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At some time or other, you may have heard me tell of his
entrance into this world. The birth made use of the LaMaze
method, so I was there during the whole experience. Following
his arrival, as I stood admiring him in the warming tray, I said
to the obstetrician, "Ernie, do you realize that this delightful
bundle of joy in about fourteen years is going to think I am the
dumbest man alive?"
He replied, "It won't take that long."
I have told that story a number of times, and many times in
David's hearing. One day, not many years ago, as the two of us
were out for an evening walk, he said to me, "Y'know, I'm more
than fourteen, and I still don't think you're the dumbest man
alive." Awww, shucks. One of the nicest things anyone ever said
to me.
I have enjoyed our years together. Not just for the fun
times, not just for our Saturday morning adventures in Yard Sale-ing. I have enjoyed (and continue to enjoy) the years with my
children because I learn valuable lessons from them.
I have learned patience - as much as I may have wanted them
to do this or that immediately then not seeing it happen on my
schedule, I have learned that life goes on anyway. They have
taught me to "not sweat the small stuff." I have learned
gratitude - gratitude for the fact that currently popular fashion
does not stay popular for very long, gratitude for the genius who
decided that plugged-in headphones should automatically mute the
speakers on a boom box, gratitude that the drive to dye hair
green or or orange or strawberry, the drive to attach sharp metal
objects to the soft tissues of the body have never taken hold in
my kids. I have learned to keep things in perspective - that
just because a teenager can almost instantly turn a bedroom into
a garbage dump, there is no reason to panic (we can always shut
the door).
Most of all, I have learned something about love...
unconditional love...the kind of love the Bible teaches God has
for you and me. The way I felt (and continue to feel), first
about David, then about Erin - this feeling that I love them,
always have, always will, no matter what - gave me an inking of
the love of God in a way that nothing else ever has.
One more thing I have learned from my kids. I have learned
to see things from their perspective instead of just my own.
That is what Jesus was trying to convey when he said, "Truly I
tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little
child will never enter it."
Children have a sense of wonder. Tennyson tells of going
early one morning into the bedroom of his little grandson and of
seeing the child "worshiping the sunbeam playing on the
bedpost."(1)
Children are imaginative. A boy came home from Sunday
School where they had just had a lesson on Adam and Eve. He was
especially amused by the fact that Eve was said to be created
from Adam's rib. Later that day he came down with the intestinal
flu and said to his mother: "Mommy, my side hurts. I think I'm
going to have a wife."(2)
Children know how to believe. A little boy was told he
could not go to the family picnic on Sunday because he had been
"naughty." But along about Saturday his mother relented and told
him he could go after all. "It's too late," was his reply, "I
have already prayed for rain." The faith and trust of a little
child!(3)
Recently, Lloyd Glenn shared something profound that he had
learned from his young son.(4) It is a lesson about perspective,
but most of all, it is a lesson about love, one that probably
could not be learned as well in any other way than through the
teaching of a child.
It was July 22nd last year. Lloyd was on the way to
Washington DC for a business trip. It was all so very ordinary,
until he landed in Denver for a plane change. As he collected
his belongings from the overhead bin, an announcement was made
for Mr. Lloyd Glenn to see the United Airlines Customer Service
Representative immediately. He thought nothing of it until he
reached the door to leave the plane and heard a gentleman asking
every male if they were Mr. Glenn. At this point Lloyd knew
something was wrong, BAD wrong.
"I am Lloyd Glenn."
The solemn-faced young man said, "Mr. Glenn, there is an
emergency at your home. I do not know what the emergency is, or
who is involved, but I will take you to the phone so you can
call."
Lloyd Glenn's heart was now pounding, but the will to be
calm took over. Woodenly, he followed this stranger to the
distant telephone where he called the number given. It was
Mission Hospital. The call was put through to the trauma center
where word came that his three-year-old son, Brian, had been
trapped underneath the automatic garage door for several minutes,
and that when his wife had found him he was dead. CPR had been
performed by a neighbor, who happened to be a doctor. The
paramedics had continued the treatment as Brian was transported
to the hospital.
By the time of the call, Brian was revived and they believed
he would live, but they did not know how much damage had been
done to his brain, nor to his heart. They explained that the
door had completely closed on his little sternum right over his
heart. He had been severely crushed. After speaking with the
medical staff, Lloyd's wife sounded worried but not hysterical,
so he took comfort in her calmness.
The return flight seemed to last forever, but finally he
arrived at the hospital six hours after the garage door had come
down. He walked into the intensive care unit. He says, "Nothing
could have prepared me to see my little son laying so still on a
great big bed with tubes and monitors everywhere. He was on a
respirator. I glanced at my wife who stood and tried to give me
a reassuring smile. It all seemed like a terrible dream. I was
filled in with the details and given a guarded prognosis. Brian
was going to live, and the preliminary tests indicated that his
heart was ok - two miracles, in and of themselves. But only time
would tell if his brain received any damage."
Listen to the rest of the story in Lloyd Glenn's own words.
"Throughout the seemingly endless hours, my wife was calm. She
felt that Brian would eventually be all right. I hung on to her
words and faith like a lifeline. All that night and the next day
Brian remained unconscious. It seemed like forever since I had
left for my business trip the day before. Finally at two o'clock
that afternoon, our son regained consciousness and sat up
uttering the most beautiful words I have ever heard spoken. He
said, 'Daddy, hold me,' and he reached for me with his little
arms."
