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Grace for Daily Challenges with Joni Eareckson Tada
379 Plays8 months ago
Joni Eareckson Tada discusses her life and ministry in the present moment, where she finds grace to persevere through difficult challenges, and how students can become involved in summer internships with her ministry called Joni and Friends.
JONI EARECKSON TADA ONLINE
Joni's Website
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MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
The Gospel for Hard Times
The Gospel for Hard Times (Students)
God Made Me Unique
For more about the podcast at New Growth Press online.
Timestamps:
2:16 - Welcome
3:56 - How are things at Joni and Friends today?
6:01 - Joni and Rush Tell Their Stories
8:12 - A Powerful Shift Toward Joyfully Glorifying God.
13:42 - How has friendship help you through your suffering?
17:04 - What is making you happy in life now?
23:18 - Young people can serve in the Joni and Friends internship.
25:02 - What are some ways serving has helped students find joy in future ministry?
27:42 - How are you personally doing in daily life?
30:04 - What are some ways people can pray for you?
31:34 - Farewell
Recommended
Transcript
A Heavenly Welcome and Life's Journey
00:00:00
Speaker
Sometimes I see myself in this wonderful, but very hard life, this marathon of a life. I see myself at the end running through the tape, bursting through the pearly gates, dropping to my hands and knees on the celestial shore, feeling the sand and the grip of my fingers collapsing. I made it. I made it. Oh God, thank you. I made it. And then I'm going to fold out on that sand and roll over on my back, arms and legs spread and keep my eyes closed.
00:00:28
Speaker
just breathing in the sweet air of heaven, and then I'll feel a shadow cross over my face, and I'll open my eyes, and it's Jesus. I'll look up, it's Jesus, and he'll lift me up to my feet, and he'll hug me and say, welcome home, sweetheart, he'll say.
Interview with Johnny Eric Centotta
00:00:50
Speaker
In this episode, I have the wonderful privilege of speaking with Johnny Eric Centotta, author, radio host, artist, and founder of Johnny and Friends, an organization accelerating Christian ministry in the disability community. For over 40 years, Johnny and Friends has served thousands of families navigating disability and has delivered over 200,000 wheelchairs and Bibles to individuals with disabilities in developing nations. Johnny has survived breast cancer twice,
00:01:35
Speaker
talking with Johnny was a delight.
Humor and Humility in Ministry
00:01:38
Speaker
The only problem was she kept asking me, the host, to share my story with her. Of course, I'm only kidding. This isn't a problem, but rather yet another reminder of Johnny's humility and love, which are just two of the reasons why she's been used by God in so many ways for so many years. We discuss life and ministry in the present moment,
00:01:43
Speaker
and lives with chronic pain and weakening lungs.
00:01:59
Speaker
where she finds hope to persevere and how students can become involved in summer internships with Johnny and friends. Johnny and I hope you enjoy this second episode of season three. This is Straight to the Heart. Rush, look at you. How are you? Happy. Good. It's great to see you. It's great to see you too, sir.
00:02:24
Speaker
I'm glad this has worked out. It has worked out real quickly. Tell me a little bit about your podcast straight to the heart.
Candid Conversations on Ministry and Life
00:02:30
Speaker
Oh, for sure. The sort of design of our podcast is about just trying to have normal conversation and allow listeners to hear from Christian writers, thinkers, people they appreciate just, you know, about their ministry and certainly about their books, but also about their life and some of the things they think about, things that make them happy. Sounds good, Rush. So thank you, Johnny, because I am really this is really a moment in my life right here. Okay.
00:02:59
Speaker
Rush, when did you first hear about my story? And I would just love to hear that you were a little boy, right? Oh, I wasn't a little boy, but I was probably in seminary. Well, forgive my little boy comment, Rush, but I, you know, the book Johnny came out in 1976 and, you know, most people read it when they were just kids or whatever. Oh, yeah, yeah. No, that's yeah. I was born in 1977.
00:03:29
Speaker
Okay. And you went to seminary where? I went to Southeastern Seminary. Oh, great. And so I had a great experience there, got involved in actually receiving biblical counseling, my wife and I, which was life changing, transformative, and then put us on a path of just really caring about biblical counseling. And that's a big part of our church and life. And then a big part, obviously, of New Growth Press.
