul encouraged the people in Phillipi, that, “we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” (Philippians 3:20–21, NIV)

This is the hope that we, as Christians, have to offer those with disabilities. That those who have received the gift of eternal life will one day have bodies that no longer bear the marks of the curse.

When I think of my cousin Karen, who went to be with Jesus last year, I smile as I picture her running and shouting and singing and playing and swinging and hugging—all things she couldn’t do here in this cursed world. Will you offer this hope to those God brings to your church?

If you are interested in learning more about what I’ve talked about today, let me recommend a few books to you. The first is Special Needs SmartPages. It has good articles and advice on beginning and developing a ministry to those with disabilities.

And for more on the theology on disability, I suggest Randy Alcorn’s book If God Is Good. This is an amazingly comprehensive, yet easy to read book about God’s goodness in suffering, evil, disability.

And then the third book is one that I wrote, Why Is Keiko Sick? It’s a book for children that addresses death and disease. I wrote it before Kieran was born so I don’t necessarily touch on the topic of disability, but it is relevant to what we’ve talked about today.

There are also some great online resources including joniandfriends.org and theinclusivechurch.com. These have lots of free information on putting together a special needs ministry. The website for Joni and Friends features a process map that walks you through starting a ministry to those with disabilities.

Let’s end by reading these verses together: “The Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations” (Psalm 100:3–5 NIV).

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The Indispensable Ones: Teaching Children with Special Needs

The Indipsensable Ones: Part 13 -- Be a Comfort

As Christians, ministers of the gospel, we are the only ones who hold out hope to those with disabilities—and to everyone who is disabled by sin. We have the promise of eternal life in a curse-free new heavens and new earth.

The same God who creates the blind and the deaf and those with genetic disorders also sent His own Son to take on flesh, live perfectly, and die and triumph over death to bring us eternal life. His love is greater than our disability.

And He promises that He will never leave us or forsake us.

The psalmist says, “The Lord is righteous in all his ways and loving toward all he has made.” (Psalm 145:17, NIV) Loving toward all He has made. Including those with disabilities.

When we received Kieran’s diagnosis, we spent several days in tears. We would wake up in the middle of the night, hoping that it was all just a bad dream. We would feel that kick in our gut all over again. And I’m convinced that it was no coincidence that the verses on the bulletin cover at our church that next Sunday were taken from this passage in Lamentations.

This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!” The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. (Lamentations 3:21–26, NKJV)

And we have experienced God’s grace and mercy every day. We’ve seen it evidenced in Kieran’s life, as well.

Sometimes the doctor visits and therapy sessions can feel overwhelming. The weight of caring for someone with disabilities can be unbearable. But we need to avoid the quiet platitudes we like to offer and instead deal with the reality of how God works, encouraging a view of God’s goodness and sovereignty in our own lives.

In response to people saying “God won’t give you more than you can bear,” Greg, a father of a severely disabled child says:

“My experience is that God will place a burden on you so heavy that you cannot possibly carry it alone. He will break your back and your will. He will buckle your legs until you fall flat beneath the crushing weight of your load. All the while He will walk beside you waiting for you to come to the point where you must depend on Him. “‘My power is made perfect in your weakness,’ He says, as we strain under our burden. “Whatever the burden, it might indeed get worse, but I know this—God is faithful. And while we change and get old, he does not. When we get weaker, He remains strong. And in our weakness and humility, He offers us true, lasting transformation, and undeserved grace.” P. 14 Quote from Wrestling with an Angel

And God promises comfort to us when we need it.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. (2 Corinthians 1:3–4)

This means that you can be a comfort to me, even though you may not have walked in my shoes. Let me encourage you to gently look for ways to offer comfort and encouragement to those walking the disability path, both in spiritual ways, as well as in more tangible, hands-on ways.

For example, my aunt’s church in California offers a monthly thematic day for families with a child who has special needs, called the Teddy Bear Brigade. They provide a program for the children and offer the parents and siblings time to interact in a support group.

