A Visit with Joni and Friends

Michael Alemu and I had the privilege of spending a few days with a very special ministry, Joni and Friends in Agoura Hill CA. Sadly, we were unable to actually meet with Joni, and she sent us her regrets. She had been looking forward to meeting Michael- although, she did ask me to be her facebook friend first! :)


In June, Joni discovered she had breast cancer and has been undergoing treatments. One of those treatments was the day before we arrived and she was having a particularly difficult day. She sent a special gift to Christian Horizons. It is a special scrap book edition recounting the beginnings of her journey and the ministry.

She gave Michael and I each a book that is not yet released. I read it on the plane home and have been deeply moved by it. The book is entitled “A Place of Healing: Wrestling with the Mysteries of suffering, pain, and God’s sovereignty”. If anyone has the right to weigh in on the questions of suffering, pain and sovereignty it is this amazing woman. I was doing some reading on another topic this weekend, and incidentally came across a comment by N.T. Wright that stated “Joni Eareckson Tada is an excellent practical theologian”.

The motivation for writing this book was not her continuing struggle of being a quadriplegic – after four decades, she had come to peace with what she believes was God’s will for her life. What raised the issue all over for her was the reality that for the past two years she has been living with unrelenting “grinding” pain. She recounts that this pain drove her back to those first days of despair and anguish. She began wrestling with old questions that she believed had been settled. She believes that God can heal – yet has not- completely paralyzed and totally dependent on others for almost every detail, she cries out to God for relief that does not come. This book is her attempt to answer those questions for herself and the reader.

She says at the conclusion of her book, that ironically as her pain finally seemly subsides, she is now faced with this new battle of cancer- which is she determined to fight. This has not shaken her belief in the Sovereignty of God and she completely trusts in Him for her future. Does this make it easy, or simple – certainly not.

She says she writes with a ‘great urgency, because her life is changing, and she wants to speak to those who are suffering in there life’. In a number of the conversations we had with her team, we heard the struggle, the awareness that things for Joni are indeed changing – that they have to and are preparing for a time when Joni is no longer with them.

The mission of Joni and friends is To communicate the Gospel and equip Christ-honoring Churches worldwide to evangelize and disciple people affected by disabilities.

For the past couple of years we have been building a global partnership with this wonderful organization, and my task was to begin discussions on how we might partner here in Ontario and in Canada in our purpose common purpose. What we are most interested is the Joni and Friends Family Retreats (check out this link http://www.joniandfriends.org/family-retreats ). Michael’s purpose in meeting with them was to deepen and strategize an existing and exciting global partnership.

It was really cool entering the front doors of the Joni and Friends ministry. The centre of the building is a water feature. In the floor of the pool are these words

“Let Justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never failing stream” Amos 5:24

Joni says…there's a chapel right in the center of the lobby and a ramp going around the chapel all the way up to the second floor. When people walk into this center, we want them to be struck with the fact that Christ is our focus and that access to Him is also what we are all about.

That statement has again challenged me deeply about our own reason for existence as a ministry.  Why are we here? Why do we do we do what we do? What sets us a part? Is Jesus the answer to these questions? I pray so. It’s easy for us I think to lose sight of the why what and how in our work- but if we lose our heart we lose the most important part of who we are.

Inside the Chapel

Joni’s book has challenged me in perhaps an unexpected way – as she writes about her battle, and wrestles with the questions of healing, suffering and pain and the real battle that she faces to keep Christ in the centre – I have found myself reflecting on us as an organization- it is no less a battle, a wrestling a struggle to do the same. We have the same tendencies and temptations to let the daily struggles and wrestling – divert our attentions, not just individually, but as teams, departments, - as an organization.

It may sound corny, unless you read it the context. Every morning, as Joni prepares for her day of work she has had the practice of saying to her caregivers as they clean, dress and care for her – “We get to work for Jesus today”. She says, strangely, this has been the gift of her pain – it has reminded her of her total dependency on Christ to get her through. She chooses to sing a hymn as she enters the building – in spite of the fact that it now too painful for her to hold the paint brush between her teeth – in spite of the person agony of realizing that she is losing the ability to do one of few things that she was able to do – draw.

Some may look at this as a simplistic statement – childish, foolish or naïve. But, on a deeper reflection, this is a statement of sheer will, strength and determination. It is of a depth of faith and conviction few have ever reached. Who of us would trade places with her for even a moment if it possible?

Folks, we get to work for Jesus today – let that not be a naïve or simplistic statement for us- but one with depth, conviction and determination to make it a reality. Let’s not let what others believe about this statement hinder us for seeing and living in the privilege of working for Jesus.

...anyway I was just thinking

Neil