00:03:54
Speaker
But I would love just to hear how things are at Johnny and Friends right now, like this year and this season, what kind of things are going on and how are things?
Reflecting on Blessings and Spiritual Gifts
00:04:05
Speaker
Well, let me back up a little bit and just say that after I broke my neck, I received so many blessings. I mean, after I got my spiritual act together with the Lord Jesus and went through my own time of biblical counseling, I just was so blessed. It was so evident that
00:04:25
Speaker
God's grace was doing a miraculous work in my heart that I could smile as a quadriplegic to me was huge. And because of these blessings, I wanted to quick get them off my lap and pass them on to other people who had much less than I did. You know, people sometimes even now look at me and say, well, you know, you're the exception to the disability rule, Johnny. You, you, you know, you've got a husband, you've got a meaningful job, you've got a comfortable home.
00:04:55
Speaker
And I say, you're right, I do. And I am the exception. But that creates all the more onus on me to pass on those blessings so that other people might enjoy some of the advantages I have. Of course, I don't think of those advantages as physical, so much as peace, courage, endurance, perseverance, joy, hope.
00:05:24
Speaker
Patience, all the things that make life worth living. So it's not a matter of how many books you've written or whether or not you knew Billy Graham on a first name basis. It's all a matter of opening our hearts to the Lord Jesus and experiencing his gifts, you know, his heavenly blessings. He's given us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. We've got them all. We just don't always realize it and sometimes suffering.
00:05:55
Speaker
is what opens our hearts up to that, those joys. What about you? Tell me a little about your story, because I know very little about your story.
00:06:07
Speaker
Yeah, well, my story, the kind of short version, I became a Christian through a Christian basketball camp, and then really started moving there toward what I was sensing as a call to ministry. And that led me to, you know, a certain focus in college where I met my wife and we were married in 2000. And she had had a pretty serious background of counseling issues.
00:06:32
Speaker
growing up, depression, anxiety, suicide attempts, really difficult things, and had gone through sort of the gamut of what kind of treatments and help were available until we got to seminary. And so she'd been hospitalized multiple times most of her senior year in high school, electroconvulsive therapy,
00:06:52
Speaker
at one point there. And then when we were in seminary, that was our first experience with anything like biblical counseling. And so the Lord did just a real transformative work in both of us through that to help us kind of refashion our worldview and our understanding of the gospel and the Bible.
Transformation through Biblical Counseling
00:07:12
Speaker
And just it was a profound change for us that sort of sent our family in a different trajectory. And then that has kind of just really just carried us forward as so many other gifts have come through that of spiritual growth and a lot of what you're describing. Well, Rush, I've got to back you up there because you described your wife and all the many challenges she went through in high school.
00:07:42
Speaker
And then in seminary, something changes. Yes, it's biblical counseling, but what would your wife point to as the fundamental turning point? Was it a passage of scripture, a biblical story? Was it the pressure of other people's prayers? Maybe all of the above, but what can you, cause I'm sure there might be some people listening who are struggling with anxiety and fear. And I don't know. I'd be interested to hear about her experience.
00:08:11
Speaker
Yeah, I think there were a number of those kind of turning points. Probably the one that stands out most in my memory of that time since it's been a while was really a shift in coming to see the value of glorifying God
00:08:31
Speaker
And what I have come to know now better with time, because of just the influence of so many, so many people, especially in terms I was struck earlier, you said that you were happy. And that's definitely a theme in terms of, you know, Piper's teaching and Randy Alcorn and
00:08:49
Speaker
And of course, your story that changed the way we viewed glorifying God and shifted our focus from one that prior to that was really about how do I feel today? And how I feel this morning is what will dictate how the day goes, how my life goes. And so the shift became rather than framing life in that way,
00:09:15
Speaker
reframing it in terms of how can I glorify and enjoy God today?
