Up with Down

Joni Eareckson Tada wrote a compelling article in last week's WORLD that is just a little closer to home in light of our imminent Isaac late november.

Among the anxieties of child birthing and rearing is the (admittedly infrequent) worry that our baby will be developmentally disabled.

Though never in my life have i felt so content and confident in the love and sovereignty of God, as well as in His perfect purposes fulfilled in us within the anti-humanistic constraints of child-rearing. i believe joy in servanthood awaits the victor in humility, and few things i imagine humble a parent like raising a child who's difficult through no fault of his own.


Tada writes about a college senior who volunteers to work with disabled children. This senior, Doug, discovered he had a knack and love for Down syndrome kids, so much to the point where he said, "when I get married, I hope that my wife and I will have a child with Down syndrome."

Tada writes that she "chalked it up to youthful idealism" at first, but came to believe him, noting that Doug "observed a special joy in children and adults with Down syndrome, as well as a godliness that strengthened his faith. He could also tell these children blessed the lives of the moms and dads to whom he administered over the years."


The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, however, seem to advocate for a different view. They recommend that all mothers-to-be undergo prenatal testing for Down syndrome. The problem is that over 90 percent of pregnant women given this diagnosis choose to have an abortion.

In response, there are parents traveling across North America to speak to the blessings and advantages of raising a Down syndrome child, among which is the child's aid in bringing a family closer together.

I'm reminded of our premarital counselor who told us that problems in marriage are inevitable, but depending on how you face them (and face them together, not selfishly), you can use them to deepen your love by working through the challenge as a team and seizing upon those humility-enriching experiences. If serving was never difficult, everyone would do it.

I'm also comforted by the fact that a loving God is in control of our offspring, and nothing happens outside of His will. Course, this is exactly the kind of thing that Christians extol and then subsequently regret when they fall into difficult circumstances and have to put their money where their mouth was. But it's easy to imagine a child that loves and daily wins his parents hearts while trying their patience. he is, after all, a child.


Tada closes with this commentary:

"A person with Down syndrome may never understand how to keep up with the Joneses or how to get over his head in debt. He or she may never be clever enough to sneak behind his spouse's back and look for an illicit affair (yes, men and women with Down syndrome do marry, and some of those marriages are honest-to-goodness models to neighbors and friends). They won't be cunning enough to know how to cheat, weave lies, or how to stab a friend in the back."

She closes by citing the ruling by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists as a continuation of the societal trend towards discounting the disabled, devaluing people "as things that can be dispensed with, altered, aborted, or euthanized."

From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
--Acts 17:26-27


i generally feel prohibitively timid in praying for the nations of the world, as if i'm putting on airs, and should instead reserve my prayers for the things with which i interact on a daily basis.

This is an excellent way to make yourself the dominant subject of petitions to an everlasting God. It's also an effective way to limit by habit familiarity with God's sovereignty. My prayers are so local most of the time that it seems somewhat hollow when I lift up Richard Dawkins or the Muslim world.

i think i need to vary my prayers more, extend my scope commensurate with the omniscient omnipotent God to whom i pray. and change the topics of conversation with the God i know.

and yet it seems the only time i pray consistently for specific people(s) is when i have a realistic forecast of time to inspire a daily intercession, like a calendar with which i can keep myself accountable.


and it only adds to the posture of humility to lift up a people, a tribe, a sect whose name you're not sure how to pronounce.

modesto, california

Paul Wright at Clix
The Pookies saw Paul tonight and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
Paul Wright, singer, guitarist, freestyler, man of amusing voices… his new album is out, Kingdom Come, and the Pookies will be after it. tomorrow.

goodnight

stockton, california

car on fire today at work.

Parenting as Worship

There is a wonderful blog called "Till It Was All Leavened," and the author's thoughts on theology's place in parenting is worth reading. Here's an excerpt:

(The following is taken from: http://leavened.blogspot.com/2006/11/is-this-parenting-blog.html)


Why so much theology?
Parenting necessarily begs the question of meaning. And if we're too tired from waking up in the middle of the night with the new little one, by the time that little one reaches 2, she or he forces the question: "Why?" For this reason, new parents often become more religious. I use that word to refer to constructing, or ascribing to, a system of meaning. For many parents, it includes going back to mosque, synagogue, or church after a long absence, although that is certainly not the path that all take. Yet every parent has an answer (ill-considered or well-considered) to the question, "What matters most?" It comes out in the way that we live. Like it or not, we live by our values. Our children are often the most astute observers of what matters most to us. They watch us carefully and imitate us vociferously, and so we often see in them little mirrors of ourselves and what we value. So parenting not only begs the question of meaning, it forces the question.

Every person has a way of understanding the world and its meaning, which Lesslie Newbigin calls a "plausibility structure." It is a statement of what we believe about reality, and what is valuable within that reality. The pervasive story in Western culture says that what can be known by scientific inquiry is that which is real, and that what is truly valuable is not intrinsic to reality, but a matter of personal opinion. Some value golf above all, others power and influence, others fame, others family, and so on. But it is without exception that we all value many things, and that there is an order to those values.

So the long answer to "Why so much theology?" is: It is the answer to the question of meaning. God created and sustains all things, and has designed all of human history to display His beauty in mercy, and to bring all things in subjection to Jesus Christ. That is why theology is central to parenting.

A neighborhood cat's view of our new kitchen.

Labor Day Retreat in 106 degree weather

Friday night, August 31st, through Sunday, September 2nd, the pookies spent in the Santa Cruz area, enjoying SCBC's annual retreat in 106 degree heat.

and this is the only photo we took.

D. James Kennedy in the Land of the Living

February 23, 1996 – Evangelism Explosion International becomes the first Christian organization in history to establish its ministry in all 211 nations of the world.

2006 – Nearly five million people profess faith in Jesus Christ through Evangelism Explosion.



The founder of Evangelism Explosion, D. James Kennedy, PhD, died this morning, leaving behind a legacy, of which EE was only a fraction. I've taken the EE course once in Chicago at The Moody Church, two or three times in Stockton at SCBC, and my pastor and I are getting ready to resume EE follow up with visitors to our church.

For those lacking the gift of evangelism, Dr. Kennedy's EE outline and program are an amazing tool for those with a burden for the lost. Thank you, Dr. Kennedy. Thank you, Lord for Dr. Kennedy.



“Now, I know that someday I am going to come to what some people will say is the end of this life. They will probably put me in a box and roll me right down here in front of the church, and some people will gather around, and a few people will cry. But I have told them not to do that because I don’t want them to cry. I want them to begin the service with the Doxology and end with the Hallelujah chorus, because I am not going to be there, and I am not going to be dead. I will be more alive than I have ever been in my life, and I will be looking down upon you poor people who are still in the land of dying and have not yet joined me in the land of the living. And I will be alive forevermore, in greater health and vitality and joy than ever, ever, I or anyone has known before.”

D. James Kennedy, Ph.D.