An Open Letter To My Mom and Dad

Christmas was different this year for the Hendon family. We made a decision to not spend money we didn't have on things we didn't need. But we we did do was spend time together, laugh together, play together, we even cried together--not tears of sadness, but of joy. I have to say this Christmas was one of the best I ever enjoyed as an adult. For those of you who have been following my blog I wanted to share with you a letter I gave to my Mom and Dad on Christmas day. It was from my heart to theirs and meant a great deal to me to share it with them, and now I share it with you.....


December 25, 2009

Dear Mom & Dad,

I want to wish you both a very Merry Christmas from the bottom of my heart. Years past have been filled with money and gifts and this year I have none of those to offer. But I wanted to at the very least, tell you how much I love and appreciate what you two have done and how you have helped me get through a difficult time of my life.

It is not the financial help that has meant the most to me. It is something more. As I have walked through the past few years and reflect on my life experience something amazes me. You have been in all the places I have been and you made it out. This gives me strength and hope.

You lived a good part of your lives down south in financial want and yet it made you appreciate money and you have never taken it for granted. I, on the other hand, came into money and let it intoxicate me. My lust for things--bigger boats, more toys, and so on drove me to ruin as I totally mishandled what was laid before me. Yet at the end of it all you guys have been the one thing that has helped me and given me the encouragement to hang in there and not give up. For you have been through so much in your lives yet you have come OUT each and every setback in a real and powerful way.

The temptation in these life rocking experiences is to lay down and not keep moving forward. Then that experience defines you as a person and you just never get over it. There is a story in the Bible about a man called Terah. Terah is a name we don't quickly recognize as prominent in Scripture. Yet he was a key person in the history of the Jews. He was the father of Abraham, the greatest single man in the history of the Jews. You read about him breifly and his three sons in Genesis. In Genesis 11:27 it says, "This is the genealogy of Terah: Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran begot Lot. 28 And Haran died before his father Terah in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans"

Not really much is made of this but it is one of the most telling verses in the Bible.What has happened here is one of Terah's sons--Haran-- dies in Terah's arms. You know the heart wrenching pain of holding the lifeless body of your own child in your arms and seeing them gone. It hurts--you know cause you been through it twice. The grief and the pain are deep and almost unbearable. It is important to grieve, to go through the healing process. A person has to make a decision to get beyond it, to rise above it, and to move forward. Otherwise you will get stuck there and never get over it.

In Terah's life it was in his heart to go to Canaan--the land of promise--along with his whole family, including Abraham. "And Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran and dwelt there. 32 So the days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and Terah died in Haran." (Gen.11:31-32)

Do you see what happened here? Terah starts the move to the land of promise with the entire family but he gets to a city called "Haran" which is coincendentally named after his son who died in his arms, and he can't leave this city. He decides to let this place define him. He cannot get over the hurt, cannot move on and cannot get over it so he dies there,and we never hear of him again. From there Abraham is stuck in this place with him, when God comes and says "Get up! Get out! Get on with your journey".. and of course we all know the result of his obedience to God.

You guys have been through so much in your lives together. There are so many times you could have stopped in your journey and just died there. But you refused. You have suffered the loss of children and grandchildren. You have fought cancer and life threatening accidents and injuries, you have battled personal struggles and relationships--and yet you kept moving forward. You have kept going on, you have refused to give up. Only faith can do that, only a heart that has been captured by the love of God can do that. You two are Abraham and Sarah to me. You have inspired me, challenged me, and helped me to keep moving, to keep going--to never give up no matter what!

My Christmas this year is different than any in the past years. Where before it came and went with all the presents and lavish gifts you could ask for, this year it is abounding with all the unseen yet vital things that make life worth living. My Christmas is filled with hope, with love, and with faith... and all mostly because you shown me the way by your refusal to quit, and your determination to keep moving NO MATTER WHAT!

I love you both. Thanks for your example and your life--Merry Christmas!!!

Mike