Focus on the Family with Jim Daly

John Fuller: Today, Joni Eareckson Tada shares her perspective on life.

Joni Eareckson Tada: God gives you a, a 24-hour slice of time in which your investments will have eternal repercussions.

John: Hmm, that insight makes me wanna slow down and appreciate each day. Uh, we’re gonna hear more from Joni today on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly, and I’m John Fuller.

Jim Daly: John, we have an unusual broadcast today. Joni Eareckson Tada is going to be speaking about what makes a life worth living. Uh, as many of you know, Joni is a quadriplegic as a result of a diving accident when she was just 17 years old. Over the years, she has become an advocate for people with a wide range of disabilities. And she is, uh, very familiar with end of life issues, as we’ll hear in a moment. This is an unforgettable perspective on the meaning of life.

John: Mm-hmm. Here’s Joni Eareckson Tada speaking to a group of pregnancy resource center directors, back when those centers were called CPCs. And you’ll hear her, uh, refer to that, on today’s episode of Focus on the Family with Jim Daly.

Joni: You know, friends, rather than talk about me and my wheelchair, I do a lot of that (laughs), do you mind if I talk about somebody else I know in a wheelchair, and how she found life worth living? When I first encountered Kim, she was one of those who was really struggling with the worth of her soul, the meaning of her life. Let me explain to you how, uh, Kim and I got acquainted.

I’m often involved in disability advocacy on pro-life issues that are facing all of us in our own communities. Often I’ll write Time Magazine, and a couple of times I was on CNN’s Crossfire. And I, I enjoy speaking out on these issues, so I am known to many as a disability advocate. Well, I received a phone call at our office from an elder back in Pennsylvania. The elder of a little church in central Pennsylvania had called to tell me that there was a young woman in his congregation that he felt could use some encouragement, and perhaps, in fact, if I would be so kind as to call her, maybe I might even answer a couple of her questions, some really tough, hard hitting questions about, as he put it, life worth living. And so I learned that this young woman, Kim, was a young girl in her mid-20s who had, had unusual case of Lou Gehrig’s. Lou Gehrig’s disease, as most of you may know, is a severely debilitating neuromuscular disease that most folks get when they push 40, 50 years old, but here this girl was, in her mid-20s.

So I dialed my handicap equipped phone, and I got Kim’s mother on the other end. And Kim’s mom was very excited that I had called. She explained to me Kim was now out of her wheelchair, and pretty much debilitated to the point of lying in bed 24 hours a day. And, in fact, she had a feeding tube. And here, lately, Kim was having difficulty breathing. “And Joni,” She said, “Kim’s facing some tough choices that maybe you can help her with.”

So her mother placed the phone received tucked under Kim’s ear against the pillow, and Kim and I proceeded to have a, a conversation. It was a little one-sided, because it was very difficult to hear her. Her breathing was so labored and so short. And she said to me, “Joni, I love Jesus. I love praying. I love the idea of going to Heaven. I love my family, my friends, love my church, but I can’t breathe very good. And here lately they’ve told me that soon I may have to go on a breathing machine, a respirator. And I’m not so sure that’s something that I want to do. But I’m afraid to make a decision that will dishonor the Lord. So I need you to tell me what I oughta do. Should I say yes to a respirator, or should I say no?”

This was a real, live, warm human being who was wrestling with whether or not her life was worth living. And so I told her, I said, “Kim, Lou Gehrig’s disease is a pretty complicated thing. And boy, I’m sure hoping that you’re connected with a doctor who shares the same life values with you. Because Kim, we’ve lost the intimacy of the old doctor-patient relationship. You live in a small town, you find a doctor who you can really share life values with. And Kim, then you’re gonna have to pray for God’s hand-tailored wisdom, because that’s the way He gives it, Kim. Never a pat formula, never advice from Heaven that’s, ‘point one, two, three, four, five,’ or, ‘easy step A, B, C, D, E.’ No, God’s wisdom for all of us is based on principles. But yet, the specifics and the particulars of those principles apply to any given life situation is gonna be hand-tailored.”

