Max Mclean is a talented actor. He is the founder and artistic director of Christian Fellowship for Performing Arts. I invite you to watch his 3:56-minute rendition of the Gospel of Mark Chapter 16.
Click the link below and enjoy!
This blog deals with Christian living, disability, ethics, Life Issues, a wonderful miracle, and faith in Jesus Christ.
“Our once great western Christian civilization is dying. If this matters to followers of Jesus Christ, then we must set aside our denominational differences and work together to strengthen the things that remain and reclaim what has been lost. Evangelicals and Catholics must stand together to re-establish that former Christian culture and moral consensus. We have the numbers and the organization but the question is this: Do we have the will to win this present spiritual battle for Jesus Christ against secularism? Will we prayerfully and cooperatively work toward a new Christian spiritual revival ― or will we choose to hunker down in our churches and denominationalisms and watch everything sink into the spiritual and moral abyss of a New Dark Age?” - Mark Davis Pickup
Max Mclean is a talented actor. He is the founder and artistic director of Christian Fellowship for Performing Arts. I invite you to watch his 3:56-minute rendition of the Gospel of Mark Chapter 16.
Click the link below and enjoy!
This Easter, we are called to Turn Our Eyes Toward Jesus. I first did that in 1980, when I gave my shards of my alcoholic life to Him. My life was out of control, and my heart was broken. I had done things I should not have done, and did not do things I should have done (sins of commission and sins of omission). He took me as I was anyway and forgave me for a litany of sins. There is an old hymn called Turn Your Eyes Toward Jesus.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of this world grow strangely dim.
In the light of His glory and grace.
My conversion was like that. Things of this world did grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. The following days were filled with divine joy I hadn’t known since earliest childhood. The Holy Spirit filled my whole being; I could be brought to tears just to hear Jesus’ name. He had taken me just as I was, but He didn’t leave me there. I prayed He would make me more like Him and less like me. And so my journey toward the Celestial City began. The narrow path was filled with trials and pitfalls, defeats and victories. I often fell but got up, when I sinned, it was confessed and forgiven through the precious blood Jesus shed for the likes of you and me.
In 1984, I was struck with a serious adult-acquired disability (multiple sclerosis) at the age of thirty. I’ve spent most of my adult life with a creeping paralysis and wide-eyed terrors of severe neurological disease (and then cancer) but I always felt the presence of the Holy Spirit urging me on in my pilgrimage toward heaven.
I’m now seventy-two years old. What have I discovered over those forty-one years?
11. Life is frail. Things can change in an instant. Never take your health for granted. It can be taken from you.
22. We must not presume that chronic illness or disability is God’s punishment. Suffering may, in fact, be God’s tool to make us more like Christ and less like ourselves. The refiner’s fire. Our Lord said, “… It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire.” (Matthew 18.8.) He was speaking of eternal life, but I also think that begins in this life. Our salvation begins on this side of the grave, when we give our lives to Christ through faith in Him who took away our sins through His sacrifice on the cross. It is through surrender to the will of God that we discover the purpose and meaning of our lives.
33. God is more concerned about our holiness than our happiness. True happiness is to be found in a personal relationship with Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
This Easter, I invite you to turn your face toward Jesus and accept His free gift of salvation. When all is said and done, what He did on that old rugged cross is all that really matters in the light of His death and resurrection. Jesus Christ is the hope of mankind.
Listen to Michael W. Smith sing Turn Your Eyes Toward Jesus here.
MDP
*Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus was written in 1922 by Helen Lemmel. Although blind, she wrote over 400 hymns. See
https://enjoyingthejourney.org/hymn-history-turn-your-eyes-upon-jesus/.
This year’s Palm Sunday was sad. The previous day the pastor of the church I attend suddenly passed away: Father Les Drewicki (71). It came as a terrible shock to all the parishioners. He was a humble and faithful priest.
Just last week, Father Les heard my confession. When I was finished, he asked me to consider two questions, then wrote them on a piece of paper:
"1. What was the motivating factor in Jesus’ life?
2. What is the motivating factor in my life?"
Of course, the motivating factor in Jesus’ life was love—divine Love. Fully God and fully man and God is love. Christ's disciple told us:
"Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.". Other related verses include 1 John 4:16, which says, "God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him". (1John 4.8)
Eight verses later, he says again. "Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love."
