I'm Joni Eareckson Tada and it’s time to get it into perspective! And I mean it. Friend, look around. We have so many blessings, don’t we? So many things to be grateful and thankful for. God has been so generous with you and me.
My friend and the President of our ministry, Doug Mazza, recently returned from serving on our Wheels for the World team to Guatemala. I love Doug for that. I mean, I don’t think anyone there in Guatemala realized that this guy in his t-shirt and jeans with his hacksaw and screwdriver fixing wheelchairs also serves as the President of an international ministry, Joni and Friends. But that’s Doug. He likes to serve under the radar and not make a big deal of his position with our ministry. Anyway…
I wheeled into his office to welcome him home from Guatemala and I asked how it went. Needless to say, it was a fantastic outreach, seeing the Gospel literally change lives, giving Bibles, delivering wheelchairs, but he also went into the homes of these dear people with disabilities and fixed ramps and widened doorways so that each house could be more accessible. And when I say house, I mean the most humble of dwellings… just nothing but concrete blocks and tin siding, dirt floor and walls made of rattan. But still, these Guatemalans in their new wheelchairs absolutely loved seeing their homes improve with these ramps and widened doorways.
Yet I could not help but notice an odd expression on Doug’s face. When I asked him about his concern, he replied, “Oh, it’s nothing… it’s just after I got back home, that same night I had a homeowner’s association meeting in our neighborhood and, I tell you, you wouldn’t believe what these people were complaining about… nicks on walls, squeaky floors, water marks on a door. It was just the contrast, I guess. These people in my homeowner’s association have everything… and those Guatemalans, they’ve got nothing. And still we are the ones who grumble. Not those down in Guatemala, but we’re the ones who grumble.”
And boy is he right. And there’s no better word for it. God takes our complaining very seriously. In fact, in I Corinthians 10:10, God does not even use the word “complain” … He uses the word grumble, like murmuring… like you know enough to not come out forthright with your criticism because you know it’s wrong; but you just can’t put a lid on your grievance and so you find expression for it through grumbling. But make no mistake: I Corinthians 10 lists grumbling right up there with sexual immorality, pagan revelry, drunkenness, idolatry… that is quite a list. So don’t be thinking grumbling is not a big deal; that is one of those things that you can wink at; that it’s not really sinning. God thinks it’s bad enough to place right alongside adultery and drunkenness, so there! That's something for the people in that homeowner's association to chew on, right?
And it's something for you and I to chew on as well. I've got to remember to keep it in perspective. When I hurt, I need to remember there are a lot of other people hurting a lot worse than I do in other parts of the world where there is no CVS pharmacy down the street, or Tylenol or Advil in the medical cupboard. And if you want to see who these people are, if you’d like to get into perspective and witness how those people with disabilities in Guatemala are able to stifle their grumbling, then I have posted a really incredible little video on my webpage at joniandfriendsradio.org this week. I just want you to visit me and you will be so blessed. You’ll see these humble little dwellings, these little houses, and you’ll see the expressions on the faces of these people…so appreciative, so grateful. Honestly, just one look at this video I have posted this week at joniandfriendsradio.org I think will definitely keep you from the grumbles!
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JONI AND FRIENDS
P.O. Box 3333
Agoura Hills, CA 91376
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