Christian Henry is his name. He now resides in Heaven. He was held first by his mother and father, and soon after by Jesus. I met his incredible mother, Erin, a few years ago at My Gym, and I instantly loved her. What I didn’t know then is that I knew this woman before we ever met. I learned about her through my best friend and prayed for her. “Keep me updated. I’ll pray with you,” I told Courtney as we hung up the phone.
Courtney learned one of her teacher friends at school received traumatic news. She was 23 weeks pregnant and after a routine ultrasound to find out the sex of her second child, she was told he wouldn’t live. He didn’t have kidneys and would never survive. Courtney told me this woman was carrying her child to term. He may not live, but she would do her part as his mother. Courtney called me months later to tell me, Erin gave birth to a little boy, but he passed away soon after being born. I remember that phone call vividly. I couldn’t imagine her heartache. I didn’t put God in the forefront of my life during that time. I had no idea how she would ever come back from such a tragedy.
Years later, I am listening to my new friend talk about the thought of getting pregnant again. What would ever hold her back, I thought? Her son was Cealy’s age, and I already had Sebastian. She was like Ms. Duggar to me. Her son was Team Adorable and Erin was the sweetest, most fun mom ever. She started to tell me little by little the story of her son Christian, and how he came to bless her life. As I started listening to Christian’s story unfold, I realized I was friends with someone I already knew. Someone I prayed for, and would meet years later without even knowing it. God is quite the story weaver.
Erin and her husband were told they could end her pregnancy right away. Their son would not survive, but they knew Christian was God’s son too and He would take care of him. She felt his kicks, his life, and his love until she had to say goodbye. Erin’s words are truer and much more beautiful than mine: http://www.forchristianhenry.blogspot.com/.
In memory of their son, Erin and her husband created Christian’s Random Act of Kindness. We are to bless those around us in honor of Christian. Many tell their stories on Christian’s R.A.O.K. Facebook page. I will share ours here as well:
I talked to God about how our family could honor Christian. It wasn’t an hour later that He came through. It was story hour, and Rosalie’s book of choice was, “I Walk For Water,” by Lindsey Andrews. At the end of the book, Sebastian said he wanted to give the little boy water. Sebastian was bouncing around like a bunny the whole book, how was he even listening? It didn’t occur to me right away that God wanted us to look into this more. I read another book and when I finished that, Sebastian told me again he wanted to give the little boy water. I started to tell him we couldn’t when it hit me. Maybe we can? We walked over to the computer and what do you know, Indianapolis has a Walk for Water. We could walk for our brothers and sisters in Kenya without clean water. Two of my three babies were sick from drinking unclean water when they arrived home. Imagine never getting the chance to recover. It took over 6 months of antibiotics to cure it. Imagine not having the medicine. Imagine dying within hours of drinking unclean water. This is the reality for many of our friends all over the world. I’ve already talked to the gentlemen in charge and was blessed with his story and the creation of this walk. We will walk on August 1st in honor of Christian. Our team is called Team Christian and many of my friends and family are doing the 3 mile walk with us, yellow buckets and all! (https://indy.walk-for-water.org) Had Christian not been born, his parents wouldn’t have needed to create this day to honor him. I would have told myself I was too busy to help when Sebastian asked. But Christian pushed me to do better. We will bless our brothers and sisters in Kenya because Christian lived.
Because Jesus lived, Christian lived. Because Christian lived, we walk. Christian pushed us to look into something beyond our everyday lives. He lived so we could bless others. Thank you Erin and Wes for sharing Christian’s life with us.
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