#410 Leaving the Chapel for the Dungeon .

Looking for that perfect Christmas gift for the family? Why not a chicken? Stick a bow on top, put the chicken under the tree, and who knows, you may even have a couple eggs to fry up for breakfast Christmas morning.

Give the gift that keeps on cooking. A chicken. Okay, maybe it's not the perfect gift for your family, but it is the perfect gift for a poor family in Asia. A chicken can break the cycle of poverty for a poor family. Yes, a chicken.

A chicken's eggs provide food and nourishment for a family, and they can sell those eggs at the market for income. When you donate a chicken or any other animal through Gospel for Asia, 100% of what you give goes to the field. And the best gift of all, when Gospel for Asia gives a poor family an animal, it opens the door to the love of Jesus. So give the perfect gift for a family in Asia this Christmas. Give them a chicken.

Call 866-WINASIA. Or to see chickens and other animals to donate, go to CritterCampaign.org. We work in Ghana. A lot of you all know this, and I'm working right now with some folks over there because we were supposed to go there this summer to do our prosthetic limb ministry. We've taken teams over there since 2005 and helped work with amputees there to do prosthetic limbs.

This was my wife's vision after giving up both of her legs to be able to provide quality prosthetics as a way of sharing the Gospel. And if you go to the coast of Ghana, there's a little town called Cape Coast, and there's a beautiful castle sitting there. And I've been there a couple times taking teams there. And you tour this, and it's a museum now. And the British, I believe, built it. If they didn't, they inhabited it for a long time.

Originally, the Dutch were on that coast, but there's been a lot of... Well, that's irrelevant. They've got this beautiful castle, and you take a tour, and you go down below in this castle, and you see the dungeons where slaves were held. And men were put in one, and women the other, and children. And it's dark, and it's dingy, and it's filthy that has been cleaned up since the 150 years or so since it ceased being used like that. And they'll turn off the lights at one point, and you're sitting there in abject darkness in this cave, and then there's a doorway to go out to the sea where they would take them to boats, to ships, or waiting. But sometimes people wait down there for weeks and months in filth and squalor.

As horrible as that is, it gets worse. Because up above that castle, this beautiful castle, beautiful facilities up above it, there's a chapel. And they would have regular services upstairs at the castle.

Little chapel, it's a beautiful little chapel, and they'd have regular services upstairs. While down below, there were hundreds and hundreds, and over time, thousands and thousands and thousands that went through an absolute squalor. And slaves that were told to be quiet so the people upstairs could have church. The church isn't supposed to insulate itself from the suffering in the squalor and the horrificness. The church goes into the dungeon, as Diane Langford Burke says in her book, Suffering in the Heart of God, and then the church becomes the dungeon so that we can reach others. This is what our Savior did for us.

He allowed himself to condescend to everything that is broken in this world so that he may make all things new. This means Minneapolis, and this means to you as a caregiver, as you watch someone you love suffer. Welcome back to Hope as a Caregiver here on American Family Radio.

I am Peter Rosenberger. This is the show for you as a family caregiver. It's hosted by a caregiver. It's for caregivers. It's about caregivers.

It's about those who are knowingly and willingly putting themselves between a vulnerable loved one and even worse, disaster. How are you doing? How are you holding up? How are you feeling? 888-589-8840.

888-589-8840 if you want to be a part of the show. So let's go back to this thought here of what this means for us as believers. And as caregivers, I think we have a picture of this sometimes a little clearer because we deal with it all the time. We do it all the time. We are constantly showing up to someone's bedside or our special needs child or somebody that has some type of chronic impairment could be an alcoholism, I mean addiction or alcoholism.

Whatever the impairment, there's somebody around who is seeking to care for that person. And that's a picture of what we're doing as believers. We are not supposed to insulate ourselves from this.

And I know that it would be nice to, it would be lovely to be able to just wall ourselves off and not have to go into these places. But we have to look. We have to touch. We have to see it. We have to respond to it. But how are we going to do this?

And the model is in Scripture of what this looks like. And we're called as believers to be elbows deep into the suffering of this world in order to effectively share the gospel. That could be in this situation where you're taking care of an aging loved one and you feel this rage or despair that just keeps welling up in you and you don't know how to respond. You go back to Scripture. You go back to Christ and learn from Him.

