Hi, I'm Joni Eareckson Tada and, boy, do I have a story to tell you...
It's about a man named Pedro down in Peru who, 4 years ago, arrived at our Wheels for the World outreach, crawling along the ground and dragging his legs behind him. Pedro had fallen from a ladder years earlier, broken his back, and (as our Wheels for the World team members were soon to find out) the man was very angry. Pedro remained sullen and quiet during most of the time he was being fitted for his wheelchair; and once or twice, it almost seemed as though he were taking out his anger on the physical therapists who were helping him, of all things -- we had hoped he'd be responsive to the Gospel and would want to receive the Bible, but for Pedro? No thanks. He wasn't interested in a God who could have prevented his accident from happening but chose not to. That day Pedro left the distribution with his new wheelchair, but not a new attitude.
A year later when we returned to his city with Wheels for the World, Pedro showed up in his wheelchair. No, he didn't need -- or even want -- a new chair, he just came to watch. And so he did, quietly and off to himself. He was pleasant enough to a few of the team members he had met the year before.
In fact, he was the same way a year later. It was then one of our Wheels for the World team members challenged Pedro to help out -- we fashioned a little desk for him and he was able to use a hand-saw to help cut up plywood for side-supports. I tell you his attitude had obviously softened over the last two years and he seemed honestly happy to help out.
However, just a few months ago when our most recent Wheels for the World trip finished in Peru, it was a different story. Oh, Pedro was there – we had almost come to expect him since he had returned three years running. But this time something quite different happened. While Pedro was there, working alongside the other seating mechanics, he could not help but notice a young man who, for the first time, arrived at the distribution site to receive a wheelchair. Pedro watched him from a distance – it was obvious the young guy was angry and he wasn’t being very cooperative. That’s when Pedro put down his things and wheeled over to the young guy. “Look,” he said to him, “I used to be just like you. I used to be angry, too, and I know how you feel. But man if I can do it, I think you can, too. Besides, these people here are only trying to help.”
What accounted for this sudden change of heart? Pedro had finally come to Christ. He finally got his attitude straight. And what’s more, he finally wanted a Bible. Listen to the way J.B. Phillips paraphrases II Corinthians, chapter 1 where it says… “… God gives us comfort in all our trials that we in turn may be able to give the same sort of strong sympathy to others in their troubles that we receive from God”.
And, oh, there’s plenty of comfort from Christ to go around on a Wheels for the World trip, and I’d like for you to see it for yourself. I want you to visit me today at joniandfriendsradio.org and click on a little video that shows the kind of thing Pedro does when he comes and helps out at a Wheels distribution. Hey, you might even want to follow his suit and come and join us on an upcoming Wheels for the World trip this year in 2009.Again, it’s joniandfriendsradio.org and would you also just take a minute to pray for not only Pedro and his new-found relationship in Jesus Christ – this guy has a long way to go before he comes to the point where he can actually rejoice in suffering (he’s not quite there yet, but he’s getting there) but also for our Wheels for the World team that’s just returned home from India last night. Because it’s all about taking the comfort we receive from the Lord Jesus Christ and generously and happily passing it on, just like my friend, Pedro!
Used by permission of
JONI AND FRIENDS
P.O. Box 3333
Agoura Hills, CA 91376
© Joni and Friends