WORD: “Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. ‘Make level paths for your feet,’ so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.” (Hebrews 12:12, NIV) THOUGHT: There are [Read More]

In my endeavors to learn and be enriched, I cannot discount the experience I gain from being in relationship with others. I can acquire knowledge, capacity, and skills from academic study and reading and yet it has been when I have engaged in community and established friendships with people with exceptional needs that I have gained the most.

I have seen that shape before

And now I find it troubles me.

Those hands held in just that way.

But I can't place the memory.

The world closes when the word disability creeps into one’s life because other people in the outside world do not see the abilities before the disabilities. I am a very capable person, but since I have lost my vision I am no longer viewed in this way.

I know, as a parent of two children with autism, that it is much easier to just stay home. The fact that this family attends church regularly is already a "win."

Jesus names his present and future vulnerability to pain in this verse and empowers his friends to claim their own limitations, and to use them as the basis for trust. I know how Jesus feels, in terms of having a broken body. I have spastic cerebral palsy: this neurological condition means that my muscles are always tense, or spastic, and that I experience palsy, or continuous tremors in all my limbs.

WORD: “Then he turned to his host. ‘When you put on a luncheon or a banquet,’ he said, ‘“don’t invite your friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbors. For they will invite you [Read More]

The Lenten season serves as a powerful reminder that no matter how much I endure in this life, Jesus' sacrifice was much greater. It is humbling to recognize that my challenges do not qualify me for a monopoly on suffering. I am comforted and grateful for the fact that Jesus suffered more and yet overcame.

WORD: “In that coming day,” says the LORD, “I will gather together those who are lame, those who have been exiles, and those whom I have filled with grief. Tears of joy [Read More]

The biggest challenge for people with exceptional needs in relationship with others who may or may not have exceptional needs is often a lack of opportunity for reciprocity and responsibility. For example, for many years, I attended churches where little was expected of me. Everyone over-praised the fact that I showed up.