I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and I hope you observed Sanctity of Life last Sunday.
And maybe in your pastor’s sermon, you heard a testimony about the value of life, maybe a testimony of somebody special. Well, I have a story for you and, I promise, it is like none you have ever heard. It happened just recently when my friend Nick Vujicic – you might know him, he’s the amazing young evangelist who has no arms, has no legs. You’ve seen him on YouTube and ABC’s 20/20; Nick travels the world giving the Gospel. Well, anyway, we all can appreciate the value of his life, right? --Especially with no arms or legs. And this is why people are so drawn to him; they’re so fascinated by Nick – especially in other countries around the world where, to be honest, if someone were born like him, they’d be abandoned.
Well anyway, Nick was recently in the west African country of Liberia. There’s been much civil war there, so much turmoil, and so many people are starved for hope. Well, my friend, Steve, was driving Nick through the capitol of war-torn Monrovia on their way to Jacob Town for Nick’s final outreach event. They assumed there would be about 3-400 people, but when they arrived, oh my, there were people crowded on rooftops, sitting on the surrounding small hills, up in the trees – 8,000 in all to see Nick Vujicic and to hear his message of hope. They were stunned by the turn out. As they drove up, their car was surrounded by well-wishers whose only hope was just to look or say “hi” to Nick and thank him for coming to Liberia, as most outsiders have forgotten their country racked by poverty and war.
Well, Nick got up on the stage and it was a 360 degree sea of people. There was only one microphone and so every once in awhile, he had to change positions to address everyone face on. And when he did, roaring cheers went out whenever Nick rotated to face a new segment of the crowd.
Now here’s the amazing part. As the meeting was winding down, Steve had gone behind the stage to get something from his car. Suddenly out of nowhere, a Liberian woman appeared and tried to hand Steve her five-day-old baby girl through the car window. Obviously, Steve protested and told her that he could not accept this baby from her. But then he took a look at the baby… suddenly he realized what he had to do. He quickly led the mother and her infant to the side of the stage to show Nick. And then Nick's eyes got wide when he saw this child, because this baby was born with no arms. They then held the tiny disabled girl up to the crowd of 8,000 right next to Nick, and Nick said a prayer over that child.
Now in a country where it is acceptable to kill a deformed baby -- but now the crowd views this baby next to Nick, I tell you, this was one ah-ha moment. They saw this amazing evangelist with no arms and no legs and then they saw this baby and they understood she had value “as is” without arms. What the crowd witnessed that day opened their eyes about the value of life far more than years of lectures. It was a collective epiphany for this crowd of 8,000 and word spread far and wide among all the people of the land. And the word was? We bear the imprint of our awesome God... and that's why the sanctity of life is so very, very sacred! And it’s something to celebrate after Sanctity of Life Sunday. See you later, friend, until next time on Joni and Friends.
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