Join Dr. James Dobson and his long-time friend Johnny Erickson Tada in an inspiring conversation that delves into her journey of faith, resilience, and ministry. Johnny, a quadriplegic since the age of 17 due to a diving accident, shares how this life-changing event has fueled her dedication to advocating for the disabled and spreading the love of Christ. Listen as they explore her latest book, ‘The Practice of the Presence of Jesus’, and the profound impact it can have in nurturing one’s faith.
00:17:58 Inspiration Behind The Practice of the Presence of Jesus
SPEAKER 02 :
Hello, everyone. You’re listening to Family Talk, a radio broadcasting ministry of the James Dobson Family Institute. I’m Dr. James Dobson, and thank you for joining us for this program.
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, welcome to Family Talk, the broadcast division of the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute. I’m Roger Marsh, and in just a moment, we’re going to hear another entry from our 2025 Best of Broadcast Collection, a powerful conversation featuring Dr. Dobson and his special guest, Johnny Erickson Tada. Now, if you’re not familiar with her story, Johnny became a lifelong quadriplegic after a diving accident in the Chesapeake Bay when she was only 17 years of age. Rather than let it ruin her life, Johnny, with God’s help and strength, used this tragedy to fuel a lifetime of ministry and outreach to people living with disability. And today, her nonprofit ministry, Johnny and Friends, has been serving people with disability for over 45 years. I had the privilege of joining Dr. Dobson in the studio for this interview. He had been recovering from a lengthy illness, and it was his first time back in the saddle, as we say, back in April of 2024. It was a final opportunity for Dr. Dobson to interview Johnny Erickson Tata, who was a dear friend of his over the years. And they were so excited for the opportunity to talk about the remarkable book that Johnny had written called The Practice of the Presence of Jesus, a daily devotional based on the timeless wisdom of the 17th century monk, Brother Lawrence. Now, before we begin, I want to remind you about an incredible opportunity happening right now here at Family Talk. We have a special matching grant in effect, and when you make a donation of any amount to support the ministry and receive the 2025 Best of Broadcast collection, your ministry gift will be doubled. I’ll have more information on that later in the program. Right now, though, let’s get into part one of this unforgettable conversation featuring Johnny Erickson-Totta and Dr. James Dobson here on Family Talk.
SPEAKER 02 :
Roger, I am really excited about this day. Not only the fact that you’re here for, I think we’ve done it once or twice before. We’re going to do a lot more of this. Welcome.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thank you.
SPEAKER 02 :
I’m also thrilled to have Johnny Erickson Tada to be with us again today. I tell you, I’ve been working with this lady for a long, long time. I don’t know how many radio programs we’ve done and other things together. Johnny, I’m delighted that you’re with us.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, Jim, thanks so much for having me on. And to be with you and Shirley and the team there at Family Talk means the world.
SPEAKER 02 :
You know, I was thinking earlier today, do you know the first time we did a radio program together? I bet you don’t remember. You’ll have to refresh my memory, sir. I don’t remember.
SPEAKER 01 :
It was 1982.
SPEAKER 02 :
And it was that focus on the family where I was at that time and came to our studio. We went to a great deal of trouble to get there. And I deeply appreciated it. And you talked about your new book, which had to do with going to heaven and seeing Jesus and even dancing with him. Do you remember that? Oh, I remember it now. And you sang to us that day. Did I? And I don’t know how often you do that as a radio guest, but that was a thrill for us that day. Oh, I tell you. And I never forgot it.
SPEAKER 03 :
Jim, you know I’m going to sing now, don’t you? I’m thinking of, okay, so, All that will be glory for me, glory for me, glory for me, when by His grace I shall look on His face. And that’s not too far in the future, is it? No. That’ll be glory, be glory for me.
SPEAKER 02 :
I always love singing, Dr. Dobson. You know me. Well, I always love having you on the program. We’ve done it many times together. Also, some of those programs have been with Ken, your husband. And especially when you had breast cancer, as I recall. And we’ve got a lot of memories of you, Johnny, and I haven’t forgotten any of them. I want you to know.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, that means a lot to me. Dr. Dobson, I remember, oh, this has been years ago, a Larry King Live. You were on for the hour. And Larry King asked you a question about the future. And you said, I just want to finish well. And that struck Ken and me. I think it was the first time we’d heard that phrase.
