MissionAccess

Category: Christian Caregivers

  • Calling All Chariots!

    Praise God For The RFD "Chariots of Fire" Team
    Praise God For The RFD “Chariots of Fire” Team!

    Greetings Faithful Followers of Team Mission Access!  Flashback with me to 1985: the year my beautiful Mom Geraldine “Gerry” Holt Shea dove headlong into the deep end of Disability.  Diagnosed with a massive brain tumor, she was rushed into surgery to dislodge it ASAP.  And though the surgery saved her life she nevertheless suffered with the disabling fallout for the rest of her life.

    Still decades away from experiencing disability in my own life, I responded to my mother’s disability in the best (yet most maddening) way that I knew how:  a “gift” of a walking cane complete with clever wrapping along with a card and of course an obligatory “healing” verse: 

    Jude 1:  24 NIV:  To Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy—

    And OH does that make a great-sounding Get Well card!  Problem is that “naming and claiming” something over someone who is suffering can create the exact opposite effect of what was intended when prayers remain unanswered.  How Loving is that?  Being on the receiving end of a plethora of such prayers I can tell you emphatically:  Not So Much!

    So what’s a better response?  Try a little good ol’-fashioned encouragement!

    One of the most encouraging stories from the Old Testament Book of 2 Kings tells the tale of the prophet Elisha and his servant who outwardly appear to be facing certain doom at the hands of the King of Aram’s powerful army.   Ah!  But there’s something much more powerful playing out behind the scenes in the spiritual realm:

    2 Kings 6:17 NIV:  And Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes so he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

    Speaking of Chariots of Fire…

    Though I struggle with disability like my mother before me, I now wear a pendant complete with a direct connection to the Richardson Fire Department’s “Chariots of Fire” Team who remain poised ready, willing and able ready to rescue me at a moment’s notice.  I Thank God for Them for they have Lifted Me Up…quite literally!

    How’s THAT for Naming & Claiming? 😉

    In His Accessible Grace,

     

    Linda

  • Unselfies Arise!

    Image Source: iStockphoto.com
    Image Source: iStockphoto.com

    Suffice to say that when it comes to Becoming More Like Christ the post-millenial phenom of The Selfie is proof positive that we as Christians are seriously steaming full speed ahead in the wrong direction.

    According to a survey by Luster Premium White:  

    *95% of young adults have taken at least one selfie

    *66% of Millennials primarily post their selfies on social media for their friends to see. 

    *On average, Millennials spend 54 hours a year taking pictures of themselves.

    *Millennials will take 25,000 photos of themselves in their lifetime. 

    *Last year alone more people died in selfie-related incidents than from shark attacks.

    OK so what should we as Christians do about it? 

    1 Cor 10:24 (NASU) says  “Let no one seek his own good, but that of his neighbor.” Wow. What if we took the camera off of ourselves and focused it on someone—ANYONE—else?

    Betcha if Jesus had a Smart Phone nary a selfie would it contain. Just like my dear Uncle Frank (who single-handedly created the bulk of our family’s photographic archive) not a trace of his own likeness could be detected on his own hard drive because he was busy behind the scenes–not seeking the spotlight.

    So Unselfies Arise! Here is your Challenge—if you choose to accept it–& I pray that you will:

    Q:  How Do We Transform From Selfies To Unselfies? As Individuals?  As A Church?

    Looking forward to sharing your suggestions about how best to take the spotlight off of ourselves and place it squarely where it belongs:  on others. 

    In His Accessible Grace,

     

    Linda

     

     

  • Worthless? Or Priceless?

    IMAGE SOURCE: http://goo.gl/NxEPYT
    IMAGE SOURCE: http://goo.gl/NxEPYT

    ABC has a show called   What Would You Do? that aims to catch folks in a variety of vexing social situations to capture how they react.  Sometimes they catch real people being A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.  But mostly—well, not so much.

    In this season when we celebrate the death, burial & Resurrection of Our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ we should ALL be caught red-handed being Amazing For His Glory, right?  Because the real question for Followers of Jesus Christ is simply this: was His sacrifice worthless? Or Priceless?  

    Last week as we were locking up the church a young black woman entered the lobby claiming to be homeless and looking for the Food Bank. “We no longer have that here” I responded which is somewhat true because our precious 89-year-old Ruth is no longer able to run it (though we do stock some items for our members). “Well do you have any bottled water?” she asks however a search of the fridge proves fruitless. Now getting somewhat irritated she says “Well can you buy a bucket of chicken for me and my boyfriend?” to which I clutched my purse closer and sprang into full survival mode.  “No I’m sorry we were just leaving” I said and heaved a self-righteous sigh of relief as the door finally locked behind her. 

