Sadness & Anger...combined.

This past week I was listening to a Catalyst podcast in which Ken Coleman interviewed Pastor Mike Erre of Mariners Church in Irvine, CA.  A good portion of the interview revolved around Mike's son, Seth, who has Down Syndrome.  It was a great interview (It's episode 179 and the interview starts around the 45 minute mark).  At the end, Mike said; "Did I say anything worth while here?"  Well, I sure thought so since I queued up the ol' iPod and listened to the interview a second time the next day.

During the interview Mike mentioned something about the "systematic eradicating" of Down Syndrome from our culture.   Apparently, there is technology that allows tests to be done in the first trimester to detect Down Syndrome. There are even some, who advocate denying services to people who would bring these children to term.  Seriously?!  That just gripped my heart.  I'm driving home in my car and my eyes are tearing up as I listen.

The next day I checked out the Drudge Report just to see if there were any headlines that caught my attention regarding the governor's race in Wisconsin.  What did catch my attention was this story.  I didn't read the whole article, just the first few paragraphs.  But this time, my feelings were more that of anger.  Maybe it was hearing a personal story versus reading about an issue.  I don't know.  But now both of those feelings are mixed together.

I really have very little experience with people with disabilities - children or adults.  Some, but no much. Back on January 19th I wrote a post and mentioned Sam Anderson, who used to attend here, and was confined to a wheel chair.  If you read that post, you will see how his life still impacts mine today -- every Christmas when I put his ornament up.

One of my kids has volunteered the last couple years with Capernaum, an arm of Young Life that works with intellectual and developmental disabilities.  He LOVES it.  These kids give so much back.

Side Bar: Many of you know Mark Honl.  His daughter, Rachel is involved with Capernaum.  He continually and kindly nudged my son to get involved.  It took a little while, but eventually....  
Questions:  
Who do you need to nudge to do something?  
Or, are you being nudged to do something and you've been putting it off?  
I'm just asking.


While I have not yet figured out what to do with my two sets of feelings that are now intertwined, I do know that God loves each and every one of the children he has created.  I think if you take the time to listen to that interview mentioned above, you'll realize how God can use anyone and everyone to make an impact for His Kingdom.