Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada with a special word today for students.
And that word is from I Timothy chapter 4, verse 12. It’s for every young person who knows the Lord and it says, “Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.” Wow! What a great verse for a teenager dealing with peer pressure in high school or for a college student who is doing everything he can to resist the flood of opinions at a secular university. And I like the way the Bible tells us not to look down on anyone because of their young age. Believe me, I have met some extraordinary young students who are really raising the bar and setting the standard when it comes to their walk with Christ.
I'm thinking of the interns who come to us at Joni and Friends. I don’t know if you are aware of it, but our ministry has some fantastic internship opportunities for young people, whether serving at our International Disability Center or here stateside or overseas in developing nations. These young students come to us ready to roll up their sleeves and make Christ real to children and adults with disabilities. It's why I keep a special photo on my desk of one very exceptional Cause4Life intern (that’s what we call them). Her name is Katie; she has a disability and she uses a wheelchair. Katie is a student at Arizona State University and part of her studies required that she intern among people with disabilities. Well, she worked through the university to see if she could get accepted for a service-opportunity overseas, but Arizona State refused her application. The faculty advisor said that it would be too hard, too risky, too dangerous for Katie to go overseas with her disability. When Katie was turned down, she thought to herself, Wait a minute… the reason I came to this university was to learn all the things I could do; not be told what I can’t do. That’s when she did a little investigation and found that Joni and Friends would be happy to accept students with disabilities in our overseas internship programs. What’s more, our program fit the specifications for the university. So that summer this remarkable young woman served with us in Uganda, East Africa.
Now back to this photo that is on my desk. It shows Katie in her wheelchair alongside another one of our interns. They are serving special-needs families in the villages of Gulu in Northern Uganda. Katie was part of the team of interns who taught 130 children with special-needs, and trained teachers and caregivers at a school in Kampala. And what is sweet about this particular photograph is that it shows Katie and her other intern friend leading a young disabled teenager in Uganda to Christ. There they are in this photo, in a little huddle outside of this boy’s village hut and Katie is introducing him to Jesus. What’s more, she is showing this disabled teenager what he can do despite his limitations. Like this verse from First Timothy, too many people for too long have looked down on this boy, not only because of his age, but mainly because of his disability. And interns like Katie are helping to change not only hearts, but whole villages and, yes, even cultures. So it bears repeating. First Timothy chapter 4 says, “Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example ....” And, hey, if you know a college student who would be interested in serving among the world’s disabled with us as an intern, then direct them to joniandfriends.org and our Cause4Life internship page. Because it’s all about setting an example, it’s all about discovering what we can do in Christ! Oh, and visit my radio page to see a photo of Katie in action over there in Uganda!
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