SPEAKER 02 :
I can’t believe you remember that, Johnny.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, my goodness, yes. Because you are an example, you and Shirley, of how one finishes well. We don’t retire. We don’t sit on our hands. We make the use of every opportunity, as it says in Ephesians 4. And we believe that every last breath on earth is to be used to glorify God in some way. And you do that. You are finishing well. And you’ve got a long way to go, I’m sure. But it is an example. To the rest of us, it really is.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, I appreciate that coming from you, Johnny, because you have done the same thing. And I have watched you both up close and personal and from a distance. And you’re serving the Lord wonderfully and have for all these years, despite the difficulties and problems that you’ve faced. We’re talking to Johnny Erickson Tala in Michigan. There may be three or four people out there who don’t know you. The rest of them do. But I’m going to say for the benefit of those who are not well acquainted with the ministry of Johnny Erickson Tala, let me say that she is a speaker, speaking around the world, really. She’s a wonderful artist. She’s a creator of many things, including Johnny and Friends. Johnny, let’s stop right there. Tell me what Johnny and Friends is all about. I think that goes back to 1979, doesn’t it?
SPEAKER 03 :
It does, when I started Johnny and Friends. And the reason I did, that’s 45 years ago. Wow. The reason I did is because God had blessed me so much up to that point. I mean, I was… in my late 30s, and I wanted to pass on the blessings to other people with disabilities. And of course, the Johnny movie, the Johnny book, appearances with Mr. Graham on his crusades overseas and here in the States, and it generated a lot of letters from other disabled people asking the same questions I once asked. And so now, 45 years later, we’re distributing wheelchairs around the world and Bibles. We’ll go to 53 countries this year with wheelchairs and Bibles. We hold retreats and getaways. We’ll do, oh, 56 here in the United States this summer, and 76 overseas and developing nations. All of it is to share the good news of Jesus Christ with families with disabilities who struggle so with understanding how a good God can allow so much pain and hardship in the world. So 45 years I’ve been at it and we’re growing.
SPEAKER 02 :
One of your great accomplishments was to help the federal government establish a program by which disabled people were taken care of and a lot of changes in the law and you were behind most of that.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, I served on the National Council on Disability under President Reagan and then under President George H. Bush. And our council authored the first draft of the Americans with Disabilities Act. And Jim, I’ll never forget sitting on the south lawn of the White House watching President Bush sign the Americans with Disabilities Act into law. And we went over to a hotel for a reception after the signing ceremony. And the executive director of our council wanted to offer a toast, and he said to us, this law is good in that it will remove discriminatory practices in employment for qualified disabled people. And this law is good in that people with wheelchairs won’t have to wheel through the back alley and pass the dumpsters in order to get to their dining room table, in that mechanical lifts will be established on buses. And then he paused and said, but this law will not change the employer’s heart. This law will not change the heart of the maitre d’ at the restaurant. This law will not change the heart of the bus driver. And then he raised his glass and said, here’s to changed hearts. And Dr. Dobson, I was weeping because that’s our message as Christians. We have the good news that will change people’s hearts. And state laws and proclamations can’t do it. Disability awareness might scratch the surface, education and the like. But only the message of the grace of God, the salvation message of Jesus Christ can change people’s hearts, right?
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh, my. Well, it also changed the nation in so many ways. Some people were not happy about that. You had some opposition along the way.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, yes, we did, but people sure do appreciate the ramps nowadays, don’t they?
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, they sure do.
SPEAKER 03 :
And it’s good to have public accommodations so accessible. So people have gotten used to the ADA and its benefits for elderly people, for young mothers pushing baby strollers, and even wheelchair users like me. Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, Johnny, I said before that you’ve written 45 books. I think it’s another. And you just recently published this book, The Practice of the Presence of Jesus. Is that a new book?
SPEAKER 03 :
It is. It’s brand new. And it came out of the COVID pandemic. era, those couple of years in which we were all sequestered away. And Ken and I did not want to become settled into just sitting around and watching old movies. We decided to make it an effort to practice Christ’s presence in every room of the house, to invite Him into our conversations, to sit in the backyard and glorify the Lord Jesus while we admired the birds and the roses and the and the trees and the breeze. We just made it a practice of inviting Christ into our daily rhythms of life in a fresh new way. And from that came this book, The Practice of the Presence of Jesus. And Jim, it’s how I live. You know me. I get up in the morning. I am overwhelmed by my disability. My quadriplegia seems impossible, especially now that I’m aging. And I have to say, Jesus, I cannot do this. I have no strength for this, no ability for this. But you do. You’ve got the strength. And so give me your smile today, Jesus, because I cannot make it through this day without you. I can do quadriplegia, but I can’t do all things through you. as you strengthen me. And it’s that need of Christ, that reliance on Jesus, which is partly what this book is all about. How to lean on and rely on Christ urgently, desperately, needfully, just as He wants us to.
SPEAKER 02 :
Johnny, you had an accident that changed your life when you were 17 years of age, and you’ve been a quadriplegic ever since then. Tell us a little bit about how the Lord has worked in that experience.