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The Indispensable Ones: Teaching Children with Special Needs

The Indispensable Ones: Part 12 -- Be Blessed

The relationship between those who seem weaker and those who seem stronger in the body of Christ is one of mutual blessing. We are each gifted in different areas. So encourage everyone—including those with disabilities—to share their gifting with the body of Christ.

I have a friend who attended a church in Florida where they gave a man who had difficulty speaking as a result of a stroke the ministry of calling everyone in the church on their birthday and singing happy birthday to them. Not only did this give this man an opportunity to serve, but, as a benefit to him, it helped him improve his speech!

My husband’s sister, Mimi, has Down syndrome. This is Mimi with Kieran when he was a baby. The church she attends with her parents recently began an effort to get everyone involved in some type of service. They asked if Mimi could come early or stay after certain services to realign hymn books and Bibles in the pews or to fill the tract rack. She loved doing those things. In fact, Mimi loves passing out tracts.

When we visited with her a few months ago, we went out to eat at a restaurant. While there, I took our youngest son to the bathroom so I could change his diaper. Mimi was standing outside the stall. As I changed Cael’s diaper, I listened as she said to another lady, “Here I have something for you.” And she gave her a tract.

Reading it, that lady said, “Do I know for certain that I’m going to heaven? Well, I hope so but I can’t be certain.” Mimi encouraged her to read the tract and to visit her church. She passes tracts out to just about everyone she meets without fear because she knows that people need Jesus in order to enter heaven.

I am blessed and encouraged by Mimi’s devotion to Jesus. There’s a lot that I can learn from her boldness.

In similar ways, we can learn compassion from those who are disabled. And we can humbly catch a glimpse of how Jesus sees us and our feeble attempts at responding to Him in those who are unable to do much for themselves.

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The Indispensable Ones: Teaching Children with Special Needs

The Indispensable Ones: Part 11 -- Be Flexible

We all learn in different ways, don’t we? For example, I learn best when I can read about something and then practice what I’ve read. I don’t learn well just by hearing.

In fact, some experts have identified four main gateways to learning: visual, auditory, tactile, and kinesthetic.

Visual refers to anything perceived through the eyes. So, for example, using pictures with words.

Auditory is what you hear. Setting a verse to music, having the child tap a drum rhythmically while saying the verse.

Tactile deals with fine motor activities, texture, and touch. You might have the child draw over a word, or make the pictures out of different textures. Or have the child use a paintbrush or draw in sand.

Kinesthetic relates to whole body movements. For example, marching in circles, moving from one place to another, hiding the cards with words or pictures and having the child move to find them.

So, let me encourage you to be flexible in your lessons. Find out what learning styles best suit the children in your class—both those with disabilities and those who are more typically developing. And then incorporate the appropriate gateways to learning into your lessons and schedules.

I am the project manager for AiG’sVacation Bible School program and for the past few years, we’ve provided a supplement for those who want to minister to people with special needs.

The structure of the supplement is based on these gateways to learning, in combination with the idea of multiple intelligences. Multiple intelligences refers to the idea that we are all gifted in different areas—some enjoy doing things with their hands, other prefer being outside in nature, others are at their best when making music, and so on.

The writer of the special needs supplement, who has a master’s degree in special education and over a decade of experience in teaching those with special needs – and who also happens to be my mom – put together tables with ideas for activities for each lesson.

I believe a sample one of these is in the handouts you received for this session. The idea behind it is for the teacher to have the parent highlight the activities that the child can do and then incorporate those activities into the lesson.

This is something you could do with your own lessons—find out what types of activities and learning styles engage your children and use them to teach your Bible account. Focus on the child’s strengths and interests, not his areas of weakness.

Those with Williams syndrome often have a special affinity for music. And Kieran is no exception. He is drawn to music in ways that other children aren’t. So, if he were in your class, what are some ways that you could incorporate music into your lesson time?

I’ve also included a sample of a verse sheet that incorporates picture symbols for those who learn better that way. These are simple to make using common clip art images. Ask those in your church if this type of aid would be beneficial.

