Not long ago, I was blessed by God to have the opportunity to care for a 7 year old boy named Aaron, who has autism. Aaron is such an angel--innocent, amazingly observant, and he has a contagious laugh that I will never forget! Children with autism have a hard time understanding the intangible such as time and dates.  So when we started attending church, we were never sure how much Aaron grasped about Jesus and Christianity, since God isn't necessarily 'tangible'.
 

One day we took Aaron and his sister to San Xavier Mission near Tucson--a beautiful church built in 1787. In the desert beside of the mission, there is a huge cross atop a hill, and we hiked up to it. Aaron stared up at the cross silently and in his own little world. Then he bowed his head and put his hands together. "Dear Jesus..." he whispered, and began to mumble sweet, unintelligible words… Prayers that I know Jesus understood perfectly.
 

I am no longer able to see Aaron, though I pray for him and his sister every single day. I am so excited for the day when I can see them again. In my sadness of missing them, I draw comfort in knowing that God has been working in both their lives. Thanks to a cross on a hill (on Calvary, and in Tucson), I have full peace that Aaron is understanding what he hears in church. They know Jesus, and we will meet again.
Kerri Abernathy
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