Obedience and Joy in Suffering
00:09:22
Speaker
Absolutely. That was a big shift of focus and worldview. And I've experienced that, Rush. I don't know when it started, but Jesus says, if you love me, you'll obey my commands. And at first that sounded like
00:09:43
Speaker
a husband coming home and threatening. If you love me, you'll have dinner ready when I come through the front door. And that's not what it means at all. It means you'll experience an awesome degree, an enjoyment of me and all that my father and I have to offer if you would but follow me. And I think what I enjoy about enjoying God
00:10:12
Speaker
is that when I glorify him through my obedience, when I say obedience, I guess I mean, I'm not going to complain about this. For instance, last night, and forgive my indiscretion, but I wear an indwelling catheter. My leg bag fills up with urine, but last night it got plugged and I was soaking wet. Everything was wet. And I stunk to high heaven. It was just awful. And so I'm thinking, am I going to complain about this?
00:10:41
Speaker
Am I just going to trust? This is one more opportunity to show that the demonic hordes that are just waiting for me, you know, wringing their hands saying, come on, curse God. Is this my chance to show the unseen world that Jesus is worthy of my trust? So, you know, I went through the whole thing, sailed through it on the grace of God, kept my smile, kept a peaceful attitude, didn't, you know, woe is me.
00:11:10
Speaker
And Rush, and I know you know what I'm talking about, I felt God's delight. And in feeling his delight, which of course I was glorifying him, showcasing to the unseen world that he really is worthy of my trust and confidence, in experiencing, knowing that I was delighting him, gave me such joy. Which is why I can, at the onset of my interviews, when you ask me, how are you doing?
00:11:39
Speaker
I'm happy. And there's nothing more pleasing, more satisfying than knowing that you, in some small measure, bring delight. You know, the Bible says, make it your ambition to be pleasing to God. Well, when we make that our ambition to please Him through obedience and not complaining, such as I could have done last night, that joy is just, that knowing your pleasing God is just the biggest kick ever.
00:12:08
Speaker
It's wonderful. I think we both said the same thing in different ways, didn't we? I think so. I think that's right. Yeah. And what you're saying really does resonate with me. And I have been in my life really slow to catch on to things, at least in my view, I feel like I'm always kind of catching up. So a lot of these things have come later. You know, I have friends who will come around and
00:12:33
Speaker
And they kind of wake me up to something that seems so obvious once I catch it. But it seems, you know, this is one of those, just the role. I really had that backward about, you know, the role of happiness in the Christian life for so long. And I'm grateful for so many friends and voices that have clarified that for me. And it's still being clarified, you know.
00:12:54
Speaker
But you said something very, very key and critical. A minute or two ago, you talked about how you and your wife reframed your thinking. It was a whole reframing, like tear down the old scaffold of the way you used to view the world and let's use this scaffold, this framework for viewing the world. And you're right. People are talking about glorifying God, but it's all talk.
00:13:23
Speaker
until you scuff it up a bit with faith and get a little holy dirt on it and just live it and actually moment by moment make that your fresh reality. Somebody should write a book about that.
00:13:42
Speaker
I'm thinking of a question along these lines that I think is helpful, and I'd like to hear how you answer it. I think when a lot of people, Christians, think about this path of change and kind of rebuilding a scaffolding and worldview,
00:13:59
Speaker
They typically think of the big books that they've read, conferences they've gone to, ministries they've been involved in, even if it's in the context of grief and suffering and hardship. But sometimes maybe we don't think or recognize the influence of those friends.
00:14:15
Speaker
that have been just on the ground right with us. And so I'm curious how friendship has played a role in your life and ministry alongside all these other, you know, the more prominent voices and things.
The Role of Spiritual Community
00:14:30
Speaker
What kind of friendships have been instrumental for you? Well, real quickly, one way, Ephesians says that we are one with one another, we are intimately
00:14:42
Speaker
intimately and mysteriously connected to one another so that other people's victories through osmosis, I can't even describe it, they become ours. And maybe that's the power of spiritual community where we hold each other accountable. We watch out for each other. We lift each other up and out of social isolation. We keep each other connected to reality. That's what people did to me.
