If you were born with a disability or know someone who was, imagine being born in a village where that is considered to be a shameful curse from the spirits—something to hide or get rid of.

In January, I was part of the Cameroon Harvest Project 2007. This was a joint mission of Bethlehem Baptist Church and Joni and Friends International Disabilities Ministry. The purpose was to distribute wheelchairs to people for whom a wheelchair is out of reach, either because they’re not available or are way too expensive.

One of the people we met was a 6-year-old named Sandra. Her story is hard to forget.

When this little girl was born with obvious disabilities, her fearful parents took her …

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What my husband said last Sunday at the end of a sermon on forgiveness and forebearance in marriage:

Picture your marriage as a grassy field. You enter it at the beginning full of hope and joy. You look out into the future and you see beautiful flowers and trees and rolling hills. And that beauty is what you see in each other. Your relationship is the field and flowers and the rolling hills. But before long, you begin to step in cow pies. Some seasons of your marriage they may seem to be everywhere. Late at night they are especially prevalent. These are the sins and flaws and idiosyncrasies and weaknesses and annoying habits in you and your spouse. You try to forgive them an…

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I returned recently from 10 days in Cameroon, West Africa. A team of 14 was sent by Bethlehem Baptist, with the help of Joni and Friends, to distribute 100 wheelchairs through one disabilities ministry in Yaounde and one in Bamenda. There were 4 occupational or physical therapists, 4 handymen/mechanics, and the rest of us were support/go-fers.

From almost the beginning it was clear that we would fare better if we said the words, “If the Lord wills. . .” and if we really meant it.

We should have been saying, “If the Lord wills, we will arrive in Yaounde at 7:05 pm, Monday.” Instead, our plane had mechanical problems so our take-off and arrival were delayed. We arrived 26 hours l…

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