Big Lessons from a Little Kid
- Mike Rydman
- Dec 11, 2007
Big Lessons from a Little Kid
Our friends Marques and Amber lost their precious little girl this past week. Kennedi came into this world on June 27, 2006 and she brought a host of medical challenges with her.
In Kennedi's short life she endured more high-risk surgeries than those of us reading this will endure in our entire lifetimes, combined. Kennedi spent most of her life breathing through tubes, and being fed through artificial means other than her mouth. Marques and Amber did most of their caring for Kennedi within the confines of hospitals all the while knowing that their baby girl was fighting insurmountable odds.
Kennedi was not supposed to live even hours past her birth. The fact that Kennedi lived for 17 months was a testament to the endurance of her young parents, the expertise of countless medical professionals, and her own fighting spirit. And somewhere in this was the sovereignty and mercy of God.
Scripture tells us that our lives are fleeting vapors, like a puff of smoke or a fine mist that soon evaporates. In the course of human history and certainly in the scope of eternity our lives don't take up much time or space. While some lives last longer than others, all of us face the inevitable - we won't take up space on this planet for long. Kennedi's life didn't take up much space at all, it would seem.
Yet, God in His loving sovereignty and incredible grace had a purpose for Kennedi's life, a purpose that continues. God wanted people like me to learn some things.
Kennedi taught me that even little ones can be tough, and Kennedi was tough; a real fighter. She endured pain throughout her lifetime, yet didn't seem to make a big deal of it. She was still able to respond to people's attentions and affections. Over the Thanksgiving weekend Marques and Amber brought Kennedi and big sister Brinn for a visit to our house. My wife Deb held Kennedi for the entire two hours, and they had such a time together. In spite of her pain from the surgery she had endured just earlier that week Kennedi was able to smile and coo, to squeeze fingers and to allow us to see the dance in her sweet eyes.
Kennedi also taught me what it was to be a "godparent." Deb and I had been asked to be Kennedi's godparents soon after she was born, and we took this responsibility seriously. We prayed often for Kennedi and her parents. We received frequent updates by phone and email respective to Kennedi's medical condition and the stress it placed on her parents. In April we celebrated as a church as Marques and Amber dedicated Kennedi to the Lord, with many of their relatives present. And this past Sunday afternoon in Portland I officiated Kennedi's memorial service that was attended by many caring people.
In Kennedi, God taught me to care for a little one by opening up a place in my heart I didn't know I had reserved for her. In celebrating and reflecting upon her life this past Sunday I realized just how much I loved that little kid. Kennedi was a loved little girl; loved by countless people who had followed her story, many of whom had not ever met until this past weekend.
And Kennedi taught me again that it is God, and only God who fills the voids in our lives.
Kennedi, I believe is now in the arms of her loving heavenly Father; a Father who sent her to her parents and to the rest of us for a very short assignment. She is no longer in any pain, and is experiencing the inexpressible joy that only a child of God can enjoy. Meanwhile, and while you and I are still on assignment we can remember what Jesus looks like in the eyes of a sweet little lamb while we await our own arrival into the arms of our heavenly Father.