A touching story about faith, from a little boy's point of view

[Cheryl Baumgartner CITRMS]

I was walking around in a Target store, when I saw a Cashier hand this
little boy some money back.

The boy couldn't have been more than 5 or 6 years old.

The Cashier said, 'I'm sorry, but you don't have enough money to
buy this doll.'

Then the little boy turned to the old woman next to him: ''Granny, are
you sure I don't have enough money?''


The old lady replied: ''You know that you don't have enough money
to buy this doll, my dear.''

Then she asked him to stay there for just 5 minutes while she went to look
around. She left quickly.

The little boy was still holding the doll in his hand.

Finally, I walked toward him and I asked him who he wished to give this doll
to.

'It's the doll that my sister loved most and wanted so much for Christmas.

She was sure that Santa Claus would bring it to her.'

I replied to him that maybe Santa Claus would bring it to her after all, and
not to worry.

But he replied to me sadly. 'No, Santa Claus can't bring it to her
where she is now. I have to give the doll to my mommy so that she can give it to my sister when she goes there.'

His eyes were so sad while saying this. 'My Sister has gone to be with God.

Daddy says that Mommy is going to see God very soon too, so I thought that
she could take the doll with her to give it to my sister.''

My heart nearly stopped.

The little boy looked up at me and said: 'I told daddy to tell mommy not to go yet. I need her to wait until I come back from the mall.'

Then he showed me a very nice photo of himself. He was laughing.. He then
told me 'I want mommy to take my picture with her so she won't forget me.'

'I love my mommy and I wish she didn't have to leave me, but daddy says
that she has to go to be with my little sister.'

Then he looked again at the doll with sad eyes, very quietly.

I quickly reached for my wallet and said to the boy. 'Suppose we check
again, just in case you do have enough money for the doll!''

'OK' he said, 'I hope I do have enough.' I added some of my
money to his without him seeing and we started to count it. There was enough for the doll and even some spare money.

The little boy said: 'Thank you God for giving me enough money!'

Then he looked at me and added, 'I asked last night before I went to sleep
for God to make sure I had enough money to buy this doll, so that mommy
could give it to my sister. He heard me!''

'I also wanted to have enough money to buy a white rose for my mommy, but I
didn't dare to ask God for too much. But He gave me enough to buy the doll
and a white rose.''

'My mommy loves white roses.'

A few minutes later, the old lady returned and I left with my basket.

I finished my shopping in a totally different state of mind from when I
started.

I couldn't get the little boy out of my mind. Then I remembered a local news paper article two days ago, which mentioned a drunk man in a truck, who hit a car occupied by a young woman and a little girl.

The little girl died right away, and the mother was left in a critical state. The family had to decide whether to pull the plug on the life-sustaining machine, because the young woman would not be able to recover from the coma..

Was this the family of the little boy?

Two days after this encounter with the little boy, I read in the news paper
that the young woman had passed away.

I couldn't stop myself as I bought a bunch of white roses and I went to the funeral home where the body of the young woman was for people to see and make last wishes before her burial. She was there, in her coffin, holding a beautiful white rose in her hand with the photo of the little boy and the doll placed over her chest.

I left the place, teary-eyed, feeling that my life had been changed for
ever.. The love that the little boy had for his mother and his sister is
still, to this day, hard to imagine. And in a fraction of a second, a drunk driver had taken all this away from him.

[Arthur Webster]

The faith of children is legendary but have you given any thought to the faith we all display every single day?

We have faith that, having gone to bed, we will get up in the morning (it still surprises me but I do go to bed expecting to wake!)

We have faith that when we leave home, it will still be there when we return.

We have faith that, for the most part, drivers of lethal machines will have enough control to keep them away from us.

We have faith that having exhaled, we will be able to inhale.

We have faith that no matter how extreme the weather, we will survive it.

The list of the displays of faith that we all demonstrate every single day of our lives is very long but maybe the biggest measure of our faith is the fact that we will drink straight from a can with absolutely no fear that there is anything in there that shouldn't be.

[Cheryl Baumgartner CITRMS]

It is true that we all basically live on faith. When you think about it each succeeding moment is faith is a way. But we also have those things "proven" to us time and time again. I think faith is less based on fact or proof and more based on trust.

[Elaine L.]

Ok, pass the tissue box. Faith is a powerful thing. My faith has helped me through some hard and painful times. I think we forget to have faith sometimes when we grow up. A child sees things so simple and clear.

[Arthur Webster]

Hi, Elaine,

Most of my life has been filled with both physical and emotional pain. I do not see over-coming these as 'faith' related - they are more related to sheer stubbornness and the fact that there is no alternative.

My current problem of a cancer in my right eye has been getting gradually worse as I wait for my specialist's appointment. There are times when the 'light' in my right eye generated by growing pressure actually drowns out anything that my left eye can see and the photophobia (which I inherited from my father) creates stabbing pains that have me in tears for 30 to 40 minutes at a time.

It is not faith that gets me through these times. It was not faith that got me through the loss of three wives and two children. It was not faith that got me through lengthy operations and months of recouperation.

Like all members of the animal kingdom, I have a strong sense of self preservation and a will to live that will support all my endeavours so to do. (Will to live = Fear of dying?)

I know many people do think that their faith in whatever God they worship has enabled them to come through severe trials and tribulations but IF THERE IS NO OTHER CHOICE what has faith got to do with it? We are bound in to this life and while the faithful will thank their God for getting them through a hard time, how many credit him with making the time hard in the first place?

I like Cheryl's idea that the faith we have in the more immediate forms of faith in our survival is proven on a daily basis (although one day it might be proven to be an unsound faith) but, while I do believe in a fierce and vengeful God, I do not believe that my God would create the sort of suffering I have experienced and do experience simply so that He can show how benevolent He is by stopping the torment at His whim.

This makes Him somewhat vainglorious, don't you think?