Topican of Grace

 

What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.

Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:31-39

Our ancestors came to the shores of America for freedom. The God-Man Jesus AND, he was always God and Man, paid the price that His own justice demanded. Supreme Court Justice, Brandeis was described as an angry man, angry at injustice. There is a remarkable difference in the minds and souls of men. It is the grace of God, unmerited, indescribable that impales forever the goodness-genuineness of a fellow human being. This sightless veteran, child of God, so tires of people who profess their empathy for his condition, but never offer any real help... not even a telephone call of encouragement.

There is no loneliness, often helplessness as traumatic as that of the disabled and the disenfranchised. In a cocoon of self, you are totally dependent on the grace of God. WE KNOW ABOUT THE GRACE OF GOD. I ask you, have you ever once put yourself in the shoes of the blind, the deaf, the crippled in a wheelchair? Have you ever once put yourself in the neurology of the mentally handicapped, or a handicap of any type? How often does my car seek a handicapped parking space, when such spaces are filled by those who are not handicapped.

 Some years ago the owner of a local restaurant actually told this disabled veteran-doctor-taxpayer, "I do not want the handicapped people in my business, because it makes my normal customers feel uncomfortable."

 In my local Baptist Church, and I am no longer a Baptist, a group of widows went out to eat lunch on Sunday. One of the ladies, divorced, a resume of hard times raising wayward children, was unable to dress or entertain like the others. One of these Christians said to me "Margaret is not of our class, but we feel we might help her." I wanted to start singing, "In Christ there is no East or West." When I think of the shame of slavery, "Jim Crowism", discrimination against our fellow citizens because of skin color. Bigotry of fellow citizens because of social and economic status. I am reminded that one man, plus God, and anything is possible. From the poverty of a dirt road beginning, I have tried to be that man. Small but mighty has been the sociological history of this nation. Blacks, 13% of the population, once riding in the back of the bus are now driving the bus. Every politician-news agency-advertisement now caters to the black population. The gays, about 3% of the population have their own agenda which is influencing the social structure of America.

Have you ever considered the plight of the convict who has served his time and is now ready to live a reformed life?, no wonder the rate of return to prison is so great. Have you ever considered the plight of the disabled man or woman, even school child who must face the daily challenges of being "different"? This writer learned long ago that most of his fellow citizens, most of all his family, does not give a damn. This totally blind, 100% disabled, Medical Officer Veteran has been living in this house, which he owns, alone, for over forty years. Over all these years, I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of blood relations that have visited me. I have two brothers who have never been in this house. Perhaps I am considered a peculiar-eccentric-religious and political fanatic, but if not a visit, why not a telephone call or a note or even a Christmas card?

 This very day, my driver and I went to a yard sale at a church. We went because it was inside, and it was raining. There was no sign about the denomination of the church, no one to greet us in their activities building. I went to waving my hand asking for assistance. A young girl came over and I asked, "What type of church is this?" She whispered, "LDS." I ask you, why are the Mormons ashamed of their church... it was evidently a very nice building. They send their members up and down the street attempting to influence people, send missionaries around the world (One of my assistants' has two brothers, former drug addicts, converted to Mormonism, now missionaries in Europe). In their own building, why were they so inhospitable to those who they, through publicity, had invited to their yard sale?

 Some weeks ago, I went to another church yard sale, also inside their activity building (Grace Baptist Church) same thing. No one spoke to us, not even to a "Good Morning." Why are people, even those who are supposed to be different, because of their belief in Christ, so afraid of the disabled. I ask you, at your church, how many disabled people do you see in attendance?

Our ancestors came to America seeking religious freedom, seeking opportunity, seeking to live in a responsible way. America because of cowardice, financial-education-spiritual decadence has become just one big crime scene. Much of this can be laid directly at the doorsteps of the church. Because of my treatment as a disabled veteran, I have instructed the trust officer at the bank handling my estate and final arrangements, not to use a flag around my dead body. With respect, you can understand why.

The disabled and the disenfranchised have been left out of the American way of life, kicked out, by the fraternity boy crowd, the country club contingent. It insults God and should embarrass Americans that veterans are homeless and that 22 veterans commit suicide each day.

"Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Emma Lazarus