Cowboys in Wheelchairs

Not to over-inundate you with Joni and Friends, but this is my favorite of Joni's devotionals to date. I'll be at Murietta Family Retreat this summer. If you're interested in attending or volunteering, click here for more information.

Joni and Friends Daily Devotional  April 26, 2012 Dear Katie,

Cowboys in Wheelchairs

Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2 Little Matthew and Stephen came to one of our Family Retreats to volunteer alongside their mom and dad. They pushed wheelchairs, carried lunch trays, held Bibles, and played games with kids in wheelchairs. The boys had a blast, plus it provided great insight as to how disabled kids deal with daily struggles. After the retreat was over, Matthew received a Lego City for his birthday. Their father observed his boys snap together a cowboy and Indian fort. They built walls, watch towers and a group of teepees. "What's that?" Dad pointed to an odd conglomeration of blocks. "It's a ramp," they replied. "It's there so people in wheelchairs can get in the fort." The boys started snapping together little wheelchairs with square wheels. (Square? It's the thought that counts). The cowboys rode wheelchairs instead of horses. So did the Indians. The boys constructed ramps into the general store, livery stable, and the jail. (I suppose that shows disabled people are sinners, too). "They came up with the idea themselves," their father told me. "It came naturally." Hobnobbing for a week with kids in wheelchairs changed Matthew and Stephen. They will grow up to be adults who think, What can I do to make life easier for my disabled friend? It won't be a fearful world of "us" and "them," but a world where it comes naturally to put in a ramp, widen a door, reach out a hand, or open a heart. It will be a great world when it happens, and Matthew and Stephen are paving the way.                             Think of a family member, neighbor, or coworker who has a disability. Is there anything you can do to make his or her life a little easier for them? If so, you will fulfill the law of Christ. Lord, open my eyes to the needs of others. Help me to carry their burdens and so fulfill your law... the law of love.

Blessings, Joni and Friends www.joniandfriends.org

Never Changing

Are we weak and heavy-laden,
Cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge—
Take it to the Lord in prayer.


This is the verse that struck the most from today's set of hymns at the convalescent home (verse from "What a Friend We Have in Jesus").

Hershey made it to the party!

I've ranted previously about Hershey brand's lack of follow-through on their pledge to stop purchasing cocoa beans harvested with child labor. Hershey controls the majority of the market on cocoa beans in the United States and is a major supplier to smaller companies. Today I am belatedly bringing you good news that in January 2012 Hershey pledged to produce a line of fair-trade certified chocolate called "Bliss." Now, this is a little bit like Starbucks waving off activists' cries by pointing to their single fair-trade blend "Estima." However, it is--finally--a positive step. Maybe someday Peppermint Patties will be part of my palate again! More importantly, maybe a few less Ghanaian boys will have scars on their backs so that we can buy ourselves cheap chocolate bars on bad hair days.

My straw is yours, Baby.

The young couple (think junior high) four feet to my left in this coffee shop has been edging closer and closer in proximity as the evening has progressed. Frankly, I think the second chair became superfluous about 32 minutes ago, and the laptop mouse is just a further excuse to intertwine. However, Dad just came in the door wearing a benevolent and knowing grin. Boy had the decency to look sheepish. The whole episode reminded me of this video. (I know I've been posting a lot of Blimey Cow recently, but, hey, they're just so genius.)





P.S. Is it awkward that this post is labelled under "how I spend my time" and "things I like"? I was rather at a loss for categories.

Well, that's weird.

Since moving back to Fillmore at the beginning of this year, I occasionally must take deliberate measures to dispel a cloistered mindset. Fillmore is a great place to be from. It's a great place to visit. It's a great place for free rent. It's not such a great place for expanding one's mind or life experiences.


That being said, a few moment's reflection usually reminds me that though my life can feel fairly staid at times, my reality is far from mundane. First of all, I live in Fillmore. Yes, we've already covered this in paragraph one. My point here in paragraph two is that few white twenty-something women live in a place where burritos, orange trees, and short, dark men far outnumber nail salons, Burger Kings and Target stores. By merit of location alone, I'm weird.


