“For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” — John 4:24
My wife and I first met Tait Berge years ago at a Christian Writers Conference in Estes Park, Colorado. He was from Colorado Springs. Tait was probably in his early thirties at the time and had been disabled from his teenage years with cerebral palsy, a debilitating neurological and muscular disease. He’d lost a lot of his muscle control and lived life during the day in a motorized wheel chair. Someone had to dress him each day and take him to where he needed to be. He had to be loaded in his wheel chair and taken out again at the end of the day.
Because he’d lost most of the use of his muscles, he had difficulty holding his head upright for long and to raise his legs required a motorized lift in his chair. He struggled mightily to use his almost paralyzed hands, which only after a painful and time consuming effort, allowed his fingers to reach their intended goal. Tait, however, had a fine mind—and he, like the rest of us, was aspiring to be a writer—although he was mostly trapped inside his body.
Every morning at the conference we started with a worship service and a Bible study, which was attended by about 250 people. On the last day of the meeting we were seated close to Tait and we found ourselves worshipping with him as he strained to sing every note of praise. We listened to his labor of love, as his voice finally responded with a sound. The verse of the song was long gone before he could utter a word but his eyes and smile told us that the song was in his heart. We watched his twisted hands as he struggled to raise them in the air, as a symbol of praise to our King. We somehow knew he would succeed on his own—and he did. Tait Berge was a follower of Jesus!
In my last church before I retired as their Pastor, I sometimes would go to the back of the sanctuary during worship and watch the people. Body language can tell you a lot. Some appeared to be consumed with the worship, while others seemed like they couldn’t wait until it was over, as they looked around with arms folded. Thinking back on those days, I wish Tait Berge had been a member of our church. Many in our congregation would have learned a lot from him about true worship. He became one of our heroes that day!
The years have since past and I found myself wondering what ever happened to Tait? Is he still with us? Did he succeed in his writing desire? So, I did what all of us do when we seek information these days—I “Googled” his name and there he was—with a big smile on his face and still following Jesus. Please take a look at his webpage before you go on your way today. I know you’ll be inspired as well. — Maranatha!
Nuggets of Truth is a weekly devotional to help us walk closer
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