Take on His yoke. It's easy and it's hard all at the same time. Because it involves you letting go of things that you want to see for yourself. I want to feel in control. I want to feel powerful. And Scripture says, take up your cross.

And I'm pushing myself to the breaking point. Scripture says, come unto me and I'll give you rest. I'll give you peace. It's almost the opposite of every instinct that we have as human beings. And as I watch some of these things going on across the country, I recognize these things. When people don't feel value or in any way feel like they are being considered as worthy, then the instinct is sometimes just to rage out because I want to feel powerful. I want to feel in control.

I want to feel, I want to feel, no other word, I just want to feel powerful. And that is our, that is our battle. Because we're not in control. The only thing we have control over is our own thoughts, words, and deeds. And those things come with consequences.

And as I watch all these things, we've got so much injustice going on around, and it causes no small amount of alarm for us. But what does scripture say about it? Proverbs 28, 5, evil doers do not understand what is right, but those who seek the Lord understand it fully. Proverbs 24, verse 24, whoever says to the guilty, you are innocent, will be cursed by peoples and denounced by nations.

And verse 25, it goes on, but it will go well with those who convict the guilty and rich blessing will come on them. Proverbs 15, 21, 15, when justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous, but terror to evil doers. God is not dispensing justice. God is justice. And we have in this free country of ours elected people to help administer justice on a human level. And they will get it wrong because they're human beings and they will make mistakes. And sometimes those are grievous mistakes.

And there will be consequences, maybe not in the way we want to see it, maybe not in the timeframe we want to see it. But is our hope in them or is our hope in God through this? And in the meantime, while we wait for that justice to go, and I have to do this for myself, a lot of times I ask for mercy for me and justice for everyone else. But I realize when I see, if I'm holding up a piece of glass, it's often a window and I'm looking at other people. But in reality, I really need to be holding a piece of glass that has a silver back to it that's a mirror so I can see my own injustice that I create. And once we understand the condition of our own hearts in the light of Christ, it reframes our thinking so that we can go into these injustices with that same light and bear witness to His justice, His mercy, His grace, His healing.

But as long as we're so busy looking at people wagging our finger, well, they are just, they are just, we're missing the boat. And I don't want to be like those churchgoers above the slave dens and pins that they kept people living in that castle in Gotham. I've been there. I've seen the chapel. They were having church while there were slaves down below who were living in despair, stench, filth, squalor, and hopelessness.

And they were right above them having church. We can't do that as believers. We cannot do this.

And if we are to in any way reflect what our Savior did for us, then we will go into these places. And you may not be able to on the level that maybe you'd like to. But that's what you do when you are ministering to anyone who is suffering, to anyone who is impaired, whether they accept it or not. That is not in your purview.

That is not up to you whether they accept it. What's up to you is whether you are going and being obedient and reflecting the Savior who did that for you. And it could be at the bedside of someone with Alzheimer's. It could be someone who is convulsing with the craziness of addiction.

It could be somebody who is suffering from all types of affliction. Scripture does not qualify where we stop with ministering. Scripture just says go. And if you can't go, sometimes then you commission others to go. And that's what this whole network is about. That's what the American Family Association is all about. It goes into these places.

It walks into it boldly. And if you look at all the different programming on here, I don't think there's anything that I'm going to involve Jim on this one. But Jim, I don't think there's any affliction going on with the human condition that this network doesn't cover. Was that a fair statement?

I think so. It's one of the things that we try to do day in and day out. And as you've said several times this morning, we remind people that even in the midst of these times, even in the midst of hopelessness sometimes as a caregiver, we hope that we are doing what we can to point people back to the cross.

And to the salvation that comes through Christ. And I've listened to enough programming. I can't listen 24-7. I've got to sleep at some point and be a caregiver. But I have a pretty good bird's eye view that there is no issue that you guys here, and you're the program director, there is no issue that you guys here shy away from addressing in light of the gospel that is affecting the human. And we do it with specificity. We're not just doing it generically. So if you're dealing with abortion, if you're dealing with, in our case, caregivers, all these kinds of things, it's all there.

