Chikumbutsu

This morning started out like most weekday mornings.  I (Bruce) get Grace ready for school while Sarah prepares Beth's morning bottle of milk.  I was just finishing getting Grace ready to roll when Sarah told me that one of the clinic nurses called and she wanted to meet us at 7:00 outside of Grace's school. 

Carson White, the ABC clinic nurse told us that last night,March 14th, Chiku (our nickname for Chikumbutsu) started showing signs of deteriorating health.  He had been admitted to the clinic back in late September at only a few weeks and he weighed a little under 5.5 pounds.  Now, all these months later, he was tipping the scales at just 5.9 pounds and had gone through regiments of everything they could think of to fight diseases that would keep him from gaining weight.  His Mom died from the c-section that gave him life and his Dad was totally unable to care for an infant.  We sensed that he loved his little boy and would gladly take him back once he was strong.  Chiku ended up at the local "crisis nursery" and was quickly tranferred to ABC's children's clinic.

That's where I (Bruce) met Chikumbutsu on my rounds through the clinic taking a group of college students that I had been working with and training as "student chaplains".  Several times our little group surrounded his crib and laid hands on him to pray for him.  In time Sarah came up to see him too and our hearts went out to the little guy since most of the time the nurses had their hands full with other patients and they couldn't hold him for very long.  We asked permission to take him back to our house to just hold him and interact with him and this started a 5 month relationship with Chiku.  Grace would constantly ask to hold him and Beth would have to be watched like a hawk so her "love pats" would not hurt him.  We even had him stay for almost a full week (nights too) over Christmas.  In time we could get him to smile and even hold "conversations" (with 'coos') with us from time to time.  He still wasn't gaining weight but he seemed to be doing okay. 

Well, whatever his sickness was, it got worse and worse throughout the night and at 4:00 am this morning (March 15th) his all-to-brief sojourn here came to an end. 

His name - Chikumbutsu - means "in memory of" and it was a name that was meant to reflect his mother's sacrifice for his life.  Now it's a name that we carry with us to remember the little treasure God let us enjoy for a season. 

I don't know what we'll all look like when we get to heaven.  I've often wondered how we'll recognize one another when we get there.  One thing is for sure - Sarah and I will be able to spot Chiku from a long way off, and we can't wait to see him there.