A moment given back…
It was a
day like any other in Bucharest, Romania. I went through the normal morning
routine and was preparing to help with a rummage sale to help raise funds for
the ministry. I decided my time would be best served playing with the kids whose
parents were busy looking at clothes, furniture, toys etc.
tossing the ball around with a few teammates of mine. Occasionally it would be
overthrown and have to be chased down. One time, this boy came out of
nowhere to retrieve that ball for us. As he walked to get it, I noticed he
hardly had any control over his legs or arms; there appeared to be some sort of
muscle disability. Regardless, I quickly yelled out “Throw it to me buddy.” He
wound his arm up as it went left, right, up, down and he finally released it. I
would go chase it down and hand it back to him, for he was not able to catch
it. I repeated this for twenty minutes or so and found myself loving every
minute of it.
I asked
what his name was and he gently replied, in his Romanian-English accent, “Andrew”.
I said, “nice to meet you Andrew, my name is Michael.” He then grabbed my arm
and led me over to the “Spinner” on the playground. (You know, the kind of
thing you used to play on as a kid where you hold on as your Mom or Dad would
spin you around and around until you were dizzy.) So Andrew climbed on and held
on tight, I didn’t know how fast I could spin him because of his muscle
disorder but he was yelling something in Romanian and I would question “faster?”
He replied, “dah, dah,” which one of the few Romanian words I know which means,
“yes.” I began to spin him faster and faster and his smile would just get
bigger and bigger. Something about throwing the ball and spinning with him was
connecting to the deepest level of my heart and I had no idea why…. until it
hit me.
My
cousin, Colton, 14 years old, who was a special needs child just passed away
unexpectedly in June and it was devastating to both my family and to me. I
happened to be in Kenya, Africa at the time of receiving this horrible news. I
could only grieve and cry from a distance, unable to console anyone. I remember
being struck with the thought that I will never see or play with my cousin
again. My brother, Matthew, and I would love to play with Colton when he came
over.
Andrew’s
smile reminded me exactly of my cousin Colton’s. They were the same age and in
many ways he even acted like my cousin. For a short moment in time, God allowed
me a chance to play with Colton one last time. When I realized this is why my
heart was so joyful, I began to hold back tears as Andrew was whipping past me
on the spinner yelling faster, faster. It was like a moment frozen in time, and all I could do was just thank God over and over for this opportunity. Through this experience God connected to my heart in a way like never before, it’s a moment I will never forget.
