From Paralysis to Walking by Faith
In July we are focused on our 2026 theme “Walk by Faith.” Sunday, Perris Jones shared with us about his journey of faith, how God guided him through one challenge after another throughout his life. I was at the UofL vs UVA game when Perris was paralyzed. It was a scary moment for everyone in the stadium. You never want to see that happen to a promising young athlete with his whole life ahead of him. They wheeled him off the field and the game went on and, it’s sad to say, but I didn’t think much about him after that till I saw the news story that he had walked (by faith) out of U of L Hospital three weeks later. His life had radically changed, but for the rest of us, life just went on.
One of the things Perris said Sunday that stuck with me is the importance of being grateful for the little things, for the many moments God gives us that we take for granted. Perris said, “I’m grateful I can brush my teeth… because there was a time when I wasn’t able to.” (Because his arms weren’t working yet).
I can’t think of the last time I was grateful I could brush my teeth (though others have been grateful I did). If one can walk in gratitude moment by moment, that mindset will radically change your day. Dallas Willard writes of a man, Frank Laubach, who sought to submit the entirety of his life, moment by moment, to Christ: “In January of 1930 he began to cultivate the habit of turning his mind to Christ for one second out of every minute. After only four weeks he reported, ‘I feel simply carried along each hour, doing my part in a plan which is far beyond myself. This sense of cooperation with God in little things is what so astonished me, for I never have felt it this way before.'”
One of the ways we move toward moment by moment dependence is to move past our blame shifting. As a walk-on, Perris had everything stacked against him in his college football career. When he called his dad to complain, his dad said, “you can’t give over control of your life to someone else. You have to take control of what you can and trust God to guide you.” Perris stopped complaining, and found a way to do what he could to put himself in a place to succeed, by studying the plays and putting in extra training. Perris no longer blamed the coach or his circumstances, but took charge of his own life, moment by moment.
That mindset reminded me of a quote from Tim Keller I shared during our sermon on the church in Sardis: “Repentance is the way we make progress in the Christian life. It is the key to growing deeply and steadily into the character of Jesus…. Just as real repentance begins only where blame shifting ends, so it also begins where self-pity ends, and we start to turn from our sin out of love for God rather than mere self-interest.”
In what ways might God be calling you to put aside blame-shifting and embrace repentance and gratitude today? I believe we are a church that walks in gratitude, but I know I have much growing to do to have that kind of moment by moment gratitude that Perris and Dallas talked about. The more we become a grateful church, the more God will use Valley View to reach the South End of Louisville!