00:15:11
Speaker
They just kept me connected to reality because I think if we become maverick Christians, lone ranger Christians, we immediately spiral downward. It's just going to happen. You spiral downward. There's no sense of accountability. There's no sense of just judging yourself by yourself, your standards, and you need the word of God constantly. So Christians did that with me. I remember, oh, this was like,
00:15:40
Speaker
right after I got out of the hospital. And I was, I was sitting in my wheelchair and I forget, we were watching the Waltons. Remember the Waltons TV show, a wholesome family TV show in any way. The commercial break hadn't even come on. And in the middle of some scene, I said to my sister, do you mind if I have a Coke? She was on the couch. Well, my sister being the sweet person that she is, got up in the middle of the TV show and got me a Coke.
00:16:09
Speaker
Well, my friend who was there with me said, Johnny, that was so rude. I mean, here you are enjoying the TV show and you don't even give your sister a chance to wait until commercial break. You can't even wait to a commercial. Think next time of her rather than yourself. Bam. I mean, those, those are ways in which friends hold each other accountable. And that's, those are the kinds of friends I had, but best of all, Rush, they prayed for me. Um, they, uh,
00:16:39
Speaker
You know, we wrestle not against the flesh and blood of spinal cord injury, but against powers and principalities that would love nothing more than to get us to bad mouth God and stain his reputation and make him look really bad. So I had good friends who held me accountable, chided me when I needed it and prayed for me. That's a huge, huge encouragement and testimony.
00:17:08
Speaker
I would like to go back and hear more of what's kind of going on in your life in ministry now. And you know, actually in particular, maybe even personally at this stage of life in ministry, what kinds of things do you find are really making you happy or things that are particularly challenging?
Finding Happiness in Service
00:17:27
Speaker
You asked me that question about five minutes ago and I never answered it today. I set myself up to answer it and then I went wandering off on some rabbit trail.
00:17:38
Speaker
passing on the blessings. I mentioned that earlier. That's why I started the Ministry of China and Friends. And Rush, what makes me happy is seeing people with disabilities and developing nations who, for the most part, live on a hard soil stained mattress in some dark back bedroom with a cinder block house, little house, and to bring them out into the sunlight
00:18:09
Speaker
with a caring church. Nothing could please me more. And our ministry has distributed well over 200,000 wheelchairs and Bibles. We've trained little churches and villages where they still think cerebral palsy is a curse from a local witch doctor or from the animus spirits. Nothing that made me happier than to be ministering among the very people that Jesus spends so much time hanging out with. And that is those who are deaf,
00:18:39
Speaker
those who can't speak, the paralyzed, the lame, the blind. And even Jesus himself said, in Luke 14, go out, find the disabled and bring a man so that my father's house might be full. And that's my life mission. That's the calling. I think that's, you know, I don't know God's reasoning here one bit, but I mean, of course, my diving acts at my broken neck was too.
00:19:08
Speaker
jerk me back from hanging myself on an immoral noose around my neck. But I think the other reason may be that I am his witness to the world's disabled, and it's such a joy, such a pleasure to labor on their behalf, whether we hold special retreats for families that struggle with disability and
00:19:33
Speaker
places like Thailand or Cuba or Vietnam or Peru or Ukraine or just providing everything we
00:19:46
Speaker
them the hope of Jesus Christ. That makes me so happy. That's a beautiful thing, truly. And I don't know how in the context of all the ministry that you do, how much people are aware of those aspects. And so I think it's really great for people to know more and have
00:20:04
Speaker
a better sense the way you just described it of what kind of things are going
Exploring Faith and Suffering Resources
00:20:08
Speaker
on. I think that's a really important thing. Well, if anybody wants to find out more, they can visit our website at johnnyandfriends.org. That's J-O-N-I-A-N-D-F-R-I-E-N-D-S.org. And just click on a few videos and you'll get a taste for what we do at our ministry.
00:20:30
Speaker
Let's take a short break for me to tell you about two helpful resources which come to mind as I talk with Johnny. The first is the Gospel in Hard Times and the Gospel in Hard Times for Students by Johnny and Friends. This is a faith bolstering small group resource that illustrates how suffering is a catalyst that can deepen our understanding of God's plan.
00:20:52
Speaker
Through eight in-depth sessions, the resources point to Jesus, our Good Shepherd, for answers to today's hard questions. In this small group resource, as well as the student edition, men and women, or young men and women, can learn how the church carries the burden of suffering, seeking gospel answers to questions such as, why am I going through this? And where is God when I need him?
00:21:17
Speaker
Both editions of the Gospel in Hard Times explores how a loving faith community, one body with many parts, can not only meet our needs, but also help us walk alongside others who are afflicted, disabled, and marginalized.
00:21:33
Speaker
and also the second also from johnny and friends is god made me unique a beautifully illustrated picture book which helps parents and caregivers teach children that god creates every person in the image of god and each individual has tremendous value regardless of his or her appearance or abilities
00:21:52
Speaker
The story is set in a Sunday school classroom where a new girl, Bree, is introduced by her mom. Bree's Sunday school teacher takes the time to welcome Bree and to explain to the other children why she's wearing headphones. Through getting to know Bree, the children are guided into a biblical understanding of the uniqueness of each of God's children. Along the way, they learn to ask questions and gain an understanding about their new friend.
00:22:18
Speaker
Told in a charming, rhyming style, this colorful, hardcover book will help eliminate fear and misconceptions about those who have special needs. And it emphasizes that every person deserves to be treated with kindness and respect. The back of the book contains a special section just for parents and caregivers that will guide them in how to have biblical, loving conversations with children and gives them additional information and resources to equip them in talking about this important subject.
00:22:48
Speaker
God Made Me Unique gives parents the tools to have important, impactful conversations with their children that will grow their understanding of God themselves and others. So take a moment soon to visit NewGrowthPress.com and learn more about the gospel and hard times and the gospel and hard times for students, as well as God Made Me Unique. And now back to my conversation with Johnny Eric Santata.
Encouraging Youth in Disability Ministries
00:23:17
Speaker
So I wonder also if maybe one of those things that people should be more familiar with, especially young people are opportunities to be involved with Johnny and friends through internship and service. And I wonder if you could say a little bit more about that. Well, absolutely. In fact, we need young people to serve with us at our summer season of 2024 family retreats. And it's a great opportunity to
00:23:45
Speaker
to push a kid's wheelchair and help him play baseball and assist him in the cafeteria line and in the arts and crafts center and maybe get in the pool and just give mom and dad a break. So we're looking for young people who will be willing to do that. And if there are some college age people, students who are listening, maybe you even are interested in nursing or special education or recreational therapy, we've got some fabulous internships
00:24:13
Speaker
both corporate internships where you can come and work at our International Disability Center or go with us overseas and help set up a family retreat for special needs families in countries like El Salvador and Honduras. So it's a great opportunity for people to, just young people to get a hands-on experience of what it means to serve
00:24:44
Speaker
families a struggle with disability, it will really round out your academic work in special education or in rec therapy. So again, you can just go on our internship page at our website and learn all the details and sign up for 2024.
00:25:01
Speaker
I wonder with that, what are some, this is sort of a follow up question to that. What are some, when students get involved, like they would, this is similar to a mission trip because it not only goes to serve those on the ground, but it tends to, you know, kind of expand the horizon of those students. What are some of the ways that these experiences of service have helped students move forward with a better view of how they could be used by God and
00:25:30
Speaker
how they could find the joy of ministry through their experience in an internship like that. I wonder if you have some stories or something that would kind of illustrate that. Well, in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus said that he came not to be served, but to serve. And we are so like the Lord Jesus when we serve, when we practice a little bit of Christianity with the sleeves rolled
Joy in Serving the Disabled
00:25:56
Speaker
up. And I've heard so many testimonies from
00:25:59
Speaker
Moms and dads who have sent their 18 or 19 or 20 year old off to one of our family retreats will hold 46 family retreats across the US next summer. And they come home so refreshed, so inspired, so changed. Suddenly they realize that it is fun serving among kids with disabilities and helping somebody who's blind explain to them where the mashed potatoes is on their plate
00:26:26
Speaker
Just any number of different things you do with people with disabilities. Service is what the Christian experience is really all about. And our internships plus opportunities to volunteer at our family retreats, either domestically here in the US or overseas in a developing nation, give young people an opportunity to get the focus off themselves and onto somebody else whose needs are far greater than their own.
00:26:56
Speaker
And that is so heart pumping, eye opening, mind expanding, spirit energizing. So yeah, I'm just, it's what makes me happy, Rush, just seeing all these people. Oh, Rush, I have been to so many of our family retreats where I'm sitting there in my wheelchair and some young person will come along and you need help? By the way, what's your name? You know who I am.