Moving on to work, two and a half months ago I transitioned into a new ministry program in the role of Coordinator. Cause 4 Life is the internship program at Joni and Friends, preparing tomorrow's leaders to minister to individuals and families affected by disability in their churches, communities, and around the world. Check out our webpage here or our Facebook page here. For over four years, my daily thoughts have revolved around nonprofits, justice issues, advocacy, the theology of suffering, and other not-so-fluffy subjects. Sometimes I forget that this is abnormal, but I never forget that there are other people who believe in a cause so much that they indirectly pay me to help people. Highly unusual. Incredible. Pretty much--weird.


You may recall a recent post about my unique experience of wealth. By merit of living in the United States in the new millennium, I am one of the wealthiest people in the history of the world. Mind-blowing. Weird.


Now we get to the weirdest part. Frankly, living out Jesus' commands is exceptionally weird. It's weird to be generous. It's weird to screen your media.  It's weird to practice abstinence. Reading the same book every day and quoting it incessantly? Definitely weird. Reducing your possessions? Abnormal. Investing in annoying people? Strange. Being vulnerable? Insane.


I know Christians bandy about words like "radical" and "activist" and "counter-cultural" when we challenge each other to "go deeper" in the faith. Could it be that those words make us feel cool and hip? Confession: I don't generally feel cool or hip. Mostly I feel different and often tired, but I also feel supremely free. And the more I hear about people's stress and heartbreaks, the more I realize that my freedom and confidence is weird too.

So if the Son sets you free, 

you will be free indeed. 

John 8:37 ESV

Quoteables VIII

After I moved departments, co-worker #14 kindly said she missed my antics and enjoined: "But whatever you do, don’t lose the spunkiness. Stay true to what’s inside you. Keep it risky. … Otherwise you might just fall asleep." 

*I am skeptically flattered to have my behavior described as "risky." Am I really living on the edge? She may or may not have been referring to the classroom motivational posters  anonymously displayed on the walls by my minions or the foam dinosaur stickers hidden inside people's phone receivers. Or maybe it was the flyer inviting everyone to a party at an unsuspecting host's home? Rearranging color coded push pins? Come to think of it, I'm not sure I'm risky so much as being my neighbor is risky...
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One of my chronically sleep-deprived co-workers occasionally displays some irritation when interfacing with, well, other humans. This led me to exclaim:

"I don't like it when he's in a grumpy mood! It makes me feel like I've done something wrong even if I haven't talked to him in a week! But then I get irate and think, 'I haven't done anything wrong!' So what's his grumpiness to me?" (Emphatic gesture of dismissal)

Co-worker 23 shook her head: "Your mind is a funny place."

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After I requested a peach, mango, strawberry, and coconut smoothie with no added fruit juice, sherbet, or yogurt, the woman at the counter gave me a dubious glance and informed that they would have to add water. No problem. Seven minutes later, her cohort announced my order.

Smoothie man: “A … water … smoothie?”

Me: “That’s probably mine.”

Man, laughing: “I didn’t know what to call it!”

Me (thinking, this is snooty Westlake Village, surely I’m not the only person to ever request an all fruit smoothie): “Well, hopefully it’s mostly fruit.”

Man with a warning shake of the head: “Well, all the fruit is definitely in there, but it’s not going to be sweet.”

Me, internally incredulous: “I’m sure it’s going to taste fine!”

Man, warning again with a concerned shrug: “Well, it will taste like other smoothies, but it’s not going to be sweet at all.”

Either that man has diabolical sense of humor or he has never eaten a peach.

Faith

Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time. -- Oswald Chambers

Values

Last year I went through the Lead Like Jesus training with Joni and Friends. Flipping through the participant workbook last week, I found the page where I was asked to write my top seven values in a two minute span of time. Drumroll please:

Love

Truth

Grace

Justice

Integrity

Wisdom

Relationships

What are yours?

You Are Not an Activist

"Because, let's be honest, if Tom's shoes looked like Crocs, there would be a lot more barefoot children in third-world countries."


"See, it's really easy to support a cause when there's nothing on the line. But what if you actually had to sacrifice something in order to support the cause? Because, you know, that's actually what 'support' means: to bear the weight of something."


(Email subscribers, click here for the video quoted above.)

Big Bird's Nefarious Cousin

Shoebill Bird, Uganda

C.S. Lewis strikes again!

“We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.”