The very fact that Christ was willingly chose to leave eternity, step into time, take on human form, and be cruelly crucified on a cross to offer reconciliation to God for sinful humanity is all the evidence I need to confirm His motivation. Within His divine love, he demonstrated His love to us, and how we should show our love toward Him and others. Faith and belief in Him.
“For God so loved that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.” — John 3:16-18
Saint Paul said, “And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us…”—Ephesians 5:2a. Jesus is our example.
Christ gave us an example of loving Him through service to others.
“When [Jesus] had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, ‘Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.’” John 13:12-14 (ESV)
What we have done for others will be remembered at the end of time.
“Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ How we respond to people in need matters!
Father Drewicki’s second question to me was penetrating indeed. “What is the motivating factor in your life?” I would like to think that the motivating factor in my life is also love, but in my heart, I know that is not true. So much of my life has been motivated by self-interest, self-centredness, self-aggrandisement, and pride. My love for Christ and my neighbour has been found deficient and insufficient.
Father Drewicki’s questions to me the week before he died will stay with me for a long time. I want to become more like Jesus Christ and less like me.
So let me ask you the humble priest's question. What is the motivating factor in your life?
MDP
Colleen Swindoll Thompson has a wonderful podcast called Reframing Ministries. It’s part of the radio ministry of her father, Chuck Swindoll, called Insight For Living. What is Reframing Ministries? See a short 3:44 YouTube clip explaining it. Click here.
I was interviewed by Colleen on her podcast in 2019, shortly after the Lord raised me from years in an electric wheelchair and paralysis as an old man, after more than 30 years with aggressive MS and paralysis.
It has been 6 years since the interview. I am still walking! To listen to that interview, click here — Mark
Decades of suffering with aggressive degenerative disability (MS) caused me to deal in the currency of my soul. It has been tough slugging because it deals with the essence of my being and how I saw myself in the world and how I acted and reacted in and to the world. My first 30 years were healthy and athletic, and then I was disabled using cane(s), crutches and wheelchairs. Who was I? What had I become? Why? How was I to deal with the sorrow and grief that coursed through my veins, breaking my heart and the hearts of those who loved me.
With God's help, I was able to cross my river of grief at my adult-acquired disability to discover a new self. The old self was gone as surely as if I had died. I needed to grieve my loss, then search for a new self and a new self-identity. A new Mark emerged—different to be sure—but no less alive or vital than the previous Mark. My soul answered Yes to the fundamental question: Is life worth living, even if it seems to be in hopeless circumstances? Victor Frankel was a survivor of Nazi death camps. In his remarkable book Man's Search For Meaning, he wrote:
"In the consciousness of one's inner value is anchored in higher more spiritual things and cannot be shaken by camp life. But how many free men, let alone prisoners possess it?"
I could relate to this. My wheelchair was a prison for my broken body, but it also liberated me spiritually by driving me inward to deal with my inner brokenness. I had to deal with the darkness of sin. Frankel also wrote: "If there is to be any meaning in life at all, then there must be a meaning in suffering."
This struck a full chord. My journey with the neurological degeneration of MS served as a purifying fire. Some men are guilty of sins of the flesh, gluttony, jealousy or envy, fits of anger, alcohol or drug abuse. I am guilty of the worst sin: Pride. Pride was what made the devil the devil!
I needed to be brought low and have that infernal pride crushed. I think MS was God's tool. There were times when I could not dress myself or tie my own shoes, times when I needed to be propped up in my electric wheelchair to keep me from sagging to one side or the other, times when I needed to be diapered, times when I couldn't speak and my hearing was affected. Times when my vision was impaired so much I couldn't read, times when my hands were too weak to cut the meat on my dish at meals. Someone else had to do it for me. Creeping paralysis made me triplegic (the loss of use of three limbs). We had to build a wheelchair-accessible home. There were times when I was virtually bedridden and needed a hoist to get me out of bed. I needed to come to a necessary point where I was dependent on others to do many basic daily things. I needed humiliation and shame to understand that I was not in charge of my life and that my pride and independence needed to give way to humility of interdependence. My health was gone. My career was over at the age of thirty-eight then put out to pasture. The only thing left to me was love (both human and divine). I needed to surrender every shard of my life to Christ and be willing to accept whatever His will might be. I needed to become content in whatever state I found myself in because the Holy Spirit was with me and in me. It was in surrender that I found freedom.
