“Everyone who calls on the name
of the Lord will be saved.” How, then, can they call on the
one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they
have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how
can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are
the feet of those who bring good news!” Romans 10:13-15
Pastor and author, Max Lucado
shared this story in one of his recent books
“I have everything I need for joy!” Robert Reed said.
His hands are
twisted and his feet are useless. He can’t bathe himself. He can’t feed
himself. He can’t brush his teeth, comb his hair, or put on his underwear.
Strips of Velcro hold his shirts together. His speech drags like a worn out
audiocassette.
Robert has cerebral
palsy.
The disease keeps
him from driving a car, riding a bike, and going for a walk. But it didn’t keep
him from graduating from high school or attending Abilene Christian University,
from which he graduate with a degree in Latin. Having cerebral palsy didn’t
keep him from teaching at St. Louis Junior College or from venturing overseas
on five mission trips.
And Robert’s
disease didn’t prevent him from becoming a missionary in Portugal.
He moved to Lisbon,
alone, in 1972. There he rented a hotel room and began studying Portuguese. He
found a restaurant owner who would feed him after the rush hour and a tutor who
would instruct him in the language.
Then he stationed
himself daily in a park, where he distributed brochures about Christ. Within
six years he led seventy people to the Lord, one of whom became his wife, Rosa.
I heard Robert
speak recently. I watched other men carry him in his wheelchair onto the
platform. I watched them lay a Bible in his lap. I watched his stiff fingers force
open the pages. And I watched people in the audience wipe away tears of
admiration from their faces. Robert could have asked for sympathy or pity, but
he did just the opposite. He held his bent hand up in the air and boasted, “I
have everything I need for joy.”
Robert can’t walk
and he struggles to talk but he is on a mission to share Christ the best he
can.
His shirts are held together by Velcro, but his life is held
together by joy.
What holds your life together?
What holds you back from sharing your faith?
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