Grace on a Thursday: in my husband's words (mostly)

{This post is the first of a few where I share something BIG that is going on in our lives at the moment. My husband has courageously stepped out in faith to do something that I swear only he and God together would ever even think of. On Monday, I'll be able to share about this adventure in full. This cute picture of us was taken on a recent trip. It too was an important piece of what's been going on. But for today, I wanted you to hear his heart. I'm in awe of the way God is writing his story right now. There is so much grace throughout it. Please show Kevin some love, friends - but not too much 'cause he's mine.}

Learning Grace for the Least of These

I grew up with a neighbor who was mentally disabled. To tell you the truth, for most of that time I didn’t really see him beyond his disability. And I think a lot of people respond to disability that way. It’s uncomfortable to see someone struggle with something that comes naturally to you. When we connect with someone, we have a tendency to look for common ground with him or her. So I guess you could say that for a long time, I sort of unintentionally marginalized him in light of his limitations.

When I got older and more serious about my faith, probably just after high school, I started befriending him. We made a plan that on the first Sunday of every month, we’d go to church and then we’d go to Tim Tom’s for burgers. Sometimes I’d feel embarrassed because at church, he’d always want to sit near the front. He couldn’t carry a tune at all, but was by far the loudest singer.

After lunch, it was our tradition to go to the swap meet. My friend and I would walk around the entire place, but he would be most excited about the guy who sold pencils. The vendor sold not just regular #2 pencils, but a wide variety of pencils with colorful designs. They were ten for a dollar, and my friend would spend a ton of time choosing the perfect ones.

It was during those afternoons that I started seeing him not for his obvious disability but for his incredible heart. He found pure joy in the simplest of things. It was during those afternoons that I started to see ways that I was far more disabled than he.

That was twenty years ago. But for some reason, recently, God brought these memories back to me in a powerful way. He reminded me that he has inclined my heart to the disabled, and wants to use that.

So I’ve embarked on a big adventure. There are God-sized goals and plans in place. Leslie and I recently went on a trip to Oregon to develop these plans further and to help make a video that communicates the heart of these plans. On Monday, Leslie will share it all with you in full. We are humbled and excited about what God will do to multiply our efforts, and we know many disabled children and their families will be changed, supported, and loved through them. Grace is always and first for the least of these.

I’ll close with an excerpt from Wrestling With an Angel: A Story of Love, Disability and the Lessons of Grace by Greg Lucas. Mr. Lucas is a father of a special needs child.

I hear religious-minded people say all the time with good intentions, “God will never place a burden on you so heavy that you cannot carry it.”


Really?


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, transforming, and undeserved grace.


It is this grace that enables us to do more than survive in this world. Grace enables us to thrive in the presence of this world’s sufferings while magnifying the One who breaks us with affliction—that He might equip us with comfort, compassion, and strength to give to others.