This Christmas morning, my wife’s cousin Facebooked that her son passed away today. Travis was born trapped inside a motionless body. Unable to walk, talk, or move his arms, many thought for years that he was in a total vegetative state. His mother always knew something that doctors only in the last few years were able to determine: Travis was awake and alive inside, with a functioning mind and brain.
Teresa would take Travis on vacations, cruises and trips anywhere and everywhere. Her Facebook page lights up with many of his adventures. One of their favorite vacation places was her Mom’s farm in southern Indiana, where we would often visit and spend time with Travis.
While his passing today on Christmas is a sad event, it is also a moment to reflect and rejoice. What better day for him to walk through that spiritual door into the next room, where loved ones and God await him?
Christmas is important, not because a child was born of a virgin, but because that child brought about the atonement and resurrection of all mankind. Because of Jesus Christ, each of us will live again. No longer will Travis be bound by useless limbs and a silent voice. During his mortal life, Jesus made the lame walk, the mute to speak, and raised the dead. Because of Christ’s mercy and love, today Travis walks, speaks, and lives eternally, never to taste of death, pain or suffering again.
And for this reason, while I mourn with his mother, sister and family, because we will all miss Travis, I also rejoice that Travis lives on this very Christmas day, and that we will one day see him again, and he will embrace us – something he was not able to do in mortality.