December 30th

Gather the Lame

               For all the peoples walk, each in the name of its god, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever.  In that day, says the Lord, I will assemble the lame and gather those who have been driven away, and those whom I have afflicted. The lame I will make the remnant, and those who were cast off, a strong nation; and the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion now and forevermore.

Micah 4:5-7

             In this life, people get to choose whom they will follow, which gods they will serve.  There are many options out there.  There are gods who promise wealth and whose followers are rich.  There are gods who promise popularity and whose followers are famous.  There are those who promise power and whose followers are mighty.  There are those who promise knowledge and whose followers are brilliant.  The problem with each of these is that they eat away at your soul and leave you enslaved to the powers that you thought empowered you.  Each and every one of those beliefs lead to despair in this lifetime and death in eternity.

            And then there in our God.  Our God promises to bring us home.  Our God has followers from every tribe, tongue and nation.  He has followers of every occupation and every ability under the sun.  And yet, God makes a concerted effort to identify Himself as the God of the weak, the God of the outcast, the God of the lame.  When His kingdom comes, He will gather all who were cast out and bring them back home.  He will gather all who were unfit to serve and put in institutions and discarded and He will stand at their head as the God of the disabled.  Our God is a champion of the broken and the IDD community.

            God has a special place in His heart for those who have disabilities.  He knows them by name.  He sees every hair on their heads.  He knows every medication that they are on.  He has been with them in every doctor’s visit and every school meeting and every time that they were alone and abandoned and rejected.  He walked through each and every trauma with them and when the end times come, Jesus will stand with His brothers and sisters who endured disability in this world and he will joyfully welcome them with open arms into eternity.  They are His precious treasure and He delights in each and every one of them.

            And we…we have been entrusted with this treasure here on earth.  We have been given the opportunity to hold the ones that Jesus loves as they tremble with seizures.  We have been given the opportunity to rock His beloved ones when they are overstimulated and cannot calm themselves down.  We have been given the opportunity to feed and clothe and change and stretch His treasures as they move through this world.  We have been given the opportunity to cry with them in the face of rejection and loss just as Jesus cries with them.

            God saw us.  He looked at us and He knew that we would be trustworthy to hold what He treasured.  He saw your heart.  He saw your mind.  He saw your life and your choices and He knew…He knew that you could love this child in the ways that they needed to be loved.  He knew that your heart could grow bigger than you thought it could.  He knew that you could be creative and compassionate and relentless because your child needs all those things.

            He also knew that in loving your child, you would give away many of the things that are valuable in this lifetime.  You would lose friends.  You would miss out on promotions.  You would definitely lose sleep.  Your dreams would die so that you could love this little person.  He knew.  He knew that the call would be costly and that you would be willing to pay it and so He knew that He needed to get closer to you, because you did not have the resource to come closer to Him.

            Every day that you take care of your child, Jesus is right there with you.  Every day that you change the diaper or the food tube, He is there.  Every night that you sit by the bed while they calm down enough to sleep, He is there.  Every time that you break into a sprint because your kiddo is running into the street again, Jesus is there with you.  Whether you see Him or not, whether you feel Him or not, Jesus is there because you are caring for His beloved.

            Jesus is with you, my friend.  Speak your prayers through the delirium or sing a song of peace.  Voice your concerns out loud or in the quiet of your mind.  Speak what is on your mind and your heart while doing dishes or laundry or giving a bath.  He hears it all because He is right there.  May your heart hear peace.  May your mind hear encouragement.  May your body receive strength. 

            Jesus is the God of the IDD community, the King of the Broken.  And we are in the service of the King.

           

A moment to reflect:

What do you want to say to Jesus?  He is with you and listening.