By Brenda Cannon Henley
My son, who is my remarkable pastor, gave an illustration yesterday morning that I personally will not soon forget. I may not get every fact perfectly correct, but I do remember that it centered on a pastor’s family in Spring, Texas. That got my attention right away and I wanted to hear the rest of the story.  My apologies to the family if I do not relate every detail perfectly. However, I so believe it is worth sharing and I want you to know I am personally adding your name to my prayer list. I know so many in our congregation were blessed by your journey and will not lose sight of the point any time soon.

In the day and age in which we are living, there does seem to be trouble and sorrow on every hand. Wars and rumors of wars, higher prices on everything we need and use, unrest in families, and severe heartache and grief seem to be knocking on every door.

I personally spent nine hours on Saturday sitting with my precious granddaughter, Maya, in St. Pete’s wonderful John’s Hopkins All Children’s Hospital. That was the 164th day of Maya’s current admission waiting for a new home she desperately needs to live.

We read all of her incoming mail and each piece was a story and a blessing. We read books, we did our ten laps around the unit to help keep her strong for surgery, we played her games, and we FaceTimed family and friends.

Life can be hard for many it seems. Perhaps this is one reason the Spring family’s story hit my heart with such a heavy sledge hammer of truth. I saw families all day that are suffering in ways we cannot understand unless we are there in the trenches.

My son warmly introduced us to a pastor and his family that is Texas tough and accustomed to trouble and testing. It seems that the wife became pregnant and gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. Should have been a joyous time. But the medical community soon discovered there were issues with the little one. It was declared that he would never be a normal child although he looked strong and healthy on the outside. His body was predicted to grow, but his brain was badly damaged through no fault of anyone.

And, grow, he did. The young man grew into a 270-pound human, with the physique of a champion wrestler or football player, but all the while, retained the mind and function of the infant they first met. The parents took remarkable care of him and did all that could be done to make him calm, comfortable, and content. It was an almost life consuming challenge.

As he grew in age, the family discovered that their son loved McDonald’s. A treat would be a trip to the local Golden Arches for a Happy Meal with the added excitement of the little toy in the box. Somehow he figured out that was a good thing and literally bounced with excitement when he was put into the vehicle to go to McDonald’s.

One thing superceded his love for McDonald’s and that became his curiosity and excitement when a Toys R Us advertising flier would come in the mail. He would lay in the floor and look at the photos over and over although not understanding the purpose for the ad. He had no idea that it was even a store or that one could go there.

He became enamored with Jeffrey the Giraffe that was a major part of the chain’s advertising program at the time. He would reach out and touch Jeffery’s photo and look at it for long periods of time.

One day the father, ever trying to conceive of ways to broaden his son’s horizon had what he thought was a brilliant idea. The family would load the son into the car, strap him in, and drive to the toy store to see the huge model of Jeffery the Giraffe that stood near the entrance to greet customers. It would be the highlight of his life.

All went well in the beginning, but the father in his excitement had neglected one detail. He forgot that on the route to the toy store, their trip would take them by the Golden Arches that the son loved so well.

Somehow, the big, strong man with the mind of an infant, assimilated where they were and that they were not stopping or turning in to get his beloved happy meal. He literally seemed to explode in anger and could not be controlled. The end result was that his dad’s car was literally destroyed on the inside and the wonderful plan had to be abandoned to save his life.

The father was heartbroken, but as the years went by, he began to think about what happened when he tried to take his son to see Jeffery the Giraffe that he so loved. The pastor said that as Christians on our way to Heaven to meet God, our Father, who loves us and gave His Son for us, we get so distracted and consumed by our version of a “Happy Meal,” that we miss the blessing of the joy of the journey. We let ourselves live in such fear, anxiety, and loss of excitement about where we’ll spend eternity that we are angry, miserable, and destructive beyond reason. Let’s renew our promise of Heaven if we have trusted Christ for our salvation and not let the world deter us on the journey.

Brenda Cannon Henley can be reached at 409 781 8788, or
[email protected]

[Mar-1-2022]