Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada with an extreme story.
What do I mean by that? Well, one thing’s for sure: you’ll never catch me, a quadriplegic, going to extremes—none of this jumping out of an airplane and skydiving; nah, no way; no thank you. Scuba diving with the disabled, or bungee jumping in your wheelchair (yes, they do it that way believe it or not) or even getting on a horse in an adaptive equestrian program as many disabled friends of mine do? It’s just not for me. No thank you. I’d rather not risk the pressure sore from the saddle, know what I mean? (And I know what I'm talking about, having ridden horses for many years). None of this ‘Evel Knievel’ stuff in a power wheelchair! I’m one of those people who watches others sky dive, others bungee jump and the rest. In fact I was watching not long ago something on television called “Global Extreme: The Climb of Mount Everest.” It was aired on the 50th Anniversary of Sir Edmund Hilary’s climb of that mountain. They interviewed an expert mountaineer who stated, “Humans must continually push their limits—if something’s broken, we fix it; if there’s a problem, we solve it; if there’s an ocean, we cross it; if there’s a mountain we climb it.”
I guess that’s the motto behind all those Extreme programs: Extreme Skateboarding … Extreme Surfing … and Extreme Makeovers. That’s the craziest extreme TV program ever! Maybe you’ve seen it or heard of it on the O-W-N channel—we’re not talking a little bit of blush and an eyelift—we’re talking of hundreds of thousands of dollars to reconstruct your jaw, your hips, one’s height, not to mention your nose or your hairline. The motto these days seems to be, “If it’s your body you don’t like, design it!” For me that’s like grabbing at technology as if it were a magic wand—let’s design our backsides and breasts, our brains, broken genes, and our babies (all in one breath).
Yep, these are the days of extremes, which is odd because the media hypes us as a global community—a community which has become smaller, where people with river blindness in West Africa might well be called our neighbors. So, what is the responsibility of the woman who spends $450,000 on a new face and figure? What is her responsibility to that child with river blindness or the little boy in Albania who will die for want of a few antibiotics?
Our responsibility is not only to our neighbors, but to God. Hebrews 4:13 says, “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” Friend it’s a crazy world out there and as a disabled person, I shake my head as more and more people—some of them fellow believers—spend enormous amounts of money on reshaping their bodies. Friend, what we collectively do with our resources should be shaped by the needs of men and the mandate of God’s Word. So, let’s leave the outlandish extremes to the surf boarders. When it comes to makeovers of any sort, may God grant us the power to change the things we can, the grace to accept the things we can’t and the wisdom to know the difference. I’d like to hear from you if you agree with me on this; or if you think we ought to be free to use our personal resources in whatever way we choose—it’s our credit card; not that of an Asian child with a cleft palate who will go through life scarred for want of a simple surgical procedure. Let me hear from you today on my Facebook page, or you can always post a comment on my blog at joniandfriends.org. Whichever, remember, one day all of us will give an account—and I'm not being extreme.
© Joni and Friends
Used by permission of Joni and Friends
P.O. Box 3333, Agoura Hills, CA 91376