AL: Joni, I know that whenever one of your teams heads out to a foreign country with wheelchairs and Bibles, you want people to be praying…
JONI: Oh, yes, for sure, Al…
AL: And today the Wheels for the World team is heading to Poland with Bibles and 600 wheelchairs!
JONI: And, also on that same trip, we will be taking wheelchairs and Bibles to needy disabled people in Ukraine, which is right on the border of Poland…
AL: That’s a very poor part of eastern Europe, right?
JONI: Yes, there is such a huge shortage of wheelchairs – especially child-sized wheelchairs – in Ukraine. And I’m glad to say that there will be several Polish pastors joining our Wheels team as they go across the border to Ukraine.
AL: That’s great that the pastors in Poland have caught your vision…
JONI: You know, I remember one Wheels for the World trip to Poland when there was a small family who came at the very end of the day – they had tried to get there earlier, but they had walked a long distance, carrying their little five-year-old boy with cerebral palsy in their arms. Well, because this mother and father with their little boy arrived so late, virtually all of our child-sized wheelchairs had been distributed. The only chair we had left was one of those highly specialized jobs with adjustable arms and a head support and side struts… plus, the leather was bright blue and on the back of the wheelchair was hand-stitched the name “Jake.”
AL: … I guess some little disabled boy here in the States named Jacob had probably outgrown his wheelchair and his parents had given it to Wheels for the World.
JONI: I guess so… and maybe his nickname was Jake, I don’t know, but anyway – it was the only chair our physical therapist had. When they sat this little five-year-old in this wheelchair with the bright blue leather, everyone was amazed. It fit him perfectly – not only that, with his cerebral palsy, he actually needed the head supports and the side struts and the adjustable desk arms. It was like all the specialized gadgets on that chair were made just for this little boy… and incidentally, guess what this Polish child’s name was…
AL: Don’t tell me…
JONI: Yep, it was Jacob – or as they say in Polish – Jakob.
AL: Jake for short!
JONI: And his parents and all the rest of us could hardly believe it! It was as though God hand-tailored that chair not only for a disabled child in the States named Jacob, but a disabled child in Poland…
AL: … with the same name!
JONI: And this is why I am asking for our friends to be praying as our Wheels for the World team heads back to Poland today with more wheelchairs and Bibles! Because we can give away a lot of wheelchairs, but if prayer doesn’t back up the effort, nothing of any eternal value will be accomplished.
AL: And needless to say, that little family in Poland opened up their hearts to Christ, right?
JONI: That’s right. And that’s another reason I’d like us all to be praying for many more families in Poland and in Ukraine – families with disabled children – who need to know that God's love is hand-tailored for them, too.
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