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The Indispensable Ones: Teaching Children with Special Needs

The Indispensable Ones: Part 10 -- Be a Learner

The array of disabilities is vast. Even within those with Williams syndrome, there’s a spectrum of abilities. You can’t possibly be an expert in them all but you can learn about those in your care and at your church. And I—as the parent—am your best resource on my child, so ask me questions. Be a learner.

It’s encouraging to me when some says, “So, I looked up Williams syndrome the other day and was wondering, does he have the heart defect that I read about?” or “What does hyperacusis mean? And how can we help him with that at church?”

I would love to talk to you about our son and answer your questions. And it would bless me immensely if you were to spend some getting to know him as an individual apart from church—his likes, his dislikes, his abilities, what makes him laugh, what fascinates him, and those special ways that he reflects the image of God.

With my cousin Karen, it would have been a huge encouragement to her and her family if several people would have taken the time to learn Karen and her special needs. She could hear, but she didn’t like loud noises, so sending her to classes with other children didn’t work well.

And those who didn’t take the time to ask talked loudly around her, which frightened her, causing her to cry. All it would have taken was a simple conversation with her parents (since she couldn’t talk) asking the best ways to communicate with her.

She loved having people talk—in a normal voice—to her about anything and everything. And she loved listening to country music on her iPod. How simple would it have been for someone to spend time with her during the service, reading to her, chatting with her about their week, letting her listen to her music, and allowing her parents to soak in God’s Word and to fellowship with their brothers and sisters in Christ?

For those with physical disabilities, be willing to ask them if they would like assistance first before offering—learn what they need or want and ask for specific instructions.

Be a learner, but don’t feel like you need to be an advisor. Parents of children with disabilities want you to come alongside to help, not to judge or critique.

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The Indispensable Ones: Teaching Children with Special Needs

The Indispensable Ones: Part 9 -- Be Ready

Williams syndrome is a rare disorder occurring in only about 1 in 10,000 births, so I do not at all expect you to say, “Oh, hey, I know all about Williams syndrome!” when I introduce Kieran to you and mention that he has a genetic disorder which can lead to some disabilities.

But it would be great if you were familiar with the major categories of disabilities so that when I say, “He has cognitive disabilities and problems with fine motor tasks,” you can say, “I am so glad he’s visiting with us today. We’re learning about Jonah and whale. We’ll be singing some songs, having circle time, and then coloring a picture. And we may even go outside if the weather stays nice. What would work for him?”

And then I can say, “He’ll probably need help sitting still for the story, but he loves music (as long as it’s not too loud—he also has a condition called hyperacusis which means his hearing is overly sensitive). And he also loves being outside but he tends to wander, so please keep an eye on him. He doesn’t do as well at coloring with regular crayons, but if you have washable markers or crayon slicks, those work better for him.”

And then you can say, “Sounds good. I have a teen who is great with children and would enjoy staying with Kieran and helping him out. Would that be ok?”

The church that we’re currently attending doesn’t have a disability ministry, per se, but our brothers and sisters in Christ have been ready to minister to Kieran. At our VBS last year, since I was leading the missions time, a lady offered to stay with Kieran as his group visited the various stations.

She helped him with his craft, helped him play the games, encouraged him to listen to the Bible account, and kept him from wandering off as they transitioned between places. She wasn’t trained in working with those with special needs, but she was willing and ready to help.

And when the children’s church leader noticed Kieran needed help paying attention on Sunday mornings, she simply said, “We enjoy having Kieran with us. What do we need to know about him so that we can better help him? Would it be ok if I asked one of the older children to sit with him?”

Now, some people have disabilities that are more severe than Kieran’s. I’ve mentioned my cousin Karen already. She was blind and couldn’t talk but could hear and used a special wheelchair to get around. She was an image-bearer who needed a bit more help than others may.

Sadly, however, the churches that Karen and her family attended weren’t ready to serve her. They weren’t wheelchair accessible and no one was ready to say to her and her parents, “Hey, we’re glad you’re here. How can we serve you today?” She and her parents often didn’t go to church because they didn’t feel there was a place for her or them.