“There is a fine line,” I told her, “between saying yes to medical treatment that will sustain life, and saying no to treatment that will do mo- no more than prolong the process of dying. Kim, only you, within the confidential relationship of your doctor, and your mom, and your dad, and your pastor, and your good close friends, they’re the only ones who’ll be able to advise you. And there is safety in the abundance of counselors, Kim. But they will be the only ones who can advise you. You will have to make the final decision, that distinction between doing something that prolongs life as opposed to doing that same thing that will do no more than prolong the process of dying. A thin, thread of a line it is, Kim. And if you’re looking for wisdom, look at 1 Corinthians 6:19, Kim, because if anybody tells you, ‘Look, you oughta do with your body as you want,’ God has a response to that, Kim.”

“In 1 Corinthians 6:19 it says, ‘You are not your own. Therefore, honor God with your body.’ And any means to produce death in order to alleviate suffering is never justified or, in the words of the Bible, it is ‘never right to do wrong,’ Kim. God loves life, and He despises death. For as it says in 1 Corinthians 15:26, ‘The last enemy to be destroyed is death.’ And Jesus said, ‘My purpose is to come to give life, and to give it more abundantly.’ Jesus has the words of life, Jesus is the resurrection of life, Jesus is the prince of life.”

Then after I said all this, “Kim, only you can make the choice. Are you in the process of dying, or is there life that is coursing through your veins?” But I said to her, “Kim, when it comes right down to it, if you take into consideration all this advice I’ve given, grab onto these scriptures, hold fast to the counsel of your family and your doctor, Kim, you almost can’t make a wrong choice. But of the two, there might be a better one.”

She got very interested in that comment. And she said to me, “Well what do you, what do you mean by a better choice?” I said, “I can answer it with one verse from Scripture.” I said to Kim, “2 Peter 3:8, let me read it for you, Kim.” I said, “‘Do not forget this one thing, with the Lord, a day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as a day.’” I’m gonna read it again. “With the Lord, a day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years are as a day.”

Well, you might be thinking what Kim thought. “Wh- what, what’s the big deal? Why is that verse so key?” Well, we all know the old adage, right? That God looks on the last 2,000 years as only a couple of days gone by. I mean, we got that part down pat. But have you ever thought about the other half of the verse? That the Lord looks as each day as, as a thousand years? It’s like divine geometry. And friends, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist t- to figure out the formula here. Each day is chock-full of opportunities to invest in a thousand years worth of eternity. A day here is like a thousand years there. “I mean, this is how valuable,” I said to Kim, “God wants you to see your days.”

God gives you a, a 24-hour slice of time in which your investments will have eternal repercussions. Each sunrise, each sunset is full of hours and moments, moments to quote, “lay up treasures in Heaven.” Moments He gives to account for, for us to invest in, and just to make certain that we have something in which to invest (laughs), God puts around us people. The young girl who comes to your CPC clinic door, your daughter, your grandkids, your neighbors, the ladies you sing with in the church choir, your coworkers, your husband, your associates. The way we spend our hours and minutes with them counts, and it counts for all of eternity. Not only in your life, but in their lives.

Kim was really grasped by this idea, that one day could kind of, like, exponentially pan out to a thousand years worth of treasures laid up in Heaven. But she said, “Joni, I’m bedridden. I’m paralyzed. I can’t do anything.” Well then I shared with her the simple advice of a, of another verse in 2 Peter 1:5-8. It says, “Make every effort to add to your faith, goodness, and to your goodness, knowledge. And to your knowledge, self-control, and to your self-control, perseverance. And to your perseverance, godliness, and to your godliness, brotherly kindness. And to your brotherly kindness, Christian love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, these qualities will keep you from becoming ineffective and unproductive, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”

I said, “Kim, right now, this, this day is your earthbound opportunity. The here and now is the only chance you’re gonna get to quote, “grow your soul.” In Heaven, Kim, you’re not gonna have a chance to be patient. You’re not gonna have an opportunity to demonstrate self-control or perseverance or godly living. You won’t have a chance to add knowledge in Heaven. Kim, it’s carpe diem for you, today.”

