Bluestem Project

"I would rather have cerebral palsy and know Jesus, than have legs that worked and spend my life running away from him."

Diagnosed with spastic diplegia cerebral palsy, Paul has persevered through progressive disability, overcome countless surgeries, and remains enduring chronic fatigue and pain. His life is marred by challenges and limitations. Paul's burdens are great and God has met him in his pain, suffering, and loneliness. God's character and His promises remain the only true source of hope and joy to fight the unrelenting battle of disability.

Listen in on how God tends Paul's soul as Paul tends the physical body God ordained for him. It is sure to help lift our eyes in our own suffering.

Medical hardships can leave us feeling crushed on every side. No matter where you turn, you're up against it all. Hard to catch your breath at the onslaught of challenges. What's more, maybe you're misunderstood and even wrongly accused while you endure relentless suffering.

When it seems everywhere you turn is an uphill battle, you are not alone.

In what looks to the world like the weakest, most pathetic culmination of events for Jesus' life, his mockery remained unrelenting. While humbly baring it all on the cross, not even recognizable, the verbal assaults persisted. Namely being accused of lacking physical strength and ability to come down from the cross and questioning his faith + trust is the Father to enable him to end it all. Yet as the insults and false claims spewed in his face persist, they were blind to see that Jesus is in fact using incredible strength fueled by love, for them even, TO STAY.

In 2 Corinthians 12:9, Paul charges us with words from the Lord that His power is made perfect in [our] weakness. The Lord and His strength is on the most magnificent display in our weakness, when we are crushed and persecuted.

Listen in as Brandon unpacks this profound reality as we consider Jesus and be encouraged to press on.

No one deserved to suffer less, yet no one has suffered more.

The scene is familiar. Despite familiarity, the scene is jarring. Jesus brutally mocked, mistreated, and ridiculed so that we wouldn't have to be. Jesus endured an unjust penalty so we can escape a just penalty.

He was not helpless, it was with incredible strength and great restraint that Jesus willfully surrendered his life to these events as a Good Shepherd lays down his life for his helpless sheep.

We should be moved by this scene. We should be rocked by this scene. We should be humbled by this scene. We should be grateful for this scene.

Join Brandon as he delves deeper into the poignant details of Jesus' mockery by an entire battalion of nearly 600 men leading up to his death and how we can consider Jesus as the antidote to our own weariness {especially} in relationship to Him for energy and strength for the body while we suffer physically, emotionally, mentally, etc.

Every human heart has the same themes/fears deeply rooted that echo in our veins. We seek justice and compassion. When those things go awry, there is outcry.

Jesus, the God man, perfect in every way stood before the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, and experienced the most severe wrongful conviction case known to mankind. Jesus endured the greatest injustice the world has ever known. Jesus suffered at the hands of a ruthlessly unjust authority after being ridiculed and handed over by those he came to seek and save.

Let us consider Jesus and find comfort and strength from him, so as to not become weary and faint-hearted.

Jesus persevered throughout relentless suffering from each generation of authority in his lifetime. Hate for Jesus was passed on from father to son, and within marriages, as though it was a badge of honor to disregard and oppose Jesus. He faced constant opposition yet faithfully and fearlessly remained steadfast, even while enemies bonded over their hate for him.

Jesus endured so that we might have life, and life abundant. Jesus endured so that we might have hope, and hope secure. Jesus endured so that we might have joy, and joy overflowing.

Jesus endured that we might be able to look to Jesus as we also endure our own trials and tribulations. We can enjoy these truths and connection with Christ only through a personal relationship with Jesus. May we consider Jesus and all he has done for us.

From the very beginning of Jesus' life, those in high positions of authority felt threatened by him. Jesus, infant baby Jesus, born as the light of the world, had a target on his back and Herod attempted to extinguish this light while he was yet a small candle flicker before he had burst into glorious blaze.

God the Father protects His beloved son through extravagant means (power over dreams, miraculous celestial occurrence and precision, and wise men). Jesus, the King, did survive. God delivered him so that he might live a remarkable life and die a heroic, planned, and purposeful death. He establishes his kingship despite the earthly kinds that wanted him dead from the very beginning of his life.

While Herod acknowledged Jesus as a king, he worked to eliminate him. One day, everyone will acknowledge Jesus as Lord, and bow before him.

Might we rightly consider the hostility of authority through the lens of all Jesus endured.

"Just because they carry it well, doesn't mean its' not heavy." To walk the medical journey is nothing short of hard and heavy. It is an upheaval to life physically, emotionally, and mentally. Despite how well someone appears to walk the medically challenging or special needs road the Lord has laid out of them, it is unbearable alone.

As families in the throws of medical hardship and special needs, you may have a sense of constant disappointment (personally over our own lives limitations and certainly even acutely from those around us). It is hard to commit to things, hard to follow through with things, and often hard to live beyond bare minimum or just getting by due to the perpetual state of a rollercoaster life.

When those closest to you, those you might assume know you best, fail to actually know you in character, understand you, or believe the best in you, the relational pain can be excruciating.

Jesus is not far off. Jesus can sympathize with whatever relational strain you may be facing with your family. Jesus was the only person ALWAYS in the right, always in his right mind, yet was accused of the latter regularly, even by his own family. Being misunderstood and rejected is all too familiar to Jesus, he can relate. He knows and cares for us as we endure the same.

This journey is unbearable alone. Not always will those closest to us understand. We must fix our eyes on Jesus to sustain us. We must surrender our lives to him in order that HE carries the burden that is unbearable to carry.

Join Brandon as he continues in the Considering Jesus series as he delves into one of the most relatable topics.

Misunderstood. Misperceived. Mislabeled.

How painful it is to fall into these camps. Jesus knows, too.

Jesus had a very specific mission and the rejection in it. He came to seek, serve, and save the very people that ridiculed him and misbelieved.

Might we find our hope in Christ alone. May his life, of one who endured much, be cause for our own endurance. He alone endows our suffering with transcendent meaning and purpose. Let us fix our eyes on His reward (looking through our hardship) to future joy.

There are countless times along the journey in medical hardship and special needs that can feel like we are sprinting a marathon. How are we to endure as the journey wages on?

Might we find our hope in Christ alone. May his life, of one who endured much, be cause for our own endurance. He alone endows our suffering with transcendent meaning and purpose. Let us fix our eyes on His reward (looking through our hardship) to future joy.

Join the conversation as Brandon delves into a series on Considering Jesus - weighing all the hardship he endured in order to put our own hardships in perspective of eternity and find comfort in the one who is acquainted with hardship himself.

Rest is one of the most neglected concepts to live out. It can seem elusive, unnecessary, or even impossible to find rest. So how can we look to God to provide this rest? Can He truly provide physical, spiritual, emotional rest for our weary souls?

Join the conversation as Brandon takes us from Old Testament to New Testament to hear how God takes care of His people by graciously and generously providing for their needs, including rest. Understand how you can have access to enter eternal spiritual rest no matter what life's circumstances you find yourself in.