And this is a story I’ve heard many times from parents of those with more severe disabilities—that they simply didn’t feel welcomed at church. Their brothers and sisters in Christ aren’t ready for them. Their feast isn’t ready for those who have disabilities.

So, be ready.

Take some time to learn about the common categories of disability: physical, cognitive, sensory, social, medical, developmental, and so on. And begin now to cultivate a heart toward my son and Karen and others with disabilities in those you teach and in the rest of your church.

If you haven’t already had someone with disabilities walk through your doors, you will soon.

Look around your church and make sure the main areas are accessible. Ensure there are accessible parking spaces available for those who may need them.

Provide a variety of accommodations (writing utensils, scissor types, and so on) for children to use in their classrooms. Look for volunteers who can help and prescreen them. Please be ready.

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The Indispensable Ones: Teaching Children with Special Needs

The Indispensable Ones: Part 8 -- Be WIlling

The first point I want to make is that you don’t need to have a “disability ministry” in order for us to feel welcome. But you do need to have a heart that is as willing to minister to those with disabilities as those children who are more typically developing.

Ask the Lord to help you see every person as His image-bearer and to give you a heart that cares for those who are indispensable to His body.

Pray that He would cultivate a love for all of His children in those in your church.

Read through the gospels and really look at how Jesus viewed and interacted with those with disabilities—the blind, the lame, the deaf. He noticed them. He spent time with them. He didn’t just pass them by or view them as interruptions to His work. They were His work.

Let’s think about what Jesus is teaching in this passage:

Then He [Jesus] also said to him who invited Him, “When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” (Luke 14:12-14)

Let me ask you this: what does the feast at your church look like? Are you willing to host the lame, the blind, and those with other disabilities? Not only that, but Jesus told the man to go out and invite them in. Who in your area needs to be invited and welcomed into your church?

As soon as we walk through the door, it would be great to hear, “Hey, we’re so glad to have you with us today! Thanks for coming!”

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The Indispensable Ones: Teaching Children with Special Needs

The Indispensable Ones: Part 7 -- Ministering to the Indispensable Ones

When I walk into a church for the first time, I do so with a bit of trepidation. Kieran has difficulty sitting still and staying on-task. And, although he understands most of what we say to him, he sometimes has difficulty processing questions and answering appropriately. Because he has low muscle tone and a visual-spatial deficit that comes with Williams syndrome, he doesn’t always enjoy coloring and making crafts like other children his age do.

And so questions like these fill my mind:

Will people see him as an indispensable image-bearer?
Will they accept him?
Will he be teased?
Will he be ok?

So let me give you some practical ways you can help alleviate my concerns, which are shared by just about every other parent of a child with a disability who walks through the doors of your church.

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The Indispensable Ones: Teaching Children with Special Needs

The Indispensable Ones: Part 6 -- The Naturalistic Alternative

So, we’ve talked about the biblical teaching that God is always good and whatever He does is good. In fact, it’s because of His goodness and the standard He gives in His Word that we have a basis on which to declare right from wrong.

And it’s because He created two “very good” people in the beginning that we can say “This is how it should be,” “This is what God originally intended life to look like.”

I understand that it may be tempting to doubt God and His goodness when we’re put in situations like this. And many skeptics use people with disabilities to mock God. “How can there be a good God in the face of such debilitating disabilities?” they ask.

So, ok, let’s walk down that path for a bit and see what happens when we remove God from the picture.

First, let’s examine the worldview of those skeptics. They deny there is a God and accept that we are the result of molecules-to-man evolutionary processes. According to their worldview, we are simply the result of natural processes that have operated on chemicals over billions of years.

So who is to say that the way one set of chemicals combined is any better (or worse) than the way another set of chemicals combined? They have no ultimate standard by which to say that one combination is “good” while another combination is “bad.” Therefore, they are unable to consistently hold the Creator accountable for doing something that they deem to be “wrong” since the concept of “wrongness” can’t logically exist in their worldview.

William Provine is an evolutionist and biology professor at Cornell University. He states, “Let me summarize my views on what modern evolutionary biology tells us loud and clear . . . .There is no ultimate foundation for ethics, no ultimate meaning to life.”