By the next day, little Brian was pronounced as having no
neurological or physical deficits, and the story of his
miraculous survival spread throughout the hospital. You can
imagine his parents' gratitude and joy. As they took Brian home,
they say they felt a unique reverence for life and the
extraordinary sense of the love of God that comes to those who
brush death so closely. In the days that followed there was a
special spirit about the Glenn home.
Lloyd continues. "Our two older children were much closer
to their little brother. My wife and I were much closer to each
other, and all of us were very close as a whole family. Life
took on a less stressful pace. Perspective seemed to be more
focused, and balance much easier to gain and maintain. We felt
deeply blessed. Our gratitude was truly profound."
Almost a month later, to the day of the accident, Brian
awoke from his afternoon nap and said, "Sit down mommy. I have
something to tell you." At this time in his life, Brian usually
spoke in small phrases, so to say a large sentence was a
surprise. Mom sat down with him on his bed and he began his
sacred and remarkable story.
"Do you remember when I got stuck under the garage door?
Well, it was so heavy and it hurt really bad. I called to you,
but you couldn't hear me. I started to cry, but then it hurt too
bad. And then the "birdies" came.
"The birdies?" his mother asked, puzzled.
"Yes," he replied. "The birdies" made a whooshing sound and
flew into the garage. They took care of me."
"They did?"
"Yes," he said. "One of the "birdies" came and got you. She
came to tell you I got stuck under the door." Mrs. Glenn
realized that a three-year-old had no concept of death and
spirits, so he was referring to the beings who came to him from
beyond as "birdies" because they were up in the air like birds
that fly.
"What did the birdies look like?" she asked.
Brian answered. "They were so beautiful. They were dressed
in white, all white. Some of them had green and white. But some
of them had on just white."
"Did they say anything?"
"Yes," he answered. They told me the baby would be
alright."
"The baby?" his mother asked, confused.
And Brian answered. "The baby laying on the garage floor."
He went on, "You came out and opened the garage door and ran to
the baby. You told the baby to stay and not leave."
Lloyd says his wife nearly collapsed upon hearing this, for
she had indeed gone and knelt beside Brian's body and seeing his
crushed chest and unrecognizable features, knowing he was already
dead, she looked up around her and whispered, "Don't leave us
Brian, please stay if you can."
As she listened to Brian telling her the words she had
spoken, she realized that the spirit had left his body and was
looking down from above on this little lifeless form. "Then what
happened?" she asked.
"We went on a trip." he said, "far, far away." He grew
agitated trying to say the things he did not seem to have the
words for. Mom tried to calm and comfort him, and let him know
it would be okay. He struggled with wanting to tell something
that obviously was very important to him, but finding the words
was difficult. "We flew so fast up in the air. They are so
pretty Mommy. And there is lots and lots of 'birdies'."
Brian's mother was stunned. Into her mind the sweet
comforting spirit enveloped her more soundly, but with an urgency
she had never before known. Her little boy went on to tell her
that the "birdies" had told him that he had to come back and tell
everyone about the "birdies." He said they brought him back to
the house and that a big fire truck, and an ambulance were there.
A man was bringing the baby out on a white bed and he tried to
tell the man the baby would be okay, but the man could not hear
him. He said, "Birdies told him he had to go with the ambulance,
but they would be near him. He said they were so pretty and so
peaceful, and he did not want to come back. And then the bright
light came. He said that the light was so bright and so warm,
and he loved the bright light so much. Someone was in the bright
light and put their arms around him, and told him, "I love you,
but you have to go back. You have to play baseball, and tell
everyone about the birdies." Then the person in the bright light
kissed him and waved bye-bye. Then whoosh, the big sound came,
and they went into the clouds."
The story went on for an hour. Young Brian explained that
"birdies" were always with us, but we do not see them because we
look with our eyes, and we do not hear them because we listen
with our ears. But they are always there. You can only see them
in here (he put his hand over his heart). They whisper the
things to help us to do what is right because they love us so
much.
Brian continued. "I have a plan, Mommy. You have a plan.
Daddy has a plan. Everyone has a plan. We must all live our
plan and keep our promises. The 'birdies' help us to do that
because they love us so much."
In the weeks that followed, Brian often came to his parents
and told all, or part of it again and again. Always the story
remained the same. The details were never changed or out of
order. A few times he added further bits of information and
clarified the message he had already delivered. It never ceased
to amaze how he could tell such detail and speak beyond his
ability when he spoke of his "birdies." Everywhere he went, he
told strangers about the "birdies." Surprisingly, no one ever
looked at him strangely. Rather, they always get a softened look
on their face and smiled.
Needless to say, the Glenn family has not been the same
since that day. They pray they never will be.
Children. They are SO special. And as Jesus said, "Truly I
tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little
child will never enter it."
Let us pray.
O God, we are grateful for the gift of children, for the joy
they bring, for the lessons they teach. Help us to appreciate
them. In the name of Jesus. Amen!
1. William Barclay, Daily Study Bible, CD-ROM, (Liguori, MO: Liguori Productions, 1996) 2. Doug Behm, via Ecunet, "Illustrations for this Week," #447, 9/28/97 3. ibid. 4. Posted by James Stewart on Ecunet, "Bottomless Drawer," #197, 8/11/98 which is a
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