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
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 with his beautiful animal. Friendless and jobless in a new town, he eventually finds purpose and 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 with 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.
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.
My family has been unduly impacted by physical and mental disabilities. Multiple sclerosis, cancer, heart disease, schizophrenia, bipolar and autism. Why? Why must we be brought so low, Lord? Maybe we are not “unduly” impacted by disabilities; perhaps they are necessary. God is not cruel. All I know is “that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8.28)
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.