Nobel Laureate Steven Weinberg is an evolutionist and physics professor at the University of Texas. He states, “I think that part of the historical mission of science has been to teach us that we are not the playthings of supernatural intervention, that we can make our own way in the universe, and that we have to find our own sense of morality.”³

If no foundation for ethics exists and if we have to find our own sense of morality, then on what basis can they say that God is “wrong” for creating some with disabilities? These skeptics don’t have a logical basis on which to say, “God cannot be good and allow birth defects at the same time” because they don’t have a logical basis on which to determine what is “good” in the first place.

A second point that I want to make here is this. Within their own worldview, people with birth defects and genetic disorders are considered the “trial and error” of evolutionary processes.

In fact, this is the basis for the eugenics movement. “Eugenics” is a term coined in 1883 by Francis Galton, who was a cousin of Charles Darwin, the man who gave us the basis for the modern-day idea of molecules-to-man evolution. “Eugenics” refers to “good in birth” or “well born.” This was a movement in the early 1900s that sought to rid the human race of the undesirables—such as those with mental and physical handicaps—by preventing those deemed “unfit” from having children.

One of the most well-known proponents of eugenics was Adolf Hitler. He went further than sterilizing those with disabilities, however. The Nazis actively killed those considered to be “genetically inferior.”

We recoil in horror at what has been done to those with disabilities in the past, but getting rid of those deemed “less than” the general population is the logical extension of an atheistic, evolutionary worldview. So why would those who hold to this worldview use genetic disorders and disabilities to argue against a good God? Why would they bother to be concerned about people with genetic disorders if they’re simply a bump in the evolutionary road which evolutionary processes will eventually work out?

The concern of the skeptics about those with disabilities is inconsistent with their worldview.

And here’s the important point for Christians to hear. When we doubt the goodness of God or deny His sovereignty over His creation, this is the path we begin to travel down. Is that really a place we want to be?

Friends, the basis for the sanctity of life is found only in the pages of the Bible. God has created each and every human in His image and He has told us that because we are all—everyone of us—image-bearers, we are not to take the lives of other image-bearers, no matter how “disabled” they are.

Every child is a gift from God.

And in God’s family, according to that brilliant Apostle Paul, “those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable” (1 Corinthians 12:22, NIV).

Let’s think about that for a bit in relation to those with disabilities. Do you view children with disabilities as an indispensable part of your ministry? Or are they interruptions to what you want to accomplish?

So, let’s move on to talking about some ways we can embrace these indispensable ones in our ministries.

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The Indispensable Ones: Teaching Children with Special Needs

The Indispensable Ones: Part 5 -- The Glory of God

So, why does God do this? What is the purpose behind disabilities, pain, and suffering? This is a question that theologians have raised for centuries, but let me offer these basic points.

First, I believe that He creates everyone for a reason: to bring glory to Himself.

The Lord says to Isaiah:

Everyone who is called by My name, Whom I have created for My glory; I have formed him, yes, I have made him. (Isaiah 43:7)

And Paul writes in his letter to the people in Rome:

For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen. (Romans 11:36)

Second, I believe He fashions us as He does for our good.

Let’s look at this a bit further with the example given to us in John chapter 9.

Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.” (John 9:1–3, NKJV)

Let me make a quick point here. Although mutations and diseases and disabilities and suffering are part of the Curse and are the result of our sin in Adam, they aren’t necessarily a direct result of a specific sin that we’ve committed. Jesus makes this clear here. Although the man and his parents were sinners, his blindness wasn’t the direct result of a sin that they had committed.

So why was he blind? Why does God make us—every one of us—the way He does? So that the works of God might be displayed in his life.

Imagine for a few moments being the parents of the man born blind. How many times from the time they found out their son was blind did they pray, “Please, God, use this for your glory.” Or how many times did they say, “We don’t know why our son is blind, but we know that God can and will use Him as a testimony for Himself and to draw others to Him.” Or, how many times did they cry out to God, “Why, God? Why did you make our son blind?” And then imagine their joy when Jesus healed him and used him to display the work of God. “Ah,” they said. “So that’s why.”

