It’s the little things that shatter your heart when a baby dies. Cooper Harris — the 22-month-old toddler who succumbed to hyperthermia after being left in a hot car — had just learned to identify the color red. He also was a big fan of trucks and would say “Bye, red truck” when he passed one in a parking lot.
The baby’s heartbreaking ordeal spread almost instantaneously around the globe. His obituary, printed in the family’s hometown newspaper, the Tuscaloosa Times, included condolences from as far away as the Netherlands.
The child’s father, Justin Ross Harris, was arrested and charged with felony murder and cruelty to children just hours after he told Cobb police he had mistakenly left Cooper in his child seat for more than seven hours on a day when the high temperature approached 90 degrees.
Whenever a baby dies, there’s a question that often plagues people. “Why didn’t God do something?” It’s the most natural query in the world, often arising from a deep well of grief and anger.
There is something so precious about a little fellow who is just learning the ways of the world, and has claimed a place in so many people’s hearts. And realizing this particular light has been extinguished on Earth forever can be unbearable.
Some skeptics shake their fists at God. He could have intervened, they say. He could have sent someone over to the car to peer inside. He could have miraculously lowered the temperature inside the car so the boy would have lived.
Yes, miracles do happen, but by their very nature, they are not everyday events. If God intervened constantly, he would be encroaching on our free will. Does this mean God wanted this baby to die in this terrible way? Is he to blame?
The answer is a resounding no. Because this event clearly had a human cause.
Every day thousands of people lose their lives in wars, terrorist attacks, crimes and car accidents. Many are sweet babies whose families are devastated by the loss. No words can heal the wounds of families suffering such tragedies. Really, all we can do is pray for them.
When I read about calamities in the news, I take comfort from the Old Testament story of Job, in which a man suffers crushing catastrophes and is still able to say, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
For me, it helps to realize that Cooper is no longer suffering in that brutally hot car. He’s with the one who had a special love for babies. The one who said, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”
I believe heaven is a place where God will wipe every tear away. Scripture tells us it is a realm where there is no sighing and crying, no heartache and pain. I find solace in the realization that ultimately everything is in God’s hands. He also lost a son under terrible circumstances — but death never has the final word.
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