The Largest Christmas Angel

They say that big things come in small packages, but I say sometimes extraordinary things come in overly large packages cleverly disguised as something else, something brilliant. And if we are not careful we could miss it entirely, looking only at the outward appearance and how the gift is wrapped. Terry was one of those cleverly disguised and overly large gifts. Terry had a smile that could light up the room, a contagious laugh, and the purest heart of a child that loved anyone and everyone. Towering over the other children, red hair, and glasses Terry was mentally handicapped, over six-foot tall, and two hundred pounds of childlike love trapped in the body of a thirty-one year old man.

Terry was in my Children’s church faithfully and I taught him just like I taught the other children. When we would exit the sanctuary after worship to attend “our church” all eyes were on the children. The children often held hands and Terry was right there with them carefully holding the hands of someone else’s baby. Finding an angel costume for our Christmas program was going to be somewhat challenging that year, even now I have no idea how we pulled it off, but the memory of that Christmas program will forever be etched in my mind as one of the greatest.

In Gods house there is a place for everyone and Terry belonged in Children’s church and all six foot of him belonged in an angels costume singing off key celebrating the birth of our Lord wrapped in flesh so that we might identify with the Christ-child. Teaching Terry was challenging at times and even though none of the children were intimidated by his size, I was at times. I couldn’t always understand him, so Terry would pull on my hand and I would go airborne! Terry gave me two gifts during those years, one was the privilege of seeing the purest childlike heart, the other was a Christmas present he had picked out for me by himself. Everyone in my Children’s church knew I wanted a silver PT Cruiser, at the time it was my dream car.

Terry came tromping up with a gift bag smiling ear to ear. His mother said, “He wants you to open it now. When he saw it in the store he just had to get it for you.” His eyes never left my face as I opened the gift, I giggled as I looked inside. In the bag was a silver, remote control PT Cruiser and I couldn’t believe he had remembered the exact car and color that I wanted. Terry loved my expression so he giggled with me and clapped his hands with so much joy. It was one of the best gifts I’ve ever received, seeing through the eyes of a child and the largest Christmas angel EVER.

Merry Christmas!