John: You’re listening to Focus on the Family with Jim Daly, and that’s Joni Eareckson Tada. And you’ll hear more inspiration in her 365-day devotional called, A Spectacle of Glory: God’s Light Shining Through Me Every Day. Now, we have that here at the ministry. We’d be happy to send that to you for a donation of any amount to support this show and this ministry. We’ll also include a free audio download of the entire presentation from Joni. So donate today, and request those at focusonthefamily.com/broadcast, or call to make that donation or ask questions, 800, the letter A, and the word FAMILY. 800-232-6459.

Okay, let’s return now for more from Joni Eareckson Tada.

Joni: How can Kim invest in those thousand years? This is what I told her. I said, “Kim, do this. Today, when your mother comes into your bedroom to give you lunch, you know, that liquid nutrition, and she’s gonna have to take your G-tube, the feeding tube, and she’ll unplug it, and she’ll fill that syring with Ensure. And then she’ll plunge it, she’ll plunge your lunch into that tube, and you’ll be fed through your stomach, wh- why, Kim, why don’t you just, why don’t you just look at your mother and say, “Thanks, mom, that tastes great.” (laughing) You know?

Or, have you ever wondered when you say grace when you’re being tube fed? I’m never sure when you bless the food (laughing). Going in or…? She laughed at that. She thought that was really funny too (laughing).

I said, “Kim, take your focus off yourself just for a moment, and put it on your mom. Do something to lighten her load, brighten her heart. And Kim, like it says in that same Scripture, if you do these things, it’s why you will receive a rich welcome when you enter the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, not just a welcome. But if, even these last, what, days, weeks, months of your life, Kim, if you add to your faith goodness and then knowledge and then self-control and then perseverance and godliness, your life’s not gonna be quote, ‘not worth living’. But a way for Kim to live out her remaining days.”

I mean, if she were to live only two more weeks with a perspective like this, that figures out to be 14 days. That’s 14,000 years. What does Kim see with a perspective such as 2 Peter 3:8? That her days are worth a thousand years. What does Kim see? First, we are made for one purpose, and that is to make God real to those around us. Even an unborn child can do that in her mother’s womb. An unborn child makes God real to that mother who is carrying this baby. With all the sudden, caught up short life choices that she’s gotta make, “Where am I going? Why am I here? How did I get myself into this mess? What shall I do next?” A CPC center, sitting down, listening to a counselor, praying to receive Christ, that little unborn baby has had a ministry in that mother’s life, and that little unborn baby might not even know it at that point. But that baby will know it in Heaven. So that baby, just like you, just like me, just like Kim with her mother and her friends who come by from church in the evening, we’re filling our purpose to make God real to those around us.

Secondly, life has meaning now and forever. Now and forever. This kind of meaning that I’ve described. Because every breath, every little heartbeat pumped through that umbilical cord, every of a Lou Gehrig’s person, every breath is capable of being exchanged for something precious, something external, something weighty and real, so much so that it’s hardly worth comparing the two.

Third, God works in a life from the very first moment to the very final moment. And it may appear that nothing is taking place in the life of an unborn baby except just to lie back and mature in the mother’s womb (laughs), or it may appear that nothing is taking place even in Kim’s life. But God is not hindered in accomplishing His work just because it seems like nothing is happening. The work of God, friends, you know this, is spiritual activity, often far separate from one’s brain development or neurological or muscular activity, even if that person is completely and utterly paralyzed in a bed like Kim. And only eternity will reveal the work that is accomplished.

And spiritual activity is pretty powerful activity. I mean, look, look at that little unborn baby, and we all know him well, John the Baptist, right? Remember when he was but still in uterus in Elizabeth? And when Mary came to give greetings that she was carrying her unborn baby the Lord Jesus, what happened with John the Baptist? Whoa, he leaped for joy. Now I don’t think his ears were developed enough to hear through the uterine wall that Mary was coming up the path. No, no, I don’t even think his brain was so developed that he could process all that information and make sense of it so that he might, quote, “leap for joy.” No, it was that little, tiny spirit of that unborn John the Baptist baby through whom God was working. Spiritual activity is powerful, and it is real.

Fourth, and I’ve said this already, life is more fleeting than we realize. We act as though this world is all there is, but we need the perspective of the psalmist who said, “Show me, oh Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days. Let me know how fleeting is my life.” Do you know the number of your days? An unborn baby does. God knows. Nine months. Nine months with the perspective of 2 Peter 3:8, a day being worth a thousand years, that little baby in the womb of his mother is accumulating an eternal weight of glory that pans out to 270,000 years of eternal repercussions. That little baby, unborn. You think that little baby doesn’t have any meaning? I’m not, I’m speaking rhetorically to you, I know you all know that. Your days are so precious in God’s sight.

