Saturday, October 18, 2003

5:17 PM A friend who heard me preach at Gull Lake saw Josh’s Chicago pictures that I mentioned yesterday. She writes with a good question:

Was just viewing Josh’s photos. They are great, but where’s one of Dixie? I believe she was the most prayed over little dog over her lost weekend. On that Sunday nite I woke up during a thunderstorm, and prayed that she would be in asafe, secure place. And was so happy when you found her.

Pat, thanks for asking. I’ll have to see about getting Dixie’s picture on the Internet. She’s doing well, and has only escaped once (briefly) because the gate was left ajar. She just likes to wander around and see what’s out there. We’re glad to have her back home again. 5:14 PM Last night Marlene and I ate supper with Tom and Carol Klobucher in Wheaton. Tom asked me to show him the Billy Sunday presentation, so I asked for a baseball. Marlene told me to “be careful” because we were inside. I explained about the cemetery setting and then did the Billy Sunday presentation for Tom and Carol. It went well in the sense that I didn’t break anything and I didn’t twist my ankle running around in their living room. But I think I to run through it a couple more times before tomorrow. The bat, ball, glove, Cubs hat, Cubs pennant, and the fliers are on our dining room table. I think we’re good to go. 5:11 PM At home by myself because Josh is somewhere, Marlene is at a baby shower, and Mark just called in from Oxford, Mississippi where he and Nick (and John Mark Edwards and five Moody students who came with Mark) just saw Ole Miss defeat Alabama 43-28. After the game, they went to the Grove and met Peyton Manning (QB for the Indianapolis Colts) and Eli Manning (QB for the Rebels). I think Nick and John Mark met a couple of other Ole Miss players as well. They also had tons to eat at the tailgate party in the Grove before and after game. A good time was had by all. 9:16 AM During my radio interview with Kevin McCullough yesterday, we spent a large part of the time talking about the tragic case of Terry Schiavo, the severely-disabled woman who is being starved to death in Florida under a court order obtained by her husband. This has happened because of massive devaluing of human life over the last 30+ years in America, to the point that even Christians read about this story and think, “She must be brain dead, and this is an act of mercy.” Let Joni Erickson Tada tell the other side of the story:

This is deplorable. What’s happening here is just a part of a larger effort to class persons with severe cognitive disabilities as non-persons. Terri is not brain dead, she’s not in a coma, she’s not terminally ill. We have people who attend our weekend retreats who are more severely disabled. Yet the courts have washed their hands of this. Medical personnel are forbidden to deliver any food or water. She’s being denied her right to humane treatment under state law. This case is a watershed for people with disabilities. Removal of the feeding tube means you are promoting active euthanasia. As a quadriplegic woman, that’s a frightening precedent.

World Magazine covers the story, as does World Net Daily. Joni and Friends issued this statement.