SPEAKER 03 :
Sure, sure. I think most of our listeners know that I broke my neck in a diving accident at the age of 17. I was taking a foolish inward pike dive off of a raft into what I— found out real quickly was shallow water. But Jim, what I thought was the ruin of my life, breaking my neck. That was the beginning of God’s greatest use of my life. He chose the thing that I despised for His glory, and that to me is amazing grace. And I was just talking with someone today that I’m thankful in a strange way. I’m so grateful to God for this paralyzing accident because it has helped me understand that the really important thing in life is the person next to you with needs that are greater than yours. Yes. And I have seen so many disabled people in developing nations whose needs are far greater than mine. And God has used my quadriplegia to help them, to lift them out of the dirt, to give them wheelchairs, to give them the message of salvation, to create access for them to medical care and food. And I’m just so grateful that although afflictions cut deep gashes in my heart, through which joy and grace poured in, it energized me to care for the needs of those whose situations are far worse than mine ever will be. And I include in there not only cancer, but chronic pain and quadriplegia. And so, Jim, what God has done is He’s used my broken neck to not only wake me up spiritually and get me leaning on and relying on Him and requiring His help morning, noon, and night. But this quadriplegia has been the door through which I’ve discovered the needs of other people whose situations are far more critical than mine ever will be. And I want to be used of God to help them, to give them the gospel, to provide them wheelchairs, to provide them access to medical care. And so that’s what our team at Joni and Friends do. Never would I have dreamed that I would be used of the Lord to reach other disabled people for Christ. There was a time I didn’t even want to be around someone else in a wheelchair. My self-image was shaky. I wasn’t sure that this disability of mine was working together into a pattern for good. But God used the thing that I despised, the ruin of my life, I thought. It was the beginning of his greatest use of my life, for which I’m so grateful.
SPEAKER 02 :
You have taken what would look like a disaster and allowed the Lord to use it in your life and in the lives of so many other people. And you have talked about it somewhat in this new book. Let’s get to it because the time’s getting on. The Practice of the Presence of Jesus. There’s a character in this book. That’s been quoted a lot, and it goes back to the 1600s. His name is Brother Lawrence, and he was a monk at that time and also served in the military, fought in wars. This man has captured your attention and you have written a lot about him in this book. What role does he play and why?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, when I was a teenager in high school, everybody was reading Brother Lawrence’s book called The Practice of the Presence of God. And it was a classic that all of us young people back in the 70s discovered as we grew in our relationship with each other and with the Lord Jesus. Well, I put that book on my shelf, and I really didn’t think much of it until COVID in 2020. That’s when we were all sequestered, and we were picking books off of our bookshelves to reread and reread again. And that’s what I did. I saw that book up there. I opened it up, and I read some of Brother Lawrence’s writings, and I thought, you know what? Brother Lawrence is talking about practicing the presence of God. I want to talk about practicing the presence of Jesus and how everything that we do, and even the Word of God itself, should ultimately point us to Jesus. And so, I decided to journal during the COVID years Did you come down with COVID? Oh, yes, I did, sir. It was a horrible experience. My husband contracted at the same time I did in December of 2020, and he was in bed. He could not help me. None of my helpers could come because they were either sick or they were tending to their young children and obviously did not want to carry COVID back to their homes. And so I laid in bed for… oh, I don’t know, a day, a night, and a day and a half with no help. And it was very frightening and very claustrophobic. Do you have medical care? I did not. And so I would lie there and I would just quote scripture. God, you will not leave me or forsake me. God, you tell me that you are my present help in every trouble. God, you tell me that you are going to fight my battles. God, you tell me that your grace is sufficient for every need. I believe these promises. Help me get through this, Lord.” And he did, Jim. He really did. And that was a frightening time. And it also showed Ken and me that, you know, we’re getting older and we need some help. And so, that’s when we started to look around to get a couple more caregivers to assist for those kinds of times.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, that’s the background for The Practice of the Presence of Jesus, and it’s quite a book. You’ve written 45 books, as I said, but this one is totally different than anything I’ve ever seen you write. Explain what your motive was and the purpose that you have for going back to a monk. in the 1600s to get inspiration for some of the things that you were writing here? Well, Jim, I love the Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER 03 :
As I get older, my love for Him grows deeper. And also, it’s simpler. My love for Christ is more simple than it’s ever been. It has become a practice that I immediately go to the Lord when I wake up in the morning. I can’t go to bed at night without communing with Him. If I wake up in the night in pain and I cannot turn, I just turn to Him for help. And as I age, as I get older, my love for Christ has become so much more buoyant and so much happier that I just had to put this joy down on paper because I want other people to experience the joy that can be found in practicing Christ’s presence in your life.
