When Lightning Strikes Twice.pdf

An Interview With Pastor Kempton Turner About the Sovereignty of God and a Severely Disabled Son

What happened on February 9, 2003?
It was a Sunday night. The pain that my precious wife, Caryn, had been experiencing throughout her entire pregnancy reached an unbearable climax. I remember her being on the floor in front of the couch in anguish, crying out to God for mercy. I called the doctor and he told us to rush to the nearest hospital. The next day, our first child, Christian Anthony, was born at 25 weeks (3½ months early), 1 lb, 13.4 oz and 13 inches long. He remained in the Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit of the hospital for 135 days before finally arriving home.

What happened a few months later?
After Caryn and I witnessed what we believed to be a small seizure, we made an appointment for Christian to see a neurologist. We will not soon forget the stabbing words that came from the neurologist’s mouth when he said to us, “It looks like your family has been struck by lightning twice.”

Twice?
Yes, the first being the premature birth. The second being Sturge-Weber syndrome.

What is Sturge-Weber syndrome?
It is a non-hereditary malformation of the blood vessels in the brain while in the womb, which has caused our little Christian to have glaucoma, seizures, severe mental retardation, as well as significant developmental delays. Although Christian is almost 7 years old, cognitively he’s at about 10 months, does not talk at all, and still wears diapers.

What was the initial response that you and Caryn had to that dreadful news?
Devastation, heartache, and pain. However, we began to perceive that God was beginning to shred our self-centeredness through our suffering that he might make us God-centered in our suffering…

Come let us return to the LORD, for he has torn us, THAT he may heal us [like a loving surgeon as a part of his merciful design, not as an evil serial killer’s mass destruction]; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up (Hosea 6:1).

Although at first the neurologist’s words landed on us like an 18-wheeler from a 10-story building, his words were also the means of great hope for us—we know that according to Scripture God is sovereign and in control of everything, even lightning bolts (see Job 37:1–5). Therefore, God tells his “lightning bolts of suffering” when and where to strike (even twice, in our case), and they obey him because he is Lord and he is good (see Job 2:10).

You are crushed by this 18-wheeler … and God is still good?
Yes, God is immeasurably good, but according to his eternal definition of goodness: He uses evil for good (Genesis 50:20), he does good (Psalm 119:68), he gives what is good (James 1:17), and he works all things for the good of his elect! (Romans 8:28).

So, how are you able to hold up in the midst of such a heavy and painful and life-long trial?
We are not able to “hold up.” We are “held up” by the God of Isaiah 41:10 who says, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Jesus, our Creator-Savior, who “holds all things together,” holds us up “by the word of his power”! (Colossians 1:17, Hebrews 1:3). Are we sometimes depressed and discouraged? Yes. But we preach the Word to ourselves, “Soul, hope in God!” (Psalm 42:5–6) and God’s word produces a happy hope in our hearts again and again, even unto this day.

So God allowed this?
No, God did it, not just allowed it. The Bible says so in passages like Exodus 4:11, Psalm 139:13, and John 9:3. It was God’s good and purposeful design to create Christian just the way he is for our good and His glory.

Why would a loving and good God do such a thing to his own New Covenant people?
Here are some of the countless reasons that come to mind:

• To help us not to go “astray,” so that we might really “learn his statutes” (Psalm 119:67, 71).
• To move us from self-reliance to God-reliance (2 Corinthians 1:8–10).
• To help us to know Jesus in “his power” by tasting a little of “his suffering” (Philippians 3:10).
• To draw us deeper into the partaking of his holiness and righteousness (Hebrews 12:10–11).
• To show off his infinite value and worth to the world through his trusting children that he is more desirable than ability and health and comfort (Job 1–42).
• To mature us in the faith so that we would lack nothing in Christ (James 1:2–4).
• To glorify his Son and bring about eternal good for his predestined people (Romans 8:28–29).

Caryn and I believe that this fleeting life is not mainly about what happens to us as God’s blood-bought children, but about why what happens to us happens to us—namely it is all for God’s glory (Romans 11:36).

How would you encourage others who have experienced some kind of disability in their family or, for that matter, any kind of suffering?

Run to Jesus Christ and to a local gospel-centered church that proclaims a glorious biblical vision of the sovereign and sweet God of Scripture who works for his people’s good, especially in suffering, all to the end that Jesus Christ might be eternally enjoyed and exalted!

Kempton Turner

Taken from excerpts of a KTIS radio interview on April 8, 2009.