Power of the Powerless, The - Softcover

De Vinck, Christopher

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0310486912 ISBN 13: 9780310486916

Publisher: Zondervan, 1995

Synopsis

De Vinck's true account of his severely handicapped brother's life is a powerful, inspirational statement on the value of life.

About this title

About the Author

Christopher de Vinck is the author of several books, notably Threads of Paradise, Simple Wonders, and The Power of the Powerless. His articles have appeared in Reader's Digest, Guideposts, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. He lives with his wife, Roe, and their three children, David, Karen, and Michael, in Pompton Plains, NJ.

From the Back Cover

Oliver . . . the author's brother who lay in the same bed for 33 years, unable to see, walk, communicate, or feed himself. The child who outlived two of the doctors who said he would not live beyond the age of eight. The immobile child who touched the lives of hundreds and taught them the true meaning of courage and perseverance. The Power of the Powerless is a doorway into the deep lessons of life, love, and faith Christopher de Vinck learned from his brother Oliver. It is a moving testimony to the power God demonstrates in the weakest vessels. It poignantly affirms the immeasurable worth of every person. And it attests powerfully to God's triumphant grace, which transformed adversity into an altar of love and bound a family together in a household of joy.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Introduction Henri J. M. Nouwen A few years ago Christopher de Vinck came to visit me for a few days. At that time I was teaching at Harvard Divinity School. I will never forget that visit because Chris was a visitor quite different from most. I was used to receiving people who wanted to share their struggle, who were looking for advice in a project, who were trying to find a publisher for their writing, or who hoped that I could participate in a seminar, a conference, or a workshop. But Chris was not that kind of visitor. As soon as he entered the house, I and my friends who were there experienced something refreshingly new. Chris had no great questions, problems, or plans. He just came to tell us how beautiful life is, in case we had forgotten. He was so light, sunny, open, uncomplicated, and in love that it seemed as if he came from another world. While we had become used to agonizing about the meaning of friendship, the struggles of marriage and the single life, the wisdom of having children, the depressing state of the economy, the endless conflicts in Central America and the Middle East, and the threat of a nuclear war, Chris seemed to step beyond all of that and say, Look how beautiful life is! He didn t say it so much with words as with his whole presence. He was so radiant, so simple, so transparent that I felt embarrassed by my own and my friends seriousness. He seemed like a messenger of good news, stepping into my world from another orbit. He spoke mostly about love love for his parents, his wife, his three children, his poetry, his high school students, his friends, and all that is created. His heart was so full of love that he seemed unable to say anything hostile about anybody. Whatever I said or did, he was able to say something good about it, even while I was doubtful, anxious, or confused. As he stayed with me, I started to think about him as Nathanael whom Jesus called a man in whom there is no deception. When he left, I had that strange feeling of having been visited by an angel of God. All of this may sound very sentimental, and a longer stay of Chris de Vinck might have made me more aware of his shadows. But he did not stay longer, and what I saw and felt was very real. I had become aware of a way of seeing the world that I had not experienced for a long time. Chris s eyes and ears were seeing and hearing what many people do not see and hear. When I read The Power of the Powerless, in which he tells the story of his brother Oliver and the stories of Lauren, Anthony, and Paul, I immediately recognized that only Chris could have written it. It is so full of wonderment, amazement, gratitude, joy, peace, and renewal of life that nobody but a person with a special eye and a special ear could have written it. Because about whom does Chris write? He writes about four very handicapped people, people who suffered from several physical and mental deformations, people who by many are considered misfits, vegetables, tragic flaws of nature, people about whom many feel that it would have been better if they had not been born. But for Chris these people are God s messengers, they are the divine instruments of God s healing presence, they are the ones who bring truth to a society full of lies, light into the darkness, and life into a death-oriented world. Everything this book reveals seems contrary to common sense. How can a young man who cannot see, walk, talk, feed himself, or communicate in any way and who is on his back in his bed until he dies at the age of thirty-two how can such a person be the most life-giving presence in the family? But that is how Chris saw his own brother Oliver, and that, too, is how Chris came to see the lives of Lauren, Anthony, and Paul whose families he visited. The Power of the Powerless breaks with all human logic, all intelligent predictions, all normal norms of success and satisfaction. It turns everything upside down. It speaks not only about the power of the powerless but also about love offered by those who cannot speak words of love, joy created by those whose lives are complete failures, courage enkindled by those who cannot make the slightest move on their own. In a world that so much wants to control life and decides what is good, healthy, important, valuable, and worthwhile, this book makes the shocking observation that what is hidden from the wise and the learned is revealed to little children (Matt. 11:25). Chris summarizes it all when he writes, If Oliver had never been born, I wouldn t have the same joys and fears and secrets I dream about today. There was a substance in the house of Oliver beyond science and philosophy and theology, for these are man-made explanations. We always feel a need to explain, to touch and hold evidence. We often feel confident that we can make decisions in the present that will guarantee comfortable results in the future. Those guarantees never exist, unless the choices we make embrace the fire in an act of love (Chapter 15, p. 133). That, too, was the final discovery of those who lived with and loved Lauren, Anthony, and Paul

Edition details

• Publisher: Zondervan
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0310486912
• ISBN 13: 9780310486916
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 160