Then God released me from my wheelchair, seven years ago, to walk again as an old man.
I will be 72 in May. I've been married to the love of my life for 52
MDP
This is an update to my previous blog post, "An Orphan Gets a Second Chance at a Forever Family."
Our little one is here in Canada with us. She is absolutely enthralled with snow. She has made her first snow angel.
Her first seven years were tumultuous and traumatic. It's going to be a long hard journey for her to heal. But with psychological help, a stable loving home, and God's healing touch, I pray she will be able to reconcile her broken heart with the past and move ahead to reach her full potential. Thank you Lord for answered prayers.
With all the frenzy of raising two seven-year-old ex-orphans, it is such a blessing but also exhausting for my daughter and her husband. They must take time for themselves. I've encouraged them to make time for themselves. They mustn't burn the candle at both ends. Rest is important to be at one's best as a parent (and grandparent).
MDP
My daughter, Ronaele, is in the process of trying to take legal guardianship of another Haitian orphan whose American adoption failed. She has written that little girl's story and appeal below. (That would make both children in the photo my grandchildren!) My daughter has a heart for orphaned kids and I have a heart for grandchildren. Like arrows, I have a quiver full (to use a Biblical phrase. Psalm 127:3-5)
Logline: A young couple experiences a devastating degenerative disease that teaches them to trust God even when the stakes are horribly high.
Genre: Christian romance.
Story Synopsis: Mark Davis is a senior high school student in the fictional city of Leedsborough, Colorado. He is the pampered only child of George and Betty Davis who are prominent citizens in their small city. George is a gentle adoring father who indulges Mark too much. Betty is a domineering, strong-willed mother. She’s also a snob. Betty thinks Mark spends too much time with his new high school girlfriend from “across the tracks,” LaRee Picton. This causes family friction. After an acrimonious exchange between Mark and Betty, his father suggests he and Mark go downhill skiing. (His father is the peacemaker of the family.) While Mark and George are skiing, George has a massive heart attack and dies in Mark’s arms.
After the funeral, LaRee tells Mark she is pregnant with their baby. Betty is very angry and provides no support, only condemnation. Mark feels trapped and pressures LaRee to have an abortion. LaRee comes from a broken home and has few resources. Feeling alone and abandoned by Mark, LaRee sadly and reluctantly has an abortion, after which they break up.
A few years later, LaRee and Mark meet at college and fall in love again. They decide to marry but Mark’s mother is adamantly opposed—especially if her son is going to marry LaRee Picton! Mark and LaRee elope. Betty is infuriated and stops talking to them. After 6 months, Mark finally makes overtures to his mother, and they visit Betty at her home in Leedsborough. Unfortunately, the attempt at reconciliation goes badly. Mark and LaRee get into a bitter argument with Betty over the abortion and abruptly leave.
Mark finishes his college course and begins working for The Foundation for Multiple Sclerosis Research and Client Services. LaRee begins sidewalk counselling outside an abortion clinic to try and assuage her guilt about her own abortion. Mark and LaRee become Christians and reconcile with Betty. Things could not be better! They start a family and buy a house in the suburbs.
Suddenly and without warning, Mark develops aggressive multiple sclerosis and descends into severe disability. Mark and LaRee grieve the onset of an incurable disease. Their hearts are broken. They feel abandoned by Betty and abandoned by their church. Mark and LaRee nearly break up!
Mark finds a new purpose to his life advocating across North America for disability rights, inclusion, and life with dignity. But his disease progresses to the point where he is eventually placed in a nursing home. Mark prays—just as he has done so often before—that God would allow him to walk again. He does not care if it's only for a short time and with crutches, a walker, or canes. He thinks that his prayer is too late: His brain is riddled with plaque, and his legs are useless, withered from years of paralysis. Then something unexpected, inexplicable, and wonderful happens. Long-lost function returns! God raises Mark out of his electric wheelchair to walk again!
LaRee and Mark learn another lesson. Never presume the future. That is for God alone to know. Nobody knows what lies beyond the present. All they know is that God’s love is there too! Mark and LaRee discover that the only thing that really matters in life is love. They are finally at peace with God and themselves.
Logline: An autistic teen flees from his widowed alcoholic father and troubled home with nothing but a bag of clothes and his rusty old truck, leaving behind his champion horse, in search of somewhere he belongs. Friendless and jobless in a new town, he eventually finds purpose, meaning and where he truly belongs with the help of a pastor’s daughter.
