In the heart of the south, Indiana to be exact lived a family who made their living as farmers. John and Esther Hartland were the present caretakers of their family’s farm, a tradition which dates back to 1810. Their farm was set on land rich in minerals, suitable for growing soybeans, wheat, and corn. John worked hard at tilling the field and planting the crops each season and then watching their crops grow knowing they were doing their part to feed the world.
What most people didn’t know about the Hartland’s was the tragedy their family faced 20 years ago when little Danny Heartland, just 5 at the time, ran toward John’s tractor when he disappeared when to John’s horror his youngest son laid lifeless on the field behind the tractor.
John immediately stopped the tractor, climbed down, and ran to his son, but instantly he knew that his youngest child was dead. It seemed just last week when his parents took a very excited but scared Danny to his first day of Kindergarten.and when Danny died the way he did, his father began having nightmares and flashbacks of what might have been different if he only saw it coming.
The constant wrestling of his thoughts, for a while, made him too incapacitated to do much farming; fortunately, the farming community rallied behind John and helped him keep up with those never-ending farm chores. When her son Danny died, Esther cried out to God, often times sending John out to buy some additional boxes of tissues whenever she ran out.
When their youngest child died, the community struggled with what to call this type of loss. When the Hartland’s next door neighbor lost his wife, they called him a widower. When the Hartland’s other neighbor lost her husband they called her a widow, but there was no name to attach to a family who lost a child. It seemed incomprehensible for a family to bury a child; after all, children are supposed to bury their parents, right?
Despite the conflicting emotions all the Hartley’s were experiencing during this time, they kept on going to church in their little town of Aberdeen, Indiana. Oh, there were lots of mornings when a bad night of ‘what if’s ‘ made them tired, but as John told one of his son’s, “ if we stayed home from church because we’re not feeling well, we will likely not get the encouraging word we just might need for today.”
They kept right on going, no matter how they felt from Sunday to Sunday, always clinging onto the promises of God and the good blessings they experienced in the past. John remembers reading this in the book of Job where this man who had everything lost it all, but despite the horrific tragedy Job encountered he never blamed God. He was determined, as a loving father and husband to Esther, to work through this tragic loss- and it wasn’t going to be with booze that he sees so many people in his era using to erase their pain.
John knew that his family needed a dad who didn’t throw in the towel when bad things happen. He needed to leave a legacy to his children that Jesus is the firm foundation, no matter what happens to them in life. Losing a child wasn’t an easy road to travel. John knew that. But each morning he got up to read his bible and journal his wrenching thoughts, John saw the hope that was in those pages.
Many years later, the son who asked if he could stay home because he didn’t feel like going to church, came over and told his dad that was a pivotal moment in his life because he was angry at God that God would just let his younger brother die, His son paused before adding, ‘because I saw that my dad wasn’t quitting, I’m not going to quit.’ Today, his son continues to attend a church nearby him in Indianapolis where he works.
The moral of the story? God sent his son, Jesus, to die on the cross so you can experience forgiveness of your sins and the refreshing aroma of Jesus walking at your side all the days of your life no matter what happens to you.
