Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada with a song…
We've a story to tell to the nations that will turn their hearts to the right.
A story of truth and mercy. A story of peace and light. A story of peace and light.
For the darkness shall turn to the dawning, and the dawning to noonday bright.
And Christ's great kingdom shall come to earth, the kingdom of love and light.
When I arrive at the headquarters of Joni and Friends in the morning, I so love to wheel up the ramp singing this song. Like today—I was thinking of our “Wheels for the World” team who are just leaving for El Salvador; loaded down with Bibles and wheelchairs, and I’m thinking of all the many people with disabilities who are going to hear about Jesus! We have a story to tell to the nations! And I love singing about it. Every morning when I come through the doors of Joni and Friends, I do. Because the place where I work really inspires me, not to mention how the Bible inspires me, to "Exalt the Lord among the nations" and "proclaim his glory and greatness among the peoples of the earth."
I'm inspired by God's Word, I'm inspired by the people I work with, I’m inspired by songs and yes, I'm even inspired by the big photographs (ministry photographs) we have on the walls here at the International Disability Center. In fact, right before I wheel up the ramp on the way to my office on the second floor, I always pass by this one huge photograph that shows one of our “Wheels for the World” outreaches in Africa. In this photo there is an elderly woman sitting in one of our wheelchairs looking up into the face of a young African man with his Bible. He has a Gospel bracelet in his hand and is showing her what the various beads on the bracelet mean: black for our sin, red for the blood of Jesus, white for forgiveness and so on. The old African woman seems to understand what this young man is saying, but there is a third person in the photograph. It's the old woman's daughter, and she's standing there, dressed in her tribal garb with her hand on her hip and looking directly into the camera, (or I should say as I pass by this big photograph) she is looking directly at me—right through me, and, oh, the look on her face.
Her expression is like Mona Lisa's—so mysterious, almost inscrutable—and she seems to be asking, "And Joni, when is the last time you gave the Gospel to someone like my mother?" Her look and those words, inspire me to move into the day and get up into my office and do the work of the Kingdom. After all, we do have a story, a marvelous story, to tell to the nations, and not just the nations, but right over our backyard fence, right in our office alcove, right down the street at the supermarket, or right in the school cafeteria. Because you know there's somebody God wants me to talk to today, someone who needs to know that Jesus cares. And you and I don't have to go to Africa or El Salvador, but I will (like that woman in the photograph), I will ask you, "When was the last time you talked to someone about Jesus Christ?"
Hey, come by visit me on my radio page today at joniandfriends.org and take a look at this extraordinary photograph and then you can write and tell me what you think that African woman might be saying to you! Again, that’s joniandfriends.org where we have a story to tell to the nations.
© Joni and Friends, 2013
Compliments of Joni and Friends
PO Box 3333 Agoura Hills, CA 91376