SPEAKER 02 :
Describe the format that you followed here. You have something that was written in the 1600s. And then on this side, the other side of the page, you put your explanation on what he was saying and elaborate on it. And it’s quite an interesting approach. Describe that for us.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, of course, I wanted to introduce new readers to Brother Lawrence if they haven’t read him. Again, it’s a classic book, his book. And so, I took my favorite quotations from Brother Lawrence’s book, put them on the left side of the page, and on the right side, I either respond to Brother Lawrence or I make more of Brother Lawrence’s ideas. Everybody was reading that book back in the 1970s, The Practice of the Presence of God. And although a Catholic monk, Brother Lawrence says some pretty wise insights. As you said, he struggled when he was in the Thirty Years’ War in Europe. And he found his way to a monastery, lame and injured, and the monastic monks took him in, and he opened up his heart to Christ. And they assigned him very menial jobs, washing the floors, scrubbing the pots and pans in the kitchen, cleaning out the latrine. I mean, he had some menial duties in this monastery. But in those duties, he found a special enjoyment of God. And it was that simplicity of life and his constant reliance on God that gripped my imagination when I first read the book as a teenager. But as I said, it stayed on my shelf for many years until COVID, when I took it down, what, 30, 40 years later. and began reading it again, and I realized, this monk has some good things to say. So I wanted to introduce his writings in my book, as well as capitalize on what he had shared by augmenting his content with my own, with my own insights on practicing the presence of Christ.
SPEAKER 01 :
Great words of wisdom indeed from Johnny Erickson Tada on this special best of edition of Dr. James Dobson’s Family Talk. I’m Roger Marsh. Dr. Dobson was in studio to record with Johnny talking about her latest book called The Practice of the Presence of Jesus. And you’ll find information on the book as well as Johnny’s ministry, Johnny and Friends. It’s all up at our website at drjamesdobson.org forward slash family talk. Well, I can hardly believe it, but we are two weeks away from Christmas and the end of the year is drawing nigh, as they say. We are already well into our best of broadcast season. And while this time of year is special for many reasons, we always look forward to sharing exceptional programs like today’s conversation. with our listening family. There’s a part two coming up on the next edition of Family Talk, so be sure to join us for that. And please keep in mind that this year’s 2025 Best of Broadcast Collection is extra special. We’ve taken the best 18 programs, not only from this past year, but throughout the 15-year history of the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute as a memorial reflection on the life and ministry of Dr. James Dobson. Of course, the program you’re listening to right now is part of that collection. Year after year, this wonderful resource has become a cherished keepsake for many of our listeners. And it’s available right now as our way of thanking you for your year-end donation of any amount to support the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute. So to make a donation online, go to drjamesdobson.org. You can also give us a call at 877-732-6825. You know, in an age where so much of our media is hidden behind a subscription-based streaming service, available today but not tomorrow or when you make a donation, it’s become rare to actually hold in your possession the content that you love. And that’s why we want to make sure that you have access to these wonderful Family Talk programs from Dr. Dobson for years to come. The CD, of course, is a special memorial keepsake. But thanks to some extraordinary friends of our ministry, We have the historic Dr. James Dobson Memorial Matching Grant in effect right now. And this remarkable grant provides matching funds for up to $6 million. And it’s available now through the end of the year, New Year’s Eve, December 31st. That means your donation, whatever amount you choose to give, will be matched and therefore doubled in size and impact. This grant is an incredible memorial and a statement of confidence for the only organization entrusted by Dr. Dobson to carry out his legacy and expand his work to new generations and geographies. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on the generous support of listeners like you to provide that this broadcast and the many other resources that the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute creates to minister to families here in America all around the world I really hope you’ll take advantage of this opportunity and reach out to us to show your support for Family Talk and the James Dobson Family Institute. You can give a gift over the phone when you call a member of our constituent care team, 877-732-6825. You can also make a donation on our secure website. Go to drjamesdobson.org for more information. That’s drjamesdobson.org. Of course, if you’d like to give directly through that webpage that we’ve established for the matching memorial gift, Go to drjamesdobson.org forward slash broadcasts. And if you prefer, send a donation along with a Christmas card for the Dobson family and the team here at the JDFI. We would love to receive it. Our ministry mailing address is Dr. James Dobson’s Family Talk, P.O. Box 39000, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 80949. Well, I’m Roger Marsh, and on behalf of all of us here at Family Talk and the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute, thanks so much for being with us today. And be sure to join us again next time right here when Dr. James Dobson continues a special conversation with Johnny Erickson Tata about her remarkable story of struggle with quadriplegia and depression in the book that she has written about her experiences called The Practice of the Presence of Jesus. That’s coming your way next time right here on the next edition of Dr. James Dobson’s Family Talk. This has been a presentation of the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute
