Last night was a night set aside for families throughout the Portland area to visit the Oregon Zoo for free. My middle son Noah anticipated the night for almost two weeks, ever since we got the invitation in the mail. The regular parking lot at the zoo was so packed that they had to have a shuttle running every 5 minutes from a nearby Nazarene Church parking lot 2 miles away.
One special point about this one free night is that its, well, at night. In the evening at least. normally the zoo closes around 5pm, so the crew can get out and get all of the animals fed. But last night the zoo opened up from 4-8pm. And the train and special exhibits were also free. They had large size animals that the kids could run up and hug and take pictures with as well. Plus a soda and bag of popcorn for everyone in the family, free as well. (We didn't get the popcorn and soda because Ti can't have either and we didn't want to leave him out.. It was after all his night) Oh yah, the most important part of the night is that all families in attendance had to have a child with...special needs. The way the zoo crew sees it, trying to get around the home and life are hard enough, the zoo should be a fun place to be.
The cool part about going to the zoo in the evening is that all of the animals start to wake up and come alive around that time. Its feeding time, the weather cools down, and they just got up from a good afternoon nap and are ready to play.
Early on in the stroll around the grounds I leaned in to my wife's ear and commented, "remember, every single one of these families has a child with special needs. They are all used to a child freaking out. So... we can lay off of Ti tonight and let him be amongst HIS peers." As silly as this may sound, it was really quite a releif to comprehend.
As we wandered into a cave where the penguins and sea lions can be seen from underwater, a rather large child wiggled his way out of his parents hands and went running up a ramp squealing. In any other setting the mother of the child would have been frustrated and slightly embarrased, yep, that was her kid, running off, freaking out, nothing normal about him. But on this particular night, she started screaming, "stop him, please, stop him!" Thing was, there were another five families coming down the ramp that knew exactly how this gal felt, and stepped in the way. He didn't get too far this night.
The line for the train was about 45 minutes. It was the typical attraction line, winding back and forth upon itself between fence posts and canvas strapping. The zoo has 3 trains that run in succession every 15 minutes. Each train holds roughly 80 to 100 people. I enjoyed the train ride, the scenery and all were ok, overgrown lush ferns covering the ground was the typical view for most of the ride. But I enjoyed the ride because my youngest, Lucas, took the time to nestle his head in the bend of my draping arm so he could stick it out the window and feel the gentle rushing wind wisk by his face. It was a quiet restful peace that is so fleeting in the time we have.
Since Ti can't have the regular faring at the zoo for snacking,...popcorn, soda, caramel apples, and the like...we packed a sack dinner. After strolling through the animal cages and riding one of the zoo trains, we were hungry. We wandered our way to a sprawling grassy amphitheater where they have special shows. We claimed one of the deep and wide stair steps as our picnic bench and sat down to enjoyed the breeze with sandwiches and chips.
As my family sat there munching away, I took the moment to look around at all of the families that were there enjoying the evening. So many families, so many people, all there at the zoo enjoying the evening because at least one of their children was something other than normal. Downs, Blind, deaf, armless, legless, limbless, autistic, ...and the list goes on. I couldn't help but think of the time in the Bible when the disciples asked Jesus, "who sinned, this man or his parents? That he should end up this way..." The event didn't come to me because of what the disciples thought, but because of what our Lord said and did in response. Here on the grassy knoll and strolling the grounds were hundreds of families smiling and laughing and showing excitement in such pure true honest enjoyment, because of a child in their life that doesn't fit the mold. "Neither, this man is here that the works of God might be displayed in his life." This man is here because God....not a mistake, not broken, not wrong, not.....but because God made him.
On the way back to the parking lot on the shuttle Karen struck up a conversation with another mom. Ciciley actually struck up the conversation, she wanted to know if the lady's son was autism. "Yes, he is." Karen carried on from there. The son was the youngest in the family, going on 11. The mom mentioned that she had 2 teenage daughters as well. She shared a quick note about how a teacher recently complimented the tender hearts and maturity of her daughters. And how her family was so impacted by the fact that the youngest was "on the spectrum." She acknowledged that her daughters would not be the way they are if their son was not part of the picture. Karen pointed at our two middle kiddos and said," I know!."
Well....its late...and I have to get to bed, but I'm not done with this one yet...my mind is still working it over a little. But I what I really want to say is, God doesn't make mistakes, none, nadda, zilch, zero, never, never has, never will, is completely and totally incapable of screwing up, even just a little. This is fundimental and needs to be completely understood. Once it is fully embraced, ...every single one of those families at the zoo last night, including my own, are part of our Lord God's mighty and awesome plan, even and especially the ones who gave them a reason to be there last night. So, since it is impossible for God to make a mistake, and everything he does is on purpose, why did he decide to create these special children? I have some ideas, how about you?
