On yesterday’s date, 1981, every parent’s nightmare became real for John and Revé Walsh. Their six-year-old son, Adam, was abducted.
“Early in the afternoon on July 27, Adam entered a Sears department store with his mother, Reve. She allowed him to watch a group of older boys play video games in the toy department while she shopped nearby. When she returned for him less than 10 minutes later, he was gone. Investigators learned a teenage security guard had asked the older children to leave because they were causing trouble. Adam, reportedly a timid child who might have been afraid to speak up, followed one of the older boys out and didn’t tell the guard his mother was in the store. He was likely kidnapped outside the store after the other child left.”1
Sixteen days after Adam’s disappearance, his severed head was found in a drainage canal 120-miles from his home. His body has never been discovered. Twenty-seven years after Adam’s death, the case was closed, and serial pedophile Otis Toole was convicted of the crime. He died in prison in 1996, incarcerated at the time for other crimes.
“Following the crime, the Walsh family founded the Adam Walsh Child Resource Center, a non-profit organization dedicated to legislative reform.[14] The centers, originally located in West Palm Beach, Florida; Columbia, South Carolina; Orange County, California; and Rochester, New York; merged with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), where John Walsh serves on the board of directors.
“The Walsh family organized a political campaign to help missing and exploited children. Despite bureaucratic and legislative problems, John’s and Revé’s efforts eventually led to the creation of the Missing Children Act of 1982 and the Missing Children’s Assistance Act of 1984.
“Today, Walsh continues to testify before Congress and state legislatures on crime, missing children and victims’ rights issues. His latest efforts include lobbying for a Constitutional amendment for victims’ rights.”2
Many families wouldn’t survive what the Walsh family endured. Similar tragedies often result in one or both parents becoming alcoholics, being withdrawn from each other, blaming the spouse who had immediate oversight of the child, and a marriage dissolving into a divorce.
The Walsh family responded differently. “According to John, Reve was the most dedicated mother. She wouldn’t let Adam drive his bike on the street or sidewalk, only in the driveway. She would drop and pick him up from private school every day… During an interview with Justice Network, he described Reve to be the strongest woman he has ever seen in his life. He said Reve has the strength of ten men. Despite going through the worst a mother can go through, she still kept the family together.”3
I don’t know the spiritual condition of the Walsh family. What I do know is that they handled this terrible tragedy the right way. There was familial affirmation, encouragement, and love rather than anger and blame. And they turned a tragedy into something that would help others.
Bad things happen to everyone. I’m not downplaying or minimizing the pain. I’m just speaking a fact. Nobody escapes bad things in their lives. Thankfully, all bad things aren’t as bad as having a child abducted and murdered. How we handle those awful life events is important from a Christian standpoint.
2 Corinthians 1:3-6 says, “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; (4) Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. (5) For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. (6) And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.”
Imagine that! We might be going through something for the sole purpose of being able to help someone else. We are supposed to USE our experiences, not ignore or bury them. And we would be incapable of really comforting someone in a similar situation without having gone through it first.
If you are going through something today, remember that God wants to comfort and help you through it. But that comfort and help isn’t just for your benefit. Somewhere in the future, you are going to have an opportunity to help, bless, and encourage someone else who is going through the same thing. This is God’s plan and His way of helping others.
Let’s develop the attitude of Paul found in 2 Corinthians 12:15. “And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you…”
1https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/july-27/adam-walsh-is-abducted
2https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Walsh_(television_host)
3https://vergewiki.com/reve-drew-walsh
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