When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. Isaiah 43:2

It was an overcast and dreary day which perfectly fit our mood. We were driving from our home in South Carolina to Birmingham, Alabama with our six-month old son, Brock. At some point along the way we stopped for a break. Rebecca is a connoisseur of Diet Coke. She insists that it is best from the fountain at specific fast food establishments. As she stood in line at McDonald’s, she noticed another mom with her child. She asked how old he was and the mom responded that he was 11 months old. Rebecca told her that she had a son that was six months old and blurted out that we were taking him for heart surgery. Then this perfect stranger said “My son has Tetralogy of Fallot, and he was operated on when he was six months old.” In a state of disbelief Rebecca shared that this was Brock’s condition. The mom said “Don’t let anyone tell you that there will not be complications, because there will be.” She went on to say that the recovery period was horrible, but that they were able to go home two weeks after surgery. They shared pictures with us, wished us well and headed home as we continued to Birmingham trying to grapple with the meaning of this encounter.

During the dark days that followed, we often referred back to our encounter at McDonald’s. The other mom had told us that there would be complications, so this must be what she meant? She had eventually brought her son home, so we thought that must be the way it would go for us. However our story took a different and very heartbreaking turn. Brock died about one week after surgery. With many years of hindsight, I am still convinced that we encountered the presence of God in that conversation at McDonald’s. However, it was not so much God signaling our destination, but letting us know that he saw us, he knew our struggle, and that he would be with us along the way. 

PS: This Christmas, we decided to do a ZOOM picture for our family’s Christmas card. We all sat in different places in the house to take the picture. It was days later that we noticed that Brock was included in the picture too. He is in a photograph to the left of Neale’s shoulder. We were blown away by this extraordinary circumstance that occurred at the same time that we were writing a book that begins with his story.