But it didn’t stop there. Two thousand years later, we’re still reading about this man and learning from his situation. For two thousand years, the testimony of the man who was born blind has been encouraging and blessing people.

And think further about all of the other people with disabilities that we read about in the gospels whom Jesus healed—the lame, the blind, the deaf, the lepers, those in immense pain. What purpose did their suffering serve? It allowed Jesus to demonstrate His deity to those around Him at the time. And to countless millions who have read and believed those accounts in the two thousand years that have since passed. Do you think the lady with the bleeding problem ever imagined while she was suffering through her problems that she would be an example of faith to so many for so long?

To relate this specifically to our son and his genetic disorder diagnosis, I believe that he (and each of us) is part of God’s plan to bring Himself glory—genetic mutations and all.

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The Indispensable Ones: Teaching Children with Special Needs

The Indispensable Ones: Part 4 -- The Goodness of God

Does this make God an ogre or less than completely good? Not at all. Because His very nature is good. Let’s remember what the Bible teaches about God’s goodness.

Good and upright is the Lord;
Therefore He teaches sinners in the way. Psalm 25:8, NKJV

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good;
Blessed is the man who trusts in Him! Psalm 34:8, NKJV

The Lord is good to all,
And His tender mercies are over all His works. Psalm 145:9, NKJV

So He [Jesus] said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. . . .” Matthew 19:17, NKJV

There’s a mantra in Christendom that goes like this: God is good, all the time. Many times, Christians toss out that phrase, when for example, they were in a car accident and survived without any bodily harm. I am safe, they say, God is good. And yet, wouldn’t God still be good if the opposite were the outcome? If they had been badly hurt or even died? God would still be good.

We tend to talk about God’s goodness when things are going “good” for us—good as we define it. But He is good all the time. And whatever He does is good. This shouldn’t be a phrase that we just use when things are going our way or according to what we define as “good.” This should be ingrained in our hearts and minds so that we really do see God as good all the time.

So, to return to the question I mentioned before: “This is a problem I have wondered about—how physically imperfect newborns can be admired as "the handiwork of God," because it casts such doubt on God.”

If those with disabilities are not the handiwork of God, then we are denying they are human. We are denying they are image-bearers of the Creator. We need to allow God to be God—and God to be a sovereign and good God—all the time and in all situations. And to operate as He chooses within this cursed, fallen world that we’ve brought on ourselves. Including when He carefully and purposefully creates a baby with disabilities.

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The Indispensable Ones: Teaching Children with Special Needs

The Indispensable Ones: Part 3 -- The Specific Sense

When we study God’s Word, we see that God, as the Creator, is sovereign over His creation. This means He is in control of His creation. He is not a laissez-faire, or hands-off, deity that wound up his creation and now lets it go as it pleases. He created it in the beginning and is still actively involved in sustaining His creation.

Let’s take a look at a few verses.

In Chronicles, we read:

Yours, O Lord, is the greatness,
The power and the glory,
The victory and the majesty;
For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours;
Yours is the kingdom, O Lord,
And You are exalted as head over all.

Both riches and honor come from You,
And You reign over all.
In Your hand is power and might;
In Your hand it is to make great
And to give strength to all. 1 Chronicles 29:11–12, NKJV

And then from Nebuchadnezzar, that pagan king of Babylon:

And at the end of the time I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me; and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever:

For His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
And His kingdom is from generation to generation.
All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing;

He does according to His will in the army of heaven
And among the inhabitants of the earth.
No one can restrain His hand
Or say to Him, “What have You done?” Daniel 4:34–35, NKJV

And Nehemiah writes:

You alone are the Lord;
You have made heaven,
The heaven of heavens, with all their host,
The earth and everything on it,
The seas and all that is in them,
And You preserve them all.
The host of heaven worships You. Nehemiah 9:6, NKJV

These are just a few of the verses that let us see God’s sovereignty and teach us that He is in control. In fact, the message of His sovereignty is woven throughout the entire Bible, isn’t it?