    Seriously??! Suffice to say in that one shameful uber-selfish moment I rendered The Cross utterly worthless. 

    Time for a reset. Let’s head back to the Book of James (for the umpteenth time) in the hopes that perhaps this time it will actually make it from my head to my heart: 

    James 2:14-17 NASU

    What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? 17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.

    Suffice to say our discussion of Transformation remains Worthless until we put it into practice through Benevolence. Stay tuned as we dive deep into how best to do that with Brian Fikkert & Steve Corbett’s follow-up book: “Helping Without Hurting in Church Benevolence: A Practical Guide to Walking with Low-Income People.”

    Awesome Lord allow our Faith to become Priceless as it travels the precious last mile from our Heads to Our Hearts & Our Hands & Our Feet For Your Glory! Godspeed! 

    In His Accessible Grace,

     

    Linda

     

     

  • Regifting Grace

    Hands in the mittens holding red heart
    Image Source:  iStockphoto.com

    So any regifters amongst us? Come on, admit it—for better or for worse you have on at least one occasion recycled a gift. Be not ashamed!  In fact according to Regiftable.com “the mission of the superslick site, from Money Management International, is to make regifting less shameful.”(i) Well there is one gift that everyone is free to regift sans shame—and that is the Gift of Grace.

    Grace is “favor or kindness shown without regard to the worth or merit of the one who receives it and in spite of what that same person deserves. Grace is one of the key attributes of God.” (ii) However an even shorter, sweeter definition is simply this:

    GRACE=UNMERITED FAVOR

    THAT’S IT! That says it all in just two words:  I didn’t earn it and I do NOT deserve it.  Now  that’s Grace.  Amazing Grace. 

    You know, we’ve got this whole Christmas thing so totally wrong.  It’s all really focused on STUFF—Giving STUFF; Getting STUFF; & RE-GIFTING STUFF!!!

    But we never stop to think about what God really wants for Christmas. 

    Don’t get me wrong—God LOVES giving gifts! In fact in James 1:17 NIV it says: “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights.”

    But if we were to ask: here’s what I think He would say:

    Psalm 133 New Living Translation (NLT)

    A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem. A psalm of David.

    1 How wonderful and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony! 2 For harmony is as precious as the anointing oil that was poured over Aaron’s head, that ran down his beard and onto the border of his robe. 3 Harmony is as refreshing as the dew from Mount Hermon that falls on the mountains of Zion.

    Wow. HARMONY.  What a concept.  A Little Peace.  A Little Harmony.  A Little GRACE!  Now THAT would Be AWESOME.  Because the best gift is Harmony!  Last month we talked about The Good Fight—but the BEST Fight is NO Fight.  The BEST Fight Is H-A-R-M-O-N-Y.

    In other words–Hey! It is OK to Regift Grace!  So in the Happy New Year 2016 ahead, let’s Regift The Gift of Grace…Liberally!  Unashamedly.  And Joyously throughout the year. 

    In His Accessible Grace,

     

    Linda 

    (I)  http://www.catalogs.com/info/bestof/top-10-most-regifted-gifts

    (ii)  Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Copyright © 1986, Thomas Nelson Publishers

                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

  • Divide & Conquer!

    MA BBT SUMMER SERIES 2015 Study Guide 062515Greetings & Welcome to Our Summer Series 2015!  We are studying When Helping Hurts:  The Small Group Experience based on the book by Steven Corbett and Brian Fikkert.  

    Our Goal is Transformation:  “To restore people to a full expression of humanness, to being what God created us all to Be, people who Glorify God by living in right relationship with God, with Self, with Others and with the rest of Creation.” [i] 

    So this week we:  DIVIDE & CONQUER!

    We do that by dividing Poverty into different segments.  Why?  Because Poverty at different stages requires different responses in order to be as effective as possible at Achieving Our Goal of Transformation.

    Let’s look at each of these separately: [ii]

    #1 RELIEF:  Urgent temporary aid to reduce suffering from either a natural or man-made crisis primarily through a Provider-Receiver dynamic.

    #2 REHABILITATION:  An effort to restore people back to a pre-crisis state.  People begin to contribute to improving their situation.

    #3 DEVELOPMENT:  Walking with people ACROSS TIME in ways that move ALL the people involved—both the “Helpers” as well as the “Helped”– closer to being in right relationship with God, Self, Others & Creation than they were before.  It avoids “doing for” and focuses on “doing with.” 