Now, I want to also paint a picture before we go to the bottom of the hour here, I want to paint a picture of something. Think about how despairing the disciples were after the crucifixion. I mean, they were basically hiding. They had no concept, even though Jesus had told them it didn't register what was going to happen and what the aftermath would be. And they were horribly afraid because they thought they were next. They saw how brutalized Jesus was, how brutal he was treated. I mean, it was the most, in fact, the cross is so bad that the Romans actually invented a word for it, excruciating. That's the word, the pain of the cross. And they were afraid, they were horribly afraid.

And then flash forward six weeks later, roughly, five weeks later, what happened? Pentecost came. And that's tomorrow, by the way. Tomorrow is Pentecost Sunday. And that's when the Holy Spirit came with such power that these guys were transformed from cowering, fearful people to every one of them, to a man, faced brutal treatment themselves.

And as Paul will say, boast all the more gladly in my weakness. And that every one of them went through tremendous trials and torture, but they did it with the strength of the Holy Spirit. And they went. And they went into places where they were treated poorly, where people did not respond well to the message they had, but they did it out of obedience.

They did it. And in many cases, all but one of them were executed. And they did it with confidence in their Savior through the power of the Holy Spirit. That same power is available to you.

And you can go into the most horrific circumstances if you have a child that is out of control with special needs, and you are so weary beyond belief. You are not ill-equipped to deal with this when you're in Christ. You can do this through the power of Christ.

That's what Philippians means. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. He has commissioned you, and He has equipped you. And we can go and leave that pristine little chapel and go down into the dungeons where the misery of the human condition is with the light of the Gospel.

This is what we do as believers. This is hope for the caregiver. I'm Peter Rosenberger, 888-589-8840. 888-589-8840. We'll be right back. Welcome back to Hope for the Caregiver here on American Family Radio.

This is Peter Rosenberger. This is the show for you as a family caregiver, for you as someone who is knowingly and willingly putting yourself between a vulnerable loved one and even worse, disaster. How are you holding up? How are you doing? 888-589-8840.

888-589-8840. Let me go back to in Ghana. And that's a pretty vivid picture of that slave castle. And the church is up there worshipping while the slaves were down below being told to be quiet so the folks could worship upstairs. That is not the mission and the picture of the church of Jesus Christ. That is not it. That is wrong.

That is antithesis of it. We are to leave that place and go down into the dungeons. That is what our Savior did for us.

He left pristine glory and clothed himself in the human condition. Why should we be any different? What makes us think that that's okay? And so as you're serving someone right now who is not responding to you in the way you would want, look at all that I'm doing, look at all that I'm doing for you. Understand a little clearer of what your Savior did for you and for me. That's our tendency is we tend to somehow think, well, wait a minute, Lord, and get Mary to help me, Martha said. And sometimes I think Martha got a bad rap and I was thinking, Jesus, you know, she was working to serve you guys and Mary's just sitting there. But Jesus said, no, you focus on me. And I guess in some respects it's kind of, you know, you kind of have to wonder if you were in that situation. If Mary is sitting there worshiping Jesus and Martha's running around trying to make dinner, and this is a guy that just fed 5,000 with a couple of pieces of fish and bread.

Martha's thinking, well, maybe he's turned water into wine. So why do I need to run around and act like a chicken with my head cut off and thinking I'm doing something so wonderful when I got the King of Kings and Lord of Lords here? I don't know. Well, that's one of those things we're going to have to ask when we get there. But I was in Ghana another time with our prosthetic limb ministry. If you want to see more about it, it's out at standingwithhope.com. And we've just sent over some resin, purchased some resin to make these prosthetic sockets. We sent over supplies, we got more coming. We're trying to also be able to send some funds over there for some of these patients to be able to buy food and all things.

And you can be a part of that at standingwithhope.com. Go ahead and take a look at it. But I want to tell you one particular story. And this is embarrassing.

I've shared it before, I think, on this station, but I don't know. If I didn't, it's okay. It's worth repeating. It's embarrassing.

