Their Story and My Story

 

My story begins with their story.  A young man fresh out of high school working in a shoe store.   A teenage woman only 17 years old, still in high school, and looking for a pair of shoes.   I don’t know if he was more interested in a sale or the woman that day but a chance encounter in a shoe store led to a series of dates and finally to a trek  down to Chesterfield County SC where they were married by a justice of the peace surrounded by their family.   She was a rising senior in high school, and tried school for a few weeks when it started again.  However, it is hard for a young woman to be a wife, student, and employee at the same time so she quit school because having a paycheck seemed more important  at that time than having a diploma.

In a few months, that young married woman found herself pregnant.   This was her first pregnancy, and she was excited along with all the family.   A child was on the way.   A few months later, their joy and glee turned to woe and concern.  The doctor said that something was wrong.   Hard choices had to be made, and one of those choices was whether to follow the doctors orders and be on bedrest or continue to work her job.   Even with bedrest, the doctor still thought there was a possibility the baby would be born dead or deformed.  Though it was hard for them to make it on one income, she chose the former instead of the latter.  She spent 7 months of a 9 month pregnancy on bedrest.   In a few months, they could no longer afford  to have their own place and moved in with her parents.  

On a hot, humid afternoon in  August, the time came for the baby to be born  and they made their way to the hospital.  Would the child be born dead or alive?  Would the child be deformed like the doctor said?   To  new parents named Dennis and Shirley,  a child was born in a thunderstorm that August day.   They named the child Randy.  That child was me. And so, my life began.

 

When August rolls around every year, I celebrate another birthday.   But more than that, I remember not only the mother and father who gave me life, but give thanks to God for the gift of life.   In these days I echo these words from Psalm 139: 13-15 which say:

¹³ For you created my inmost being;   you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,   I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you   when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

 I am “fearfully and wonderfully made”.   And you know what?  So are you.  Have a joy-filled week.-   Pastor Randy Wall

 

PRAYER    Creator God, thank you for giving me life and for the abundant life in Christ.   In times of darkness and gloom, help me to especially remember that I am fearfully and wonderfully made; through Christ our Lord.   Amen.