Penner: ‘My faith was tested’

Prayer was on the menu Thursday morning at the annual Aurora National Day of Prayer Breakfast held at the Leadership Center. In spite of the early hour (6:15 a.m.), a large crowd gathered to eat breakfast and then join in praying for the nation, local governments and communities as well as for churches, schools and families.
The program included Scripture readings, recitations, musical performances and prayers for the national government, state and local governments and more local concerns. The highlight of the morning was a keynote address from Aurora businessman and state board of education member Kirk Penner.
Penner began his presentation by describing a years-long battle with illness that he said had tested and grown his faith in God and had also demonstrated the power of united prayer.
“In the early 2000s I was living the American dream,” said Penner, describing a happy family life and a successful business (Penner Bathing) that was taking him all over the nation for days at a time.
However, he said a time of testing began in 2005 that would last for the next 13 years and which still impacts his life today. Routine blood tests that year came back showing elevated liver enzymes, a situation that continued to escalate until his enzymes were “off the chart” — well above normal levels.
“My faith was being tested,” Penner said. “I knew it... but I had to put my trust all in Jesus, and as a self-starter and a competitor, that is very hard. I want to control everything and I was not able to control what was going on inside my body. I was on multiple prayer chains in multiple states. People were praying for me all over this nation.”
It took until the next year for Penner to begin to get some medical answers to his situation and he eventually learned the problem was being caused by a blockage of his common bile duct. That was causing extreme discomfort in his body and could eventually lead to his needing a liver transplant.
“I spent weeks on the floor in my basement in discomfort, pain and itching that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy,” Penner said. “I rolled on my basement floor. Nothing would stop it. I spent hours praying for relief in the basement, and even that the Lord would take me if it was His will. It was that bad!”
Penner said he was finally able to find relief through a medical procedure which opened up the duct, but continued to have bouts of illness off and on for the next 13 years. Then, in 2018 a friend suggested he try taking an anti-inflammatory supplement that he said “has kept me out of the hospital and for the most part extremely healthy” ever since. However, Penner said the condition will be with him for the rest of his life and noted that he still may need a liver transplant at some point.
“My faith was tested,” Penner repeated. “Sometimes I questioned what the heck was going on, but I know that the prayer from others was key to getting me through that test... It got me through and my faith in Jesus as my Lord and Savior is stronger than ever.”
Penner said the experience also caused him to question the reasons for the testing, why his health had been restored and what God was setting him up for next in life. He said one of the answers to those questions came when he was appointed by former Gov. Pete Ricketts to a vacant spot on the Nebraska State Board of Education.
“I believe I have been placed in one of the most important battles in a generation,” he said. “I believe this battle will determine the future of our country. And if we lose this country, where do we go?...We live in the greatest nation God ever created... a constitutional republic based on biblical principles... The battle is for the hearts and minds of our children and grandchildren. As former President Ronald Reagan was quoted, ‘freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.’”
Penner went on to assert that much of the focus of this battle is in the arena of education, noting that’s why he readily accepted the appointment and then went on to run and be elected by the voters to the same position in November.
Penner was quick to complement local school officials and emphasized that many of the problems he would discuss were not an issue in Hamilton County. He then went on to describe what he believes are the big issues facing education across the state and nation.
“Society has changed,” he said. “Society has lost its moral compass. We are losing the foundation that this country was built upon... We are stuck in a society that calls evil good and good evil.”
Penner went on to discuss abortion, transgenderism, and drag shows for children as examples of cultural decay, noting “they are coming at us faster than you could ever believe.”
“It is bizarre, sometimes, what is coming into education,” he said. “I believe girls should use girls rest rooms and boys should use boys rest rooms, and that, to some, is extreme. And that is  the battle we’re in right now.”
Saying he believed his 17-year struggle with physical illness was meant to prepare him for the cultural and spiritual battles he is facing today, Penner said, “My faith was strengthened during those years of having to rely on (God) and not myself, and my faith gives me the confidence that I’m on the right side of this battle.”
Penner concluded his remarks by telling the National Day of Prayer audience that he had “two asks” of them. First, he asked those gathered to spend time daily praying “that our kids and grandkids are shielded from the evil that has permeated our society” and also to pray for teachers and administrators who are having to deal with “what is being brought into their schools by our ever-changing society.”
Secondly, Penner asked the audience to get involved personally in the battle for the hearts and minds of the next generations.
“The time is now to get up out of your comfort zone,” he said, “up out of your church pew. The church needs to get involved. We need to get involved. I ask that you pray for our country.”