And anything that embarrasses me is probably worth repeating because it reminds me of my foolishness. But a young man came into the clinic from Nigeria, but he didn't speak English very well at all. I mean, really, it was really tough to communicate with him. But he looked like a healthy young man, about 25 or so. And he had a prosthetic leg that seemed to be okay with him. And I thought, well, why is this guy here? I mean, he's already got a leg, but we're going to evaluate him anyway, see what's going on.

And I didn't have anybody around, so I just thought, well, we'll take a look and see what's going on. So I had him take his prosthesis off. And he had a gel liner that are used with amputees. You could use a lot of different things, but gel liners go over the amputated limb and it goes into the socket. And that cushions it and forms a seal that you wear with a sleeve that goes over it.

And that's how you keep the leg on, otherwise you have to use a belt system and all that kind of stuff. So he took the gel liner off, and I'm sitting in a chair in front of him. And as he took it off, the stench from this man's leg nearly overpowered me. I mean, it was so bad. And I was right there at it. In fact, I had a buddy of mine that was, I don't know, maybe five or six, seven feet away. And he backed up because it was so bad.

But I'm right there. I mean, I just get it full frontal, man. I mean, and my eyes were watered. It was bad. I thought, this guy must have an abscess. There's some kind of infection. And it turns out, and I kind of plunged through it, and I looked around the amputated limb, and there was no wound.

This is just body odor. He just hadn't cleaned his leg. He hadn't cleaned that liner. He hadn't washed it. But the leg seemed to fit him pretty well, so I wanted to get him a clean liner and a clean sleeve for it.

We got that. And then we provided little bags where they had soaps and things like that to be able to, you know, hygiene things. And I wanted to make sure he understood that he had to wash that liner sleeve and wash his leg. That was really important. He obviously was not doing that. And this young man couldn't speak English. He was a Muslim young man. And he kind of looked at me kind of blankly as I was trying to somehow communicate this, and all the other prosthetists and team members were tied up.

This was late in the afternoon, and everybody was, you know, just busy working. And so I just asked a friend to bring me a bowl of water, and I got a fresh bar of soap. And I demonstrated how to do this by washing this young man's amputated limb. Now, if you told me after 9-11 that I'd be washing the amputated limb of a guy in a faraway country that could be an enemy of my faith, could be an enemy of my country, I'd have thought you were crazy.

But here I was. Washing this young man's amputated limb. And he looked at me. I don't even think he ever said thank you.

But that wasn't the point. Because as I was washing this smelly limb that really stunk to high heaven, I mean, it was awful. And dried it off, I couldn't help but think about how much my own stench made the eyes of Christ water. As a sinner, I couldn't help but think about this is what he did for me. It's a picture. He did far more for me.

But this is a picture of what he did for me. Who am I to withhold this from others? And I know that many of you are caring for someone right now who is not responding to you in the way, they may not even say thank you, may not even be able to say thank you. They may be being a jerk. Who knows? They may be mentally incapacitated, or they may be just spiritually and emotionally incapacitated.

Or physically incapacitated. It doesn't matter. Whatever the scenario is, if you're doing it for a thank you, then you're in the wrong mindset. But if you're doing this out of obedience to Christ and picturing what he's done for you through this, that's where the real growth comes. That's where the real change comes in you. And as you've heard me say over and over and over on this show, and I don't think caregivers need a lot of instruction, but I do think we need a lot of repetition. I know I do.

And I'm 34 years into this, so I can't be the only one. But it's not about feeling better about these things. We're never going to feel better about the misery of the human condition of our own and those of our brothers and sisters. We're never going to feel better about what happened in Minneapolis or other places that it's been going on and all the things that are going on around us.

We're never going to feel better about what this virus has done to our world and our lives. But we can be better. We can be better. How do we do that? Do we somehow get together and sing some kind of We Are the World song?

No. We go back to the fundamentals of our faith, and we understand the concept of what Christ did for us. And then we communicate that to others.

We leave the chapel and go to the dungeon. Whether we can do that physically, or whether we can commission other people to do it. That's what we do. That's why this network exists.