00:27:25
Speaker
And that's great. I love that because it means that our programs do not depend on my physical presence, nor the charisma of my persona. It's all about the joy that they are experiencing and serving. So they don't even know who I am and I just absolutely love that.
00:27:42
Speaker
Yeah, I love to hear that too. You know, it's a very small version of that in our church. I like it when that happens, when there are things going on that I'm one of three pastors that I don't even know about. I didn't even know those people were meeting on Thursday afternoon to study the Bible. And I don't need to know. I'm happy that it's happening kind of organically. So that's a really great thing.
00:28:03
Speaker
And I'd like to ask you if I can, it sort of is on the heels of the last answer that you gave is just sort of how are you personally in just your daily life and what kinds of things are going on beside ministry, at home, you know, what's life like for you now?
Endurance and Health Struggles
00:28:27
Speaker
Life is rich, life is good, but life is hard, very hard.
00:28:32
Speaker
In the last 12 months, I've had two very long hospitalizations with double pneumonia, and I deal with pulmonary hypertension, and I deal with chronic pain, and I'm getting older. Aging with quadriplegia is a challenge, but I am determined. My husband, Ken Todd, and I are determined to finish well. And Rush, I just want to, sometimes I see myself in this wonderful but very hard life.
00:29:02
Speaker
this marathon of a life, I see myself at the end, running through the tape, bursting through the pearly gates, dropping to my hands and knees on the celestial shore, feeling the sand and the grip of my fingers collapsing. I made it, I made it, oh God, thank you, I made it. And then I'm gonna fall down on that sand and roll over on my back, arms and legs spread and keep my eyes closed, just breathing in the sweet air of heaven. And then I'll feel a shadow cross over my face and I'll open my eyes,
00:29:33
Speaker
And it's Jesus. I'll look up, it's Jesus. And he'll lift me up to my feet and he'll hug me and say, welcome home, sweetheart. He'll sing. It's hard. It was hard, wasn't it? But all that's behind us now. You're home. Can't wait for that. And that's the moment I live for. I just live for that moment just to be with the Lord Jesus and in that way at the ending of the marathon, run through the tape.
00:30:02
Speaker
I like that image and you certainly are and have been an enormous example to many people in that way through perseverance and consistency and joy. And I think also, I'm stating the obvious, an example of
00:30:18
Speaker
prayer, something that I and many people feel a real weakness in. And so I'm just curious, what are some ways that you would like other people to pray for you? You, I'm sure, are praying for people so often through ministry. What are some ways that people can pray for you? I could pray for you. Well, please, I mean, first, let me say it's extraordinarily unusual for a quadriplegic to be living as long as I have lived. Very unusual.
00:30:46
Speaker
especially in the health that I am in, albeit that I deal with pain and I've had two bouts with cancer and all those other things. But I would just ask our friends to be praying that God might bless me with health enough to stay fit for serving Him in a capacity that I so love doing among the world's disabled. I just want to do everything I can to make certain they hear the good news of Jesus and receive some of those benefits
00:31:16
Speaker
of a Christian life, what that should mean, what that should look like, how their church should and can change.
Gratitude and Continued Support
00:31:24
Speaker
So if our friends listening to just pray for my health, keep me living for a few more years, that'd be great. We're going to do that. I'm going to do that. Thank you, Rush. I'm really grateful that you have spent this time
00:31:37
Speaker
with me. It means a lot. It has been fun. You are easy to talk to, which I didn't expect anything else. And you know this. It is amazing how someone in anyone, whether they're prominent or not, can impact and bless another person in such a short amount of time. Bless you, sir. This has been a delight. I just love your wife's story. Tell her and I what you said about framework when you said that.
00:32:07
Speaker
That's the way to put it. It's a framework, isn't it? So just tell her that I was just much blessed to hear about her turnaround. That's all because of the Lord Jesus.
00:32:20
Speaker
Thank you for joining me for this episode of Straight to the Heart. You can help more people know about the podcast by subscribing, sharing, and rating the show in Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Our next episode releases in one week, and until then, I'm Rush Witt, and this is Straight to the Heart.