These verses have helped me see how big God is. We don’t serve an impotent deity who is unable to accomplish His purposes or whose hands are somehow tied. We serve the living Creator of the universe who is in active control of His creation. The winds and waves obey Him. The sun rises and sets on His command. The stars move through their courses, doing His will.

God is sovereign over His entire creation—from the farthest star in the farthest galaxy at the farthest edge of the universe to my little life in a small house on planet Earth. And just as God is in control of the intricate workings of the universe, I believe He is also in control of the intricate workings of conception.

God takes credit for forming the prophet Jeremiah just as He wanted him to be.

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;
Before you were born I sanctified you;
I ordained you a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5, NKJV

And David praises God for making him fearfully and wonderfully.

For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.

My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them. (Psalm 139:13–16, NKJV)

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
The fruit of the womb is a reward. (Psalm 127:3, NKJV, emphasis added)

“Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?” (Jeremiah 32:27, NKJV)

From studying verses such as these in the Bible, we know beyond the shadow of a doubt that God is the author of life. He forms each one of us and knits us together carefully and purposefully while we are still in the womb. And we use these verses with our healthy children—you were fearfully and wonderfully made by a loving Creator God, we say.

And yet, if God is the author of the lives of those with relative health, mustn’t we also say that God is the author of the lives of those who aren’t completely healthy and have physical, mental, or emotional problems?

Because of these teachings, and I want to be careful to allow God’s Word to teach me and not impose my ideas on Scripture, I can’t escape the thought that we are who we are—genetic mutations and all—as the result of God’s handiwork. In this more individualized sense, God gave our son (and each one of us) a specific genetic combination, which in our son’s case, included a deletion of part of one of his chromosomes. The world may call it a “spontaneous” mutation, but I call it a providential one.

Let me add a few caveats. I understand that our actions have consequences and, in some cases, the actions of parents before the conception and birth of their child can have dire consequences on the baby. For example, if a mother consumes too much alcohol, her baby can be born with fetal alcohol syndrome.

Or, something may happen to the baby while she is developing that results in life-long disabilities, such as happened with my cousin, Karen, who was born with hydrocephalus. The doctors didn’t catch it until she was three months old, leaving her severely disabled. Until she passed away last year, she was unable to talk and used a wheelchair to get around. However, I want to be clear that, even in these cases, God is still the ultimate author of her life and He is in control.

Let me add this thought, as well. The genetic mutation that pervades each cell of our son’s body has effects that can be seen more apparently—from his facial features to his heart and kidney problems to his learning disabilities. Yet each one of us is suffering from 6,000 years of the curse. In fact, which one of us would say that we have a completely perfect body and mind? Our problems may not be as apparent as Kieran’s but we have them just the same.

So at what point – or how many mutations – or which specific mutations separate the “normal” people from those with “disorders”? If we’re not prepared to say that God created and fashioned each and every person, at what point do we say, “Yes, you manifest the handiwork of God but you don’t”? How many mutations make someone abnormal?

One theologian defined “disability” this way, “the degree to which we are able to fulfill the mandate God gave Adam in the beginning—to be ‘fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’” (Genesis 1:28) (Mark Talbot, http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/conference-messages/longing-for-wholeness-chronic-suffering-and-christian-hope#/watch/full)

How many of us can say that we’re able to perfectly fulfill this command? To paraphrase a friend, “When it comes to disability, there is no ‘us’ and ‘them’—there is only ‘us.’ All of us.” (Calvin Clark, personal correspondence)

Let me go a bit further.

When God called Moses to go to the Egyptian pharaoh and ask for the release of His people, Moses made excuses for why he couldn’t go by pointing out to his Creator that he was “slow of speech and slow of tongue.” The Lord said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord? (Exodus 4:11 NIV).

In this passage, God is taking credit for making some people blind and some deaf. Reflect on that a moment. God is taking credit for making some people blind and some people deaf. It’s no great extrapolation to also include that God creates some with genetic disorders and other things we consider “defects.”