― C.S. Lewis

From a C.S. Lewis forum:

The quote is from one of his letters, written to the Reverend Peter Bide on April 29th, 1959. Bide was the Anglican priest who did a 'laying on of hands' healing for Joy Lewis in 1957, and he was also the one who performed the religious wedding of Jack and Joy Lewis (they had earlier had a civil wedding). In 1959 Bide's wife was diagnosed with cancer, and he wrote Jack Lewis to ask him to pray for her. The quote comes from Lewis' response. Oddly, the letter is not in the new three volume C. S. Lewis Collected Letters edited by Walter Hooper, but is in the old (1966) one volume Letters of C. S. Lewis, edited by Warnie Lewis.

C. S. Lewis wrote:Indeed, indeed we both will. I don't see how any degree of faith can exclude the dismay, since Christ's faith did not save Him from dismay in Gethsemane. We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us: we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be. 

Letters of C. S. Lewis

Brown egg shells + Succulents + High Waisted Skirt

Check out this genius at http://www.royjoy.com/2011/04/easter-diy-indie-twist-on-easter-egg.html.

Rockefeller has nothing on me.

Today's reflection as I tossed my purple skirt in the "delicates" laundry basket and walked to the hall closet to pull out fresh sheets: "Not only am I one of the richest people living in the world today, but I am one of the wealthiest people in all of history." 


Think about it: throughout the whole of history, only a handful of people have experienced the conveniences, variety, free time, travel, information, and -- perhaps most significantly -- choices that are routine for you and me. Alexander the Great lacked indoor plumbing; Queen Elizabeth probably did not even know mangos existed; Charlemange never read a blog; Andrew Carnegie did not own a cell phone. 


Again, our ability to make our own decisions coupled with the number of options available has been exceptionally rare in the scope of human experience. The ease of our physical experience is similarly unprecedented. Warm showers, 9-1-1 for emergencies, grocery stores with numbered aisles--these are the pipe dreams of our forefathers. We are living our ancestors' wildest imagination.


P.S. This blog post is labelled under the "psychology" category because the theme is as much self-perception v. reality as it is wealth.

Yet Another Spiritual Lesson

Ever since two of my dear friends procreated, I've enjoyed snickering at the antics of their offspring. Quite often his demands, curiosity, smiles, and pterodactyl screams remind me of how we relate to God. Oh, the spiritual analogies abound! At fourteen months and puttering about, we have a whole new set. Latest shared from his mom:


"Another spiritual lesson: C refuses to eat breakfast. I know he is still hungry, but I let him down. He goes to the trash can and pulls out food. Really?"


I guess if you have a kid, so much spiritual profundity is swirling about that you could even take a break from Clive Staples (aka C.S. Lewis). Just don't neglect breakfast.

Mason Jars

What is it about mason jars that makes them so endearing? And why are the colored ones most satisfying? And, why, oh why do I have an aversion to non-authentically tinted mason jars? Am I really such a snob? These are the questions I prefer to ponder on a Monday night instead of my usual theology of suffering fare.

via Nest of Posies

Mason lanterns 

These lanterns would be too shabby chic anywhere but staggered against plank walls and oak trees. Well played, Beeper Bebe.

Mini-pies in mason jars 

Yes, you read this correctly. Pure. Genius. I will have arrived if I ever manage to pull this off. Where I will have arrived, I'm unsure, but I am convinced it will be someplace commendable. And definitely cute. And most probably super yummy.

Mason jar fairy

The world is a better place. Now my absurd day dreams of finding treasure-holding mason jars nestled in shrubbery could, just possibly, become reality. This is an absolutely-fantastical-wondrous-poetic project that involves--get this--inserting art in mason jars and strategically hiding them for oddly observant or uncannily lucky folk.  Forget geocaching--this is the new revolution!

Another unanswerable question this evening is why does my "Pomplamoose Rocks (Literally)" Pandora station play commercials about "minimally invasive gynecological surgery"? Evidently Cedar Sinai is one of the few hospitals in L.A. that offers fertility sparing fibroid surgery. So do Ingrid Michaelson, Snow Patrol, The Postal Service, Jimmy Eats World, and Weezer all scream, "No matter what the obstacles, this listener needs a baby!"? Rhetorical question, dear reader.