    Makes sense, right?  I know only too well from going through a major MS relapse in 2013 (aka My MS “Splat”) what those feel like.  But I also tasted true Transformation through good people working alongside me and not simply doing everything for me.

    The Poison of Paternalism 

    PATERNALISM:  Habitually doing things for people that they can do for themselves. [iii] 

    So many of us are dealing with disability!  And we ALL need a little help.  But NOTHING is more disabling than never allowing someone to DO for THEMSELVES whatever needs doing to the best of their ability.  Otherwise well-meaning and compassionate people may actually make things worse and hamper or prevent altogether people ever becoming what God created them to be.  What a shame!

    Is Transformation easy?  Nope.  But is it worth it?  Priceless! 

    In His Accessible Grace,

     

    Linda

    • [i] Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert, When Helping Hurts:  How To Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting The Poor—And Yourself (Chicago, IL:  Moody Publishers, 2009), Kindle edition:  Location 74.

     

    • [ii Location 512.

     

    • [iii Location 492.

     IMAGE SOURCE:  http://goo.gl/AmrRGs

     

  • Happy Isaiah 43:18-19!

    As yet another year drTHACKER Christmas 2014 Grandmama Sunsetaws to a close, I share with you my Life Verse:

    “Forget the former things;

    do not dwell on the past.

    See, I am doing a new thing!

    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

    I am making a way in the desert

    and streams in the wasteland.

    — Isaiah 43:18-19 NASB

    I share with you also this incredible image snapped on my humble cell phone in Hot Springs National Park after Beloved (aka my husband Larry) and I headed home from a Christmas Day visit with his Grandmama who lives in a nursing home there.  Just like The Year of Our Lord 2014, so too we sense that things for Grandmama may be drawing to a close.  But rather than mourn we Rejoice as  we perceive the promise of unspeakable joy in the Things To Come so wonderfully expressed by God Himself in this Glorious Sunset custom-made just for us.

    So here’s to the New Things springing up in 2015…and beyond.

    In His Accessible Grace,

     

    Linda

  • Are You A Stumbling Block? Or a Starting Block?

    TodBBT IMAGES 031614 starting_blockay I speak to the Repairers & Restorers out there—(and you know who you are) selfless Souls without whom the very wheels of Disability Ministry would slam to a screeching halt.

    So let me ask you:  Are You A Stumbling Block?  Or a Starting Block?

    Jesus spoke of stumbling blocks in Matthew 18:6-7 NASU

    6  but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

    Stumbling Blocks

    7 “Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes!

    When He speaks of ”little ones” we generally assume that He means literally little children.  But based on a commentary by Matthew Henry I’d like to expand that definition to include “figuratively;  true but weak believers are these little ones, who in their outward condition, or the frame of their spirits, are like little children, the lambs of Christ’s flock.”[i]

    Gee sounds like a lot of the type of people we minister to and through, doesn’t it?

    But let’s get back to the Stumbling Block shall we?  Because I’m not talking about someone who deceives or tricks someone into sin like the serpent in Genesis.  I’m talking about something far more subtle yet perhaps even more sinister:  i.e., when a Believer actively facilitates the sin of someone else.

    Crazy talk?  Follow along with me as we go to a “shining example” (pun intended) in the Book of Exodus:

    Exodus 32:1-3 NASU

    The Golden Calf

    32 Now when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people assembled about Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” 2 Aaron said to them, “Tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.”

    Wait a minute!  Did you catch that? Only one verse before God just got finished inscribing The Ten Commandments with His own hand on tablets of stone!  But when the people get a little bored waiting on Moses (you know, the guy that led them out of Egypt) they make an OUTRAGEOUS demand! And  Aaron, the older brother of Moses, the “mouthpiece” and “prophet” of Moses, folds like a cheap Bedouin tent!

    So what’s the Point?  Simply this:  when you facilitate a “little one” to sin—however innocent or well-meaning– you are working against God Himself!  I beseech you Brethren: Don’t Do It!

    OK Millstone Bling aside… I want to leave you with this from Colossians: ‘cause   I’m not nearly as interested in Compelling you NOT to be a Stumbling Block as I am in PROPELLING you to be a Starting Block for His Glory.

    Colossians 3:23-24 NASU

    Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men,  knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.

    Lord, grant us wisdom to judge whether or not we are a Stumbling Block for a fellow Believer and if so grant us the courage to help redirect our behavior instead to refocus our efforts towards becoming a Starting Block of Godly discipleship in the future.  Amen!

    In His Accessible Grace,

    Linda

    [[i] Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, PC Study Bible Formatted Electronic Database Copyright © 2006 by Biblesoft

    Image Source:  http://teamgettingfit.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/starting_block.jpg