28 JUN 08: IF ONLY HE KNEW

(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.)

The letter was postmarked 16 June - so that made the item inside the envelope even more puzzling. It was a Father's Day card, apparently mailed the day after Father's Day. Some places take Army Day more seriously than others....

But wait a minute - a Father's Day card?! Sent to me?! I'm not a father. I'm not even a Larry Bird dad - if you remember all the years when he denied having a daughter out of wedlock.

"A wish for my brother," the card says in front with a picture of a dog and sports equipment. Inside it reads: "Hope your Father's Day is filled with everything that you enjoy!" Well, I did go out and whack a racquetball. If a dog had chased me while I was running, I would NOT have enjoyed that.

So who sent this after-Father's Day card to someone who's not a father? Not my older brother, who gave away his last daughter in marriage in May. It was my younger brother - or at least someone who signed the card with his name. No, he's not THAT wealthy that secretaries do the signing for all his important documents.

I should explain - my younger brother doesn't know any better. Donald doesn't know if I'm a father or not. He probably doesn't even know I'm related to him. When I visited him in May, it was our first face-to-face meeting in three years. And all he did was stare at me a bit - perhaps because I woke him up from an afternoon nap.

This isn't a matter of adoption, but of retardation. Donald has been mentally disabled from birth. My parents placed him in a neurological institute when he was about four years old, because he was too difficult to handle -- and he remains there today, about 40 years later. I've lived in seven different cities in that time, so in one way he's more stable than I am.

Donald couldn't walk when he entered the institute -- but the staff somehow taught him to do it. This was a such big deal that I skipped school for a day, to join the family at a ceremony celebrating the accomplishment. But Donald doesn't walk today -- allowing the people pushing him in a wheelchair to get all the exercise.

Yet Donald has left the institute for some surprising road trips. I mentioned in January that his unit was bused to see Kansas play in a football bowl game in Texas [4 Jan]. As long as the group wore blue shirts and waved pompons with the proper colors, most TV viewers probably never noticed the difference.

I could focus on why Donald might be mentally disabled -- such as my father's occasional drinking, my mother's years of smoking or something else. But my visits with him look toward the future. I tell him of the wonderful things ahead for him -- even though he apparently can't hear, and doesn't understand.

I tell Donald that God will give him healing someday, so that his brain will be made normal. How can I say that? Because the Bible says in Revelation 20 that all of the dead will stand before Jesus and be "judged according to their deeds." The institute's staff has given Donald a good deed to do -- even if it's only pressing a button to welcome people to a work area.

I refuse to believe the common idea that Donald is doomed to burn "you-know-where" because he didn't accept Jesus in this life. In his current condition, he can't accept Jesus -- not unless someone presses a yes-or-no button for him at a church service, and I don't see in the Bible where that's legal.

My Bible shows from II Peter 3 that God wants "all to come to repentance." If Donald can't because he doesn't know how, I believe God will show mercy in such cases -- and heal him so he CAN know how. And I suspect at that point, Donald won't be surrounded by agnostics and atheists calling him silly.

Admittedly, my talks with Donald about these things are in effect talks with God. They're statements of faith, and I pray my understanding is right as I state those words. Without that faith, Donald's time on this planet is essentially meaningless - and our family has been going through the motions, in the name of a less-than-perfect life. The Bible says God's way is perfect. May he make my brother that way someday.

SCHEDULED SUNDAY: Who's getting a free pass, in this year's local elections.... and who cracked the four-dollar ceiling in a big way....

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