My grandson, Carson Pound (23) has Asperger's syndrome (high-functioning autism).* Despite this, God has given him an exceptional talent: Acting. (see his IMDb here). He has been in the acting industry since the age of 10. He recently developed an excellent story idea for a Christian family-friendly 3-part series for TV or a Christian online streaming service. Carson made a short video called Stephen's Redemption to help flesh out the idea in his head. See here
We are looking for someone to produce Stephen's Redemption. Investors are also needed. I can be contacted at HumanLifeMatters@shaw.ca or by telephone: (780) 929-9230.
Carson can be contacted by email at carsonpound100@gmail.com or by telephone: 1-403-470-2226.
His agent is Diane Newton with City Talent Management in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Tel: (604) 683-3990
* According to Iowa-based Autism Speaks, autism rates have been dramatically rising. One in 36 children and 1 in 45 adults are affected by it. Stephen's Redemption would be a timely and powerful evangelism tool.
I want to share a short testimony by Dr. Sheila Harding to the Catholic Health Association of Saskatchewan about Canada's descent into euthanasia acceptance. Her desire to see medicine return to its Hippocratic tradition reflects her optimism for the future. I am proud to call Sheila and her husband Terry personal friends. She refers to their son Ross whom I knew.
A couple of years after Ross died at the age of ten, Dr. Harding met another Canadian stalwart against assisted suicide and euthanasia, palliative care nurse Jean Echlin. Jean was a beautiful old woman who lost a son decades earlier in 1962. Sheila asked the white-haired old woman when the grief subsided. Jean replied, "I'll tell you when it happens."
There are some griefs in life from which we never truly recover.
Click the link below.
I tell myself, "Look for the good in life. It’s all around you. Look for the purpose of the heartache and heartbreak." It's one thing to say and accept it for myself, and my physical disability, but what about those I love who are being hurt and excluded due to mental disability?
In some ways, non-visible disabilities can be worse than visible disabilities. See a man in a wheelchair and it’s apparent his legs don’t work and so allowances are made for him. See someone acting odd, or bizarrely and people pull back and distance themselves from the odd person who suffers from a mental disability. My long history of physical disability does not carry the same stigma as the mental disabilities of my child or grandchild. They are like two solitudes made apparent by level of visibility.
That is the bad news, now for the good news. It is love (human and divine) that can build a bridge between the two. It is always love (divine and human) that genuinely builds bridges between people regardless of their state.
It is love (human and divine) that desires to make room for others. It is love (human and divine) that builds human connection and solidarity despite heartaches and heartbreaks—especially then. It is love (divine and human) that makes it possible to find purpose and meaning despite suffering (perhaps because of it).
I know there is an epidemic of mental illness and depression amongst young people. The world can seem bleak. I know. We may not be able to change our circumstances but we can control how we respond to them. Imagine how things could be and may yet be. Assume an attitude of gratitude. Gratitude for what?
Even with all their warts and blemishes you live in the greatest countries in the world. Millions of people want to be in America or Canada. They risk their lives to be here. You have access to clean drinking water, education, health care and education. Millions of people do not.
If you think you are unloved, I want you to understand it’s not true. You are loved by the author of love and life. You have been loved since you were only a thought in the mind of God. He knit you together in your mother's womb and endowed you with His image and likeness because of His desire to love and be loved by you and spend eternity with you through His Son Jesus Christ!
Put a smile on your face, and in your heart. Assume an attitude of gratitude. Look outward not inward. Who can you bless, even if your own heart is breaking? Make the warm sun shine on someone else even if you are in the shade.
I know it doesn’t seem to make sense. At 72 years of age and more than 50 years of my own suffering I have discovered that helping a fellow sufferer not sink beneath the waves of their circumstances was my best therapy. I discovered my pain paled compared to someone who had given up on life.
With God’s grace, your heart can still smile again even in fear and sorrow. Clear your tears and put that internal smile on your face. Share it with those whose tears cloud their way forward. Help somebody see that the same sun that sets also rises for a new tomorrow.
Life is worth living, regardless of age or stage. Look for life's sweetness. If you look, you will find it. As Josh Groban said in his song: "You are Loved (Don't Give Up)." If you do not feel loved or even wanted by anyone, you are loved by God. Click the link below.