Aaron

John Mollitt, Ingleton

‘You have not destroyed him but you have destroyed any possibility of him ever having a normal life’. These were the words of the judge as Aaron`s father was sentenced to six years in prison for battering his baby boy. This is the tragic background of how Aaron came to be in our care in 1987.

My wife and I had become foster carers in 1986 and it was 18 months later when we got a phone call from Nancy who was in charge of fostering and adoption with social services. Nancy was a Christian and told us there was a baby for whom they desperately needed to find a foster home. Would we consider taking the child for a year? This we agreed to do but when we went to the hospital to pick Aaron up, the paediatrician was not very reassuring. ‘Are you sure you know what you are taking on?’ she asked. Having had little experience of handicapped children, we did not know what we were taking on but having sought the Lord, we felt that it was the right thing to do.

The first two months were the most difficult as Aaron literally cried day and night. This was ‘cerebral crying’, not the normal crying of a baby, and it was impossible to comfort him. Our own two children, Andrew and Joanna, were 14 and 10 at the time and we were conscious of our responsibilities to them. In the providence of God they both accepted Aaron into our home and immediately treated him as their brother. Eventually Aaron did settle and having got ‘his feet under the table’ the one year passed by and 16 years later, Aaron is still with us.

Life with Aaron has often been challenging with broken nights, hospital visits and countless appointments with doctors, surgeons, social workers, educational psychologists etc. There have been anxious times as he has been hospitalised with asthma and chest infections. Aaron has had numerous operations and in 1999 was admitted to Manchester Children`s Hospital for fundoplication/gastrostomy surgery. However, if life has often been challenging, it has always been rewarding and we can truthfully say that ‘Aaron has given us far more than we have ever given him’.

What has Aaron taught us? Aaron’s parents were both heroin addicts but this does not hide the fact that just as Cain killed his brother so men still inflict pain and death upon family members. The effects of the fall are still tragically with us. Aaron is dependent on us and others for all his needs and this is a reminder to us of our dependence upon God for all our needs. It is in him that we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28) and it is to him that we must look for our eternal salvation.

We have seen grown men in tears as they have heard the story of Aaron and it has taught us that this world would be an even harder place than it already is, if everyone was sound in body and in mind. So often it is ones such as Aaron who melt human hearts and enable us to see that men are still made in the image of God. Aaron is the best missionary we have in Ingleton and he has opened doors for us that otherwise would never have opened..

Aaron causes us to rejoice in the hope which we have as believers. 

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself (Philippians 3:21). 

This is a precious promise and we believe that one day it will be gloriously fulfilled in Aaron. An elderly Christian lady once made the comment, ‘How wonderful that Aaron has never knowingly sinned’. That is true but Aaron still needs to be saved because he was born with a sinful nature. We, therefore, rest in the infinite mercy of God and trust he bestows salvation upon those who are incapable of making a rational response to the gospel.

Aaron is a much-loved young man at the church in Ingleton and particularly enjoys the hymn singing. If well, he is at church twice on a Sunday and is a great favourite with the ladies when Pat is speaking at women’s meetings. Aaron enjoys travelling in his van and dad has convinced himself that they have a common interest in football, cricket and brass bands!

In April, sixteen years after being fostered, Aaron was adopted into the Mollitt family. He now has our name, our address and - for what it is worth - our wealth. How much more wonderful to be adopted into the family of God! No solicitor or social worker is necessary because it is all of God’s grace. The great transaction takes place when we come to faith in his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We then enter into a permanent and intimate relationship with the Lord, because we are not merely fostered into the family of God, we are adopted into the family of God. `I am His and He is mine for ever and for ever`.