In my previous post I mentioned a man who recently died of COVID … he was one of the first people I supported who did not use words to communicate, but clearly had much to say. … Read More →
Because everyone experiences the loss. Everyone grieves. Whether you lived with the person, worked with the person, or knew them in passing, their departure leaves a hole in the community that is felt much farther than one might expect. … Read More →
Every time someone dies we grieve. We mourn. We miss them. And then we move on.
Because there’s someone else who needs that space, who needs that funding, who needs that support, who needs our focus. … Read More →
Supporting a person with a developmental disability to grieve is not a matter of coming alongside, but of remaining where we already were. … Read More →
One of the reasons I am especially grateful to writers and producers of The Chosen series is for their faithful portrayals of various Bible characters with different disabilities throughout the series, and for their insight into how some of Jesus’ disciples might have very well been people with disabilities. In so doing they show that people with disabilities do not need to be cured in order to follow Jesus or to serve him well. … Read More →
Learn more about an upcoming workshop with Jolene Philo and read Chantal’s review of her latest book with Gary Chapman, Sharing Love Abundantly with Special Needs Families! … Read More →
It has been my responsibility and privilege to hold out hope with people who have struggled to hold it on their own. Offering light to one another must not overshadow the real pain that people experience, but small gestures and words of encouragement remind us that grief will not have the last word. … Read More →
The movie Penguin Bloom is highly refreshing because it opens a window into the physical and emotional pain that is often associated with adjustment to disability […] Most importantly it shows each member of the family journeying through their own experience of grief related to disability and eventually coming out the other side, not wishing to die but learning to spread their wings and fly with reinvigorated passion for life. … Read More →
Since COVID-19 began I’ve heard several of my Christian friends say some version of “trust God.” … Trusting God does not mean I won’t get COVID-19. It means that if I do, He will be with me… … Read More →
These men, despite their depths of hard-won wisdom and delightful companionship, are well-accustomed to strangers keeping their distance in public places. The conditions we ironically bemoan on social media are barely distinguishable from how they have spent most of the days of their lives. They are old pros at quarantine, and they are teaching me. … Read More →