That's why I do the channel. If we are so busy insulating ourselves and feeling better about our own lives, that we wall out the cries of those just within earshot so that we can sing a hymn a little bit louder, so that we can get our praise on, so that we can get our spiritual blessing, then we're missing the whole point. The servant is not greater than the master. And the master knelt down and washed smelly feet. The master took up a cross and asked us to do the same thing. That's hard theology, but it's correct. It's painful, but it's right.

And it's scriptural. This is what he says to do. If you don't like it, deal with him. Because he has five things that he's looking for.

Sick, naked, hungry, thirsty, prison. That's what he's looking for. And he's pretty serious about it. Go back and look at his words. Don't take my word for it. Look at his words. This is what he said.

This is what he did. So as we care for our loved ones, this is the picture we keep in mind. This is Hope for the Caregiver. 888-589-8840. 888-589-8840. I'm Peter Rosenberger. We'll be right back.

We'll be right back. Welcome back to Hope for the Caregiver here on American Family Radio. This is the show for caregivers about caregivers hosted by a caregiver. I am Peter Rosenberger bringing you three plus decades of experience to help you stay strong and healthy as you take care of someone who is not. How are you feeling? 888-589-8840.

888-589-8840. And that song by Keith Green, who I grew up on, Keith Green, just an extraordinary song. You put this love in my heart. That's the whole point.

If you think you can do this on your own, if you think you can manufacture the kind of love it takes to be a caregiver, you're going to be disappointed. It is, people said, you know, I'm not telling, let me back up. Let me say this better because I'm stumbling over this word.

I don't know many atheists in this foxhole. And it is a, you could screw up the courage to somehow do this for about, you know, X amount of time. But after a certain point, you're going to have to, you're going to have to, you're just going to be depleted. You won't be able to sustain it. And, you know, I'm in my fourth decade of this now, I guess, completed three full decades, three and a half decades.

That's a long time. And you learn over time that you just don't have it in you to maintain this. And He did put this love in our hearts, and that's kind of the whole point. And that's the point of this particular message and show today. As I'm watching all these things going around, we cannot insulate ourselves from this. We, as believers, must go into it, whether we like it or not, whether we want to or not, whether we find it distasteful or not. That is our journey.

That is our calling. Now you would say, well, Peter, I can't go anywhere. I'm landlocked. Well, no, you can't.

Physically sometimes. And that's why being a part of this station may be the only way you can do that. But that's an important way. Because we are going into it. We are doing it. And we're going to keep doing it.

You know, I did the different programming on those. A. Ableton, you know, I look forward to his insights and thoughts on what's going on. He just puts his finger on the nation. And I look at Sandy Rios and just go through all of them down the line here on a global level.

John Riley with his report on Israel and all the things that are going on globally. We're addressing here. And the point is, is that, you know, we cannot just insulate ourselves from these things.

We must go into it with the clarity of the gospel. What does that look like? What does that mean?

What is that picture of us that's doing this? And that's why we do the show. That's why we do all these things to make sure that people can understand clearly. Now, I'm not responsible for results. And neither are you.

We're responsible to be obedient. And that's what he's going to ask us. Again, his words, not mine. His words, not mine. My words are irrelevant. His words are not. My opinion is irrelevant.

His is not. And so we have to answer to him. And we have to be willing to have that conversation with our brothers and sisters. And those who are not yet are brothers and sisters. And just go and be obedient to it and speak into it. Not judging. Not just wagging our finger or not trying to insulate ourselves from these things. But be willing to listen and to be willing to walk into suffering.

Just like he did. Let's see if we can go to the phones. Judy in Texas. Judy, good morning. How are you feeling? Good morning. How am I feeling? I asked you first, Judy.

This is what's unique. For some years I was a caregiver for my mother and for grandchildren and so on and so on. But the last five years I'm it. I'm the one supposed to be getting the care now. I cannot walk because complications of many things in the spine.

One doctor wants to do a hip surgery which will not help. And I know that God has a miracle. And my husband is my caregiver. How's your husband doing?

One who has never had to care except to be cared for himself. So where is he? Right now where is he?

Yes, ma'am. He's still sleeping. Well, let him sleep. Yes, let him sleep. The learning curve is steep for caregivers. Tell him he can call the show anytime he wants. Okay. And I'll be glad to have that conversation with him because I get it.

