This week, Michael write to
us about the story of how Robert Hendershot grew up in a "dysfunctional
Christian home." His father was an alcoholic. Robert's prayer
was that he wouldn't follow in his father's footsteps. Unfortunately, he
became a heavy drinker. In high school and college he would often black out and
not remember anything of the night before. He finally stopped drinking and met
and married his wife Melissa. She helped him overcome his drinking
problems and alcohol addiction.
Robert's second fear was
that he wouldn't be a good father. When his wife delivered their first
baby, the doctor came into the room and said, "You have a son." That
was Robert's greatest moment of joy. The doctor's next sentence was,
"He has Down Syndrome." He went from sheer joy to instant
depression. From that moment, God has been teaching Robert what a gift of God
his son Trevor is. Robert learned to love Trevor with all his heart.
Once Robert received a call
from his son's elementary school. The principal said that Trevor was
caught cursing. Robert asked the principle, "what did he
do?" The principle said, "He said "f### you. My daddy
loves me!" The principal said that even though Trevor had been
bullied, we have zero tolerance for that kind of language. Trevor said,
"I'm sorry daddy." Robert took his son for ice cream for
standing up for himself.
Trevor wanted to go to a
Christian men's retreat but Robert didn't want to take him for fear that Trevor
would do something inappropriate. At the retreat, Trevor asked his dad to
share his testimony. Robert shared about his struggle with alcoholism and
then sat down. Trevor came up to the microphone and started singing
"Be Thou My Vision" out of key and dancing in front of the
crowd. Robert grabbed his son, embarrassed, and sat down. The next
day Robert was so embarrassed that he wanted to leave early. Men came up
to him and asked, "where are you going? Why are you leaving
early?" Robert tried to explain how embarrassed he was about the
night before. One guy said, "Are you kidding? That was the greatest
moment of the retreat. I wish I could sing like that with reckless
abandon. Everyone in the audience was in tears."
Once while Trevor was in
high school, the principle called Robert and Melissa to her office. Some
bullies had been tormenting Trevor. They reported him to the principle for
cursing at them. The bullies didn't think that Trevor would say anything
against them. At the meeting were a police officer, the principal and the vice
principal. Robert and Melissa brought Trevor as their witness. His mom had
Trevor write down what the bullies had done to him to make him say a curse
word. He wrote, "They called me 'stupid, they said I was 'retarded. They
pushed me down on the ground and poured water on my head." When they
left the principal's office, the cheerleaders and the football team had made a
banner that read "Go Trevor." The football captain told the
bullies, "if you ever say or do anything to Trevor, we'll kick you all the
way to Riverside, California."
Let's continue Michael "feel good" success story about Robert & Trevor in the next post.
In Christ, Brian
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