Pastor John Van Sloten

This morning my 18 year old Downy boy came down the stairs with three plastic dwarfs in his hands, pointing to the middle one (Dopey) and then pointing to himself.  Whenever he does this – and he’s done if before – I feel a pang.  He knows.  For years we were unsure if he’d ever be aware of his disability (he’s quite “low functioning” as they say, and can never really tell us how he feels, or how his day went).  And we found a strange comfort in his (our) ignorance.  There’s a bliss and a freedom that comes from naivete.  But he knows.  And knowing that knew this morning I wrapped my arms around him in a long hug and whispered, ‘But you have an intelligence that very few have Edward.’  I thought about the Apostle Paul’s image of the body needing all its parts, even (especially) the seemingly less significant ones.  Where would our family be without such a beautiful young man to love, hug and hold?  How could any day be meaningful without his smile, touch and that look he has in his eyes?  Surely God, he knows his value in these things.  I think he does.  Because often he’ll vicariously connect to other fable characters, like Prince Edward from Disney’s Enchanted.  You should see the pride that fills his face when he makes that connection.  Or Snow White herself.  One day last year he dramatically walked down the stairs with an apple in his hand, took a bite, fell to the floor and let the apple roll from his lifeless hand.  As he laid there with his eyes closed my wife laughed her head off.   And then Edward stood up, smiled, and took that internally satisfied bow that all jokesters take.  You could see it in the gleam in his eye.  He knows.