PEOPLE DON'T CARE HOW MUCH YOU KNOW...

NOW, OUR VIEWS: 

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PEOPLE DON'T CARE HOW MUCH YOU KNOW...
UNTIL THEY KNOW HOW MUCH YOU CARE!

 

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"The Medium is the Message" – an expression made famous by Marshall McLuhan – revolves around the idea of the form that a message is in is the most important part of the message rather than its actual written message. Cramped or sloppy formatting, clumsy wording, or clashing colors can all nullify the message you want to communicate.

So it is with the Gospel: if the preacher is shouting and yelling in a harsh tone, it's hardly Good News to hear. In contrast, the Lord Jesus is "God's love with skin on" – God in the flesh, Who ministered to "the lame, blind, mute, and maimed" (Mat. 15:30). Our job as followers of Jesus the Messiah is to figure out how to put skin on the Gospel message of God's love, to show how much we care, not just how much we know.

Many think that when someone becomes disabled, that person just goes from the hospital to a nursing home, but there's a much wider spectrum of care. Several kinds of caring facilities exist: home care, respite care for family caregivers, independent living, assisted living, nursing homes, rehab facilities, and hospice care. And several aspects of care exist:

  * Hiring a senior caregiver on your own can be cheaper than using an agency – save the overhead of paying an agency's fees
  * 9 Caregiver Support Groups that Help Caregivers in Need – CaringBridge: caring for the caregivers
  * 2023 Guide to Home Care for Seniors... and Get Paid – search for assisted living and memory care for a loved one
  * How To Earn Your Home Health Aide (HHA) Certification – become a certified Home Health Aide
  * How Long Does It Take To Become a CNA? (With Other FAQs): short answer – 4 to 8 weeks, but there's more...
  * How to Become a Certified Nursing Assistant – What Is a CNA and what do they do?

And we must not forget that "The Medium is the Message" – the type of a home's or a healthcare building's architecture greatly affects how and what kind of people can use it. Our son, an architect, included this phrase in his master's thesis: "We shape our buildings, and then they shape us" – a quote by Winston Churchill who was not only a statesman but also an artist and amateur architect.

There are many ways to make homes and commercial buildings accessible for all, or inclusive – for both able-bodied and disabled people: see the article 20 DESIGN TIPS FOR A WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBLE HOME. We need to rethink how both exterior and interior design, including sloped sidewalks or ramps into buildings for ground floor and second floor, elevators with at least 30-inch-wide doors, 36-inch-wide doorways without thresholds, door handles instead of doorknobs, electrical outlets 24 inches from floor, enough knee space under tables, sinks, and countertops for someone in a wheelchair, and much more!

These are just a few ways we can incarnate Christ's Good News – "God's love with skin on" – God in the flesh, in the Body of Christ!

 

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