17 JUN 06: TOO EARLY TO BED

(BLOGGER'S NOTE: You may find this item humorous, serious, or a little of both - but we offer these thoughts from time to time, as we keep a seventh-day Sabbath.)

We wish all the dads reading this a happy Father's Day weekend. And whether you're a dad or not, we hope all of you will take a moment to think about the fathers for whom this weekend actually could be painful -- because they've lost a special child, perhaps very recently.

After more than 25 years in the broadcast news business, you might think I've seen and experienced it all. But the other day, there was a first -- in the middle of
the 5:00 p.m. newscast. I was in the control room, part of a team of four people -- when in the middle of a news section, the phone rang at my seat. "Tell him it's an emergency," an anxious woman said. "The baby stopped breathing."

It was the director's baby, a father focused on putting things on the air properly. Not knowing the most graceful way to handle this, I told the woman to wait a moment until the end of the section when a commercial break began.

Thankfully, it was only about a minute later when the director was able to turn away from the TV screens and talk on the phone. He obviously had to leave, in the middle of a half-hour newscast. We quickly tracked down a backup director, while the one on duty hurried away -- because the show must go on, and plenty of TV viewers probably didn't care if there was a crisis behind the scenes, anyway.

But sadly, this story has no happy ending. The baby apparently never regained breathing, and a little girl named Ja'Ni'Ya died. She was "little" in so many ways - because she was born prematurely in early May, and she died only four weeks later.

Admittedly I had mixed emotions about this from the beginning. The announcement of Ja'Ni"Ya's birth in May congratulated not the new mother and father, but the new dad "and his girlfriend." The Bible believer in me knows that's not the right approach. It's an approach I've never taken - and in 2006, it might just explain why I'm still single.

I didn't dare speak my mind about the baby. It would have sounded harsh and judgmental, instead of supportive. Instead, I simply didn't bring up the subject.
But when the phone rang in the middle of the 5:00 p.m. news, I responded as best I could. I told co-workers if they believed in prayer, they should pray. I went home, and I prayed for the baby as well.

But alas, Ja'Ni'Ya still died - a baby family members considered a miracle when she was born, because she was a "preemie" and a potential survivor. So when the little girl was buried this past week, it stirred a lot of deep thoughts.

The casket for Ja'Ni'Ya was about the size of a bread box. There appeared to be the usual six pallbearers, but only two were needed to carry the body from the church for the drive to the grave site. The minister tried as well as he could to explain the deeper meaning of it all - but the best he could give was the phrase, "God makes no mistakes."

I can agree with that comment - but to do so takes faith. A lot of faith. Faith in a God who promises to resurrect the dead, "small and great." It's now more clear to me than ever who the small are. Imagine Ja'Ni'Ya coming up alongside Goliath. It boggles the mind -- but the Bible promises that scene will occur someday.

The minister did not address the matter of Ja'Ni'Ya being an out-of-wedlock baby. I can think of some churchgoing people who would say God took the baby for that very reason. But there are so many cases where God does NOT do that - so I choose to leave the "why" question for God to explain someday. After all, He's much smarter than I am. Maybe not you, but He certainly is for me.

Never had I attended a funeral for someone so young. Never had I visited a corner of a cemetery set aside for babies. Ja'Ni'Ya now rests there, alongside at least one child who only lived one day. It makes 28 days seem like a long time - and should make us baby boomers who have been alive more than 17,000 days (yes, I did the math) feel especially blessed.

(SCHEDULED NEXT WEEK: That old question we wanted to bring you Friday..... and memories of our fallen computer....)

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