Below is the devotional speech I shared at a church in Roseville, California last month to a group of young adults with a variety of special needs, most of them severely disabled.

I have a friend named Dana. When she was your age she was in church. And the church service was starting with a prayer. So, it was really quiet because everyone had bowed their heads and closed their eyes. The only person talking was the pastor doing the prayer. And right in the middle of the prayer my friend Dana accidentally lets out this great big toot. That’s right, she farted in church.

                She felt so bad. She was very embarrassed. She didn’t mean to do it, it just kind of snuck up on her and before she knew it, it was too late. The church was super quiet, so everyone heard it. And the church was crowded so everybody smelled it. People started laughing because it was funny, and they were surprised that someone would fart in church.

                Now after Dana farted in church, some of her friends began to treat her differently. They decided they can’t be her friend anymore because she embarrassed them. She did something uncool, she farted in church. And they made fun of her and stopped being her friend.

                How do you think that made my friend Dana feel? It made her feel horrible. Her feelings were hurt. She felt sad and hurt by the people who stopped being her friends and she felt embarrassed because she had accidentally done something she didn’t mean to do. Fart in church!

                Dana learned a valuable Bible lesson in that hurt and embarrassment. What she learned is as easy as counting to ten. Yep, as easy as counting to ten. You know what helped her continue to be nice to her friends even though they weren’t being nice to her? And do you know what helped her forgive herself for doing something embarrassing? It was a Bible verse that taught her she couldn’t do those things on her own, she had to have help. And she taught it to herself by counting to ten.

                I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS ME.

                One word for each finger. 10 fingers. 10 words. I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS ME. It is a verse out of the Bible, Philippians 4:13.

                Dana realized when she asked Jesus to help her, she was able to relax about her embarrassment and forgive her friends for being mean.

                I had a similar experience where I needed Jesus’ help, too. I was extremely sick. I had a super bad stomachache. I mean it was bad. I was groaning in pain, rolling back and forth on my couch holding my tummy. I didn’t know if I needed to throw up or go potty or both. I couldn’t talk I was in so much pain. But I remembered what my friend Dana had learned and in my head I started to count to ten. I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS ME. I wasn’t doing a very good job of dealing with the belly pain but I knew that Jesus could help me so I just started saying over and over in my head, I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS ME. And you know what? I survived. Not only did I survive, I started calming down and I started focusing on Jesus instead of the pain and he helped me endure it until the pain eventually went away.

                We can learn from my friend Dana the value of counting to ten. I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS ME.

                If our friends hurt us and treat us bad, we can still be nice to them because I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS ME.

               

                When we do something silly and embarrassing Jesus can help us forgive ourselves because, say it with me,  I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS ME.

                And when we are sick and in pain, we know we can get through it because I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS ME.

                I learned a lot from my friend Dana and her counting exercise and from my own experience when I was sick. But there’s another person in my life who has taught me even more about those ten words. That’s my son Parker.

                Parker is 13 years old but when he was born, he was really sick. He was diagnosed with a lot of illnesses, autism, cerebral palsy, a cyst on his brain, developmental delay and up to 50 percent of his brain didn’t develop in the womb. If we pretend that most people have a brain the size of a football, Parker was born with a brain the size of a baseball. The doctors weren’t sure if Parker would live or if he would ever walk or talk or crawl. But Parker has done all of that and more, not by himself but because he knows that I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS ME. Parker is my inspiration and he reminds me every day of that verse in Philippians 4:13.  I want to end with a poem I wrote about Parker when he was six years old and I wrote it to remind myself that however challenging life gets, I just need to remember my son and his ability to count to ten.

                When you think it can’t be done

                Just remember my son.

                Born with half a brain.

                A life destined for pain.

                They said he might not walk.

                And possibly not talk.

                We wondered would he crawl.

                Or ever throw a ball.

                But lots of people prayed.

                Daily progress he has made.

                And now at age of six

                He runs and throws and kicks.

                Don’t tell me you can’t do it.

                That there’s too much to go through it.

                You haven’t met my son.

                He’s proof it can be done.