Joni and Friends

Last week we once again served with our families at the Joni and Friends Family Retreat. (Yes, it is the same spelling, but it is a different Joni--Joni and Friends is a ministry founded by Joni Eareckson Tada.) The family retreat is for people with disabilities and their families. It offers a fabulous vantage point from which to witness the glory of God shining through human faces.

We led LifeSpace lessons each morning with a special focus on seeking God and being found by Him. Recognizing that we are not expected to abandon our humanity but to fulfill it, we talked about glorifying God in the tensions of embodied life. We pondered the fact that Christ remains, even after His glorification, fully human and fully God. We celebrated the presence of the life-giving Holy Spirit.

We have long used a picture of our friend Jennifer while teaching on the Spirit as God's breath. Paralyzed by a spinal cord injury, Jennifer moves about in a wheelchair and breathes through a ventilator. But she loves life and does not take it -- or breath -- for granted. Here is an updated picture of Jennifer, horseback riding at last week's retreat. She is receiving the breath of life, given by the Spirit, through the hand of a friend with a breathing bag. Faces shine. Life is sweet. Glory abounds.