Seminars for Disabled People, 500 Million Abortions and Maggie's Funeral

July 2010

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Recently our family took three "Family Walking with God" seminars at branches of the Christian Fellowship for the Disabled (CFFD) where we show people how to have Quiet Times. The first one was at the Whangarei branch and the 2nd two were at the Auckland branch. We had a wonderful response as many disabled people enthusiastically shared what the Lord was saying to them from their Quiet Times.

What really struck us was the joy that Christian disabled people seem to have. Despite terrible disabilities such as cerebral palsy, paraplegia and blindness, these people are finding Jesus to be a great joy in their lives.

Some of them were even actively helping others. We met Mark Grantham, a young man who has cerebral palsy. For many years his wonderful Christian parents have taken him to a shopping mall and with a sign for people to read and an honesty box beside him, he supports five World Vision children. (At the time of the video below, he only supported three. He has now sold 20,000 bars of chocolate)

Below is a video of Mark's trip to India to visit these children.

To view this moving video, please click the play button below.

The leaders of CFFD thanked me for the seminars and I said that the most blessed ones at the seminars were we ourselves. It is a blessing for us to see that Jesus can be a great joy in people's lives who have severe disabilities. It has been a privilege for our family to regularly attend the Whangarei branch of the CFFD. We would encourage Christian families to get involved with helping Christian organisations who are reaching out to our needy brothers and sisters in Christ. We were also greatly impressed with the self-sacrificing commitment of those leading these CFFD groups.

Recently I read some horrifying statistics concerning what the "New Barbarians" have achieved. (You may read about the New Barbarians in our June newsletter.) Over the past 10 years, nearly 500 million babies have been aborted throughout the world. In the Western World, one out of every three babies is being aborted.

During the whole of the 20th century, it is estimated that approximately 300 million people (This figure does not include people killed in battle) were killed through such things as the Chinese and Russian communist purges and the Nazis. This terrible statistic pales into insignificance compared to the killing of babies. Over the next 10 years, it is estimated that at least another 500 million babies will be aborted. This will make a total of one billion babies in 20 years.

A few years ago, Mother Teresa predicted that with the total disregard of the most innocent, the unborn babies, our world would become a very violent society. In New Zealand we abort one in three babies that are conceived. Our newspapers are now filled with stories of child abuse. I believe that Mother Teresa was correct in what she said concerning the future.

If the "New Barbarians" had their way, there would be none of these deeply loving, disabled people as they would all be aborted.

Maggie's Funeral

In July we also flew to Wellington to the funeral of a sister-in-law, Maggie Brown. Maggie is Kathy's sister-in-law. Thirty years ago at aged 39, Maggie's husband, Brian (Kathy's eldest brother) died of bowel cancer. He was a very committed Christian. At the time he and many others believed he was going to be healed but it wasn't to be. Maggie and Brian had three children - two boys (Philip and Craig) and a girl (Elizabeth). The eldest son, Philip, was 14 at the time of Brian's death and Elizabeth, the youngest, was 8.

Maggie did a wonderful job in raising her three children on her own. Philip and Craig are both married with children and Elizabeth has never married. Despite the sad occasion of Maggie's funeral, it was lovely to see Philip and Craig and their families living for the Lord. It was a very special time for our family as we spent time grieving with these families and with Elizabeth. Elizabeth is a lovely woman and we had a special time with her, but she is struggling spiritually. She loved her dad and we don't think she ever really got over his death.

Brian's greatest desire would have been that his children all follow the Lord. He would be thrilled to see Craig and Philip and their families living for the Lord. We are praying for Elizabeth that she also will come to know the Lord in a deep way.

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