I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and welcome to “Joni and Friends”!
And one of the friends I want to tell you about today is Dale Witwer; what a story this guy has to tell! And that story begins the summer before his freshman year of high school. Dale was a 14-year-old star basketball player and spending the summer getting ready for the coming season. This kid was up-and-coming, moving up the ranks that summer in the city-wide tournament. At 14 years of age, Dale was already looking like Varsity material. But, not everyone was happy about it, because one night, a player from a rival team took a gun, aimed it at Dale’s head and pulled the trigger.
After lying in the hospital for thirteen days in a coma, the doctors told Dale’s mother to make funeral arrangements. But the kid held on. Doctors then predicted he'd be 80% brain dead, but still Dale beat the odds. After three months, this young man emerged and spent the next year learning to do everything all over again. He lost the use of his eye but slowly returned to the life of a “normal” high school kid. That is, until the age of 17 years old and that is when he was hit by a speeding motorcycle that careened around a blind curve and splintered his right leg into a thousand shattered pieces.
In the next year, 100 surgeries followed. It ended up being 100 failed attempts to save his leg. An amputation of that leg followed in 1997 when this young man was fitted for his first prosthesis.
But now, a dozen years later, Dale is married to beautiful Alisha and has two adorable sons – they came to our Family Retreat last year; and you could not help but notice Dale running crookedly on his prosthetic leg around the Retreat campus with his 3-year old son, Brycen, riding on his shoulders.
And now is everything perfect for this family? Well, hardly, because I want you to know that 3-year old Brycen was born with Down syndrome. Yet here is the thing: through all of this, Dale and his wife and kids do not dwell on the hard knocks or the bruises. They dwell on the blessings. They focus on joy because, as Dale is quick to tell you from Nehemiah 8:10, “The joy of the Lord is our strength!”
Dale’s also quick to tell you something else: the joy of the Lord is also in their service. That’s why they come to Family Retreat not to receive, but to give His joy. I mean, this guy, Dale, with all that he’s been through, serves as our Youth Leader and Alisha, his wife, serves in the nursery.
And that’s the point of me telling you this man’s story today. Friend, take it from me; or better yet, take it from Dale. Rather, take it from Nehemiah, the Old Testament prophet. The joy of the Lord is your strength. And the joy of the Lord is in serving Him. You know, it’s January 30th and it’s a long way yet to this summer’s season of our Family Retreats, but I know Dale and Alisha and their son, Brycen, will be there, not as attendees (disabled as they are), but they’re coming as volunteers. So, I want you to pray about serving alongside them. Visit me today at joniandfriends.org to learn how you can become a short term missionary at one of our 20 Family Retreats across the nation. And by the way, while you’re visiting our website, don’t forget to ask for the booklet I’m offering this week called “God's Word, My Home,” ’cause it definitely is the Word of God which has given Dale and his family so much joy and so much hope! Share God's Word and share His joy by helping alongside Dale this summer at one of our Family Retreats. For more information just contact me at joniandfriends.org.
Used by permission of
JONI AND FRIENDS
P.O. Box 3333
Agoura Hills, CA 91376
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