And the learning curve is steep, particularly if you've never done it before. And here he is. How old a fellow is he? Well, he just turned 80. Well, be patient with him, okay? At 80, it's very hard to learn these skill sets at any age.

But at 80, I imagine it's going to be a little harder. Well, that's very true. And God has given me the grace since I am actually a chaplain. I say people can call me and talk. I'm the one laying on the couch. And it's a unique position to be in. But I pray for you, your wife, your ministry.

And I can understand it inside out. Would you do something for me, Judy? Yes. Would you pray for your husband? Absolutely. Pray for him. Oh, yes.

This is an entire world shift for him to watch. How long have you all been married? 59 years.

Okay. He's watching his wife now of almost 60 years go through all these challenges. And he's trying to figure out, at 80, trying to figure all this out. That's right. But as you pray for him, I want you to specifically, I'm asking you specifically, pray that he get a picture of what it's like as Christ is the caregiver of a wounded bride himself.

Yes. And that's who I dedicate in my book, Hope for the Caregiver. Solus Christus, the ultimate caregiver of a wounded bride. Because we are all a wounded bride and he's getting a picture of Christ as he cares for you. And understanding what Christ does for his wounded bride. And I have a wounded bride myself. And so I get the concept.

Now, I don't get it on a huge level like I'd like to, but I'm starting to get the picture of it. And so this is going to be tough for your husband. And be kind with him, be gracious with him. And thank him always. Well, ask him how he's doing.

Ask him how he's feeling. By the way, do you have your radio on? Oh, yeah. Can you turn that off so we won't have an echo? Oh. And that's okay.

But when you call into the show, sometimes if you've got your radio on, then it'll echo back. But pray for him and be gracious with him. And understand that he's going through a myriad of different kinds of feelings and emotions and not sure quite how to process them. Like I said, it's a steep learning curve to care for another human being, particularly one that when you guys have had a lifetime together, 60 years is a long time. When's your anniversary? December 30th. December 30th.

It'll be 60 years then? Yeah. That's awesome, Judy. That's awesome. That's a miracle.

There are lots of miracles all around. When I write my book, I'll send you a copy. Well, I'd love to read it. That would be delightful. Judy, I appreciate you calling. Let him sleep in this morning. Oh, always. I never wake one up. No, no. Did you wake up grumpy this morning?

Nah, let him sleep. That's an old joke. Be careful with that joke.

It's an antique. Judy, thanks so much for the call. I appreciate it. Are they going to do surgery on you? No, no, no, no, no. Just pray for the miracle. There's much more to the story, but just pray for the miracle. The miracle's already happened.

Oh, yeah. In seasons of distress and grief, my soul is often found relief. We're going to have broken, disease-ridden, pain-filled bodies. The miracle's already happened, and that happened at the cross. And everything else gets reframed by that. And so I just want us to keep that in mind, that the miracle's already happened. And yes, I do believe that God heals and does all kinds of extraordinary things, and he's always working around us.

But there's other things that are going on besides this, too, and there's a lot of suffering in this world. And so the miracle is that we're able to go into that suffering with the light of the gospel, because he has transformed our lives. And your husband is learning a whole new level of miracle, is that he's embracing the heart of Christ a little bit differently than he ever has before, because he's looking at his bride now and sharing in the sufferings of Christ who looks at his wounded bride. So, Judy, I appreciate the call so very much, and thank you for listening, and ask your husband to call.

No kidding, okay? And thank you, and I appreciate you and your wife, and praise you. Thank you very much, Judy. I appreciate that. This is hope for the caregiver.

This is Peter Rosenberg. Healthy caregivers make better caregivers, and part of being healthy is to understand clearly our mission and who commissioned us to do it, that we are to leave the pristine and go into the dungeon, and then the dungeon becomes transformed into the church. I'd love to tell you that I came up with that all by myself, but I didn't. I stole every bit of that from Diane Langberg, who I hope to have on this show in the near future from a new book that I'm reading, Suffering in the Heart of God, and that is Our Savior's Heart as He understands the plight that we live in. We'll see you next week. Hope for the caregiver, doc.