To protect Kim’s privacy, and, uh, the privacy of her highly personal decision, I, I won’t share with you the choice she finally made, but you should know this, you should know that she passed away a month and a half after we talked. But oh, those were some of the best days that girl ever lived, her mother told me. 45 days, short to some, but to Kim she looked at them as God looked at them. She kept giving those smiles, she wrote notes of encouragement with her mother holding the pen and notepad by her bedside. She realized that talking on the phone really was possible, and so she had her mother dial the phone, and often put her un- it under her ear, pressed against the pillow. More friends came by from her church to glean her encouragement. Her life continued to have influence. She pressed influence for the Lord Jesus on those who came by. Can you say with Kim, “I consider my present hardships, and oh, it’s hard, I consider my present hardships not worth comparing with the glory and the bliss that is building through how I handle my days and how I invest my hours and minutes.”

You don’t have to have Lou Gehrig’s disease to number your days to apply your hearts to this kind of wisdom. So remember this perspective when you go back home, and it’s raining outside the clinic, and the days are a bit dreary, and the phone’s not ringing off the hook but there’s that one girl who comes in, one girl carrying one baby who has the potential in that 9 month span to accumulate 270,000 days worth of eternal repercussions, not only in his or her little life, but in the life of all. Share this perspective with them, with the families you come in contact with. Because Heaven is near, days are short, but times are evil, the son is almost setting, and God has given you this moment, the rest of this evening. Do something eternal with it, would you? Yield it to God, and win a victory for Jesus. God bless you, and thank you for listening.

John: What a powerful perspective on life from Joni Eareckson Tada as she was speaking at a Focus on the Family event for pregnancy resource center directors a few years ago. And, oh my goodness, Jim, she is such an inspiration. Especially as you recognize that she’s been in that wheelchair as a quadriplegic for over 50 years.

Jim: Yeah, that’s a message that we’ll preach. And especially coming from someone who has known such physical hardship over the years. Uh, since this message was recorded, Joni experienced two bouts of cancer, was hospitalized twice for double pneumonia, and she still struggles with chronic pain. But she continues to travel and spread the good news of Jesus Christ, making great use of each and every day God has given her. And here at Focus on the Family, we believe in life. From cradle to grave, we believe that all people are of infinite value, regardless of their age, appearance, development, or ability. Because we are all made in the image of God. And as our culture creeps towards, sometimes runs towards the acceptance of doctor assisted suicide, we wanted you to hear this perspective from Joni on the value of every single day that we have here on this earth.

And if you can support the work here at Focus on the Family, please do so. It is a battle that we’re in. We rely on your partnership as we work to defend the sanctity of human life in government and the culture and media. When you make a donation of any amount, we’ll send you a copy of a 365-day devotional written by Joni called, A Spectacle of Glory: God’s Light Shining Through Me Every Day. Uh, Joni will help you put God’s glory on full display, no matter what challenges you’re facing. And when you get the book from us, we’ll also include a free audio download of this complete presentation from Joni. Get in touch with us today.

John: Yeah, and you can reach us by calling 800, the letter A, and the word FAMILY, that’s 800-232-6459, or donate online and request Joni’s devotional book on focusonthefamily.com/broadcast. Once again, the title is, A Spectacle of Glory. Or you can call us for questions or details, or to donate over the phone, if that’s more comfortable for you. 800. the letter A, and the word FAMILY.

And, by the way, Joni will be featured at our upcoming Lighthouse Voices events, speaking on how to engage suffering as a cultural witness. Uh, she is imminently qualified to address that, and you can find out more on the website. Have a great weekend, and join us again on Monday, when we hear from John Burke. He’ll offer a glimpse of Heaven.

John Burke: God doesn’t make entrance into Heaven something you earn. He just, it’s a gift.

Jean Daly: Yes. Yes.

John: All He needs is a heart turning to Him saying, “I want your love, I want your forgiveness, I want your life.”