Zach's Birthday

by Rollie J.

The parking lot was mostly empty. I pondered if it was even open. But I had been told 5 p.m. I entered through the double doors and was greeted by a very friendly young masked lady who quickly scanned my forehead for temperature in this new form of social greeting. I apparently passed, as she lifted the roped gate and allowed me to enter.

Only two small groups of people were gathered in opposite corners of the expansive room. The atmosphere felt a bit Twilight Zone-ish as this space is normally crammed with screaming children running all about, and there is generally a constant hum of bells, beeps, buzzers, music, and noise. This place, in times past, with my own small children signifies for me the antithesis of quiet and serenity. Welcome to Chuck E. Cheese!

I scanned the room searching for a familiar face made more difficult by our new norm of masks. With only two small groups present, I located mine and headed for their table. Thirty feet away, I locked eyes with my intended target and shouted out, “Hey Zach!” He paused, for recognition, and I dropped my mask a bit to expose my face.

Instantly, upon recognizing me, he rose immediately from his chair and began excitedly running around the room, arms flailing up and down, pacing back and forth as he muttered out loudly, “Wally…. Wally… Wally!”

I followed him to catch up and give him my best awkward Covid hug. Zach rocked back and forth from hind leg to front leg, eyes smiling with excitement as I wished him a big Happy Birthday! Feeling instantly loved and appreciated by Zach, I sat down at the birthday table.

Zach’s wonderful mom, Nicole, quietly leaned over and mentioned, “Rollie you should know, Zach doesn’t get that excited with the exception of when Chuck E. Cheese and his band move and sing!” I smiled with gratitude and winked at the mute and stoic furry gorilla playing guitar!

Zach and his family are regular First Lutheran Celebration worshipers. I see him from the stage most Sundays. Each time he seeks me out with his eyes, and often wanders up after the service where I give him a big hug and an, “I love you Zach.” He rocks with excitement and appreciation and I smile with delight feeling nothing but love and acceptance from him. I consider it a great honor and act of love when Zach, being mostly non-verbal, eeks out my name, “Wally.”

Zach loves with no strings attached. He doesn’t care whether I hit it out of the park with a sermon or flubbed a song or three while leading worship. He doesn’t care how I look, or what I’m wearing. He doesn’t change when I’ve argued with a coworker, or when I’ve failed as a father. He doesn’t change his interaction with me when I feel on top of the world and feel like I’ve got things figured out, or when I’m crawling across the bottom, wondering where I made a wrong turn, and why is life so hard. Zach just offers love and acceptance with no strings attached.

If Zach was around in Jesus’ time, I think he would have ended up in one of the Jesus-encounter stories. Most folks walk past Zach in day to day life. He might very well be invisible to most that walk past him in school, church, or the mall. He does not draw attention to himself, nor seek to be the center of anyone else’s world. And yet, what most folks have missed is that Zach and others like him, may very well be a divine portal into and understanding of God and how he loves and accepts each of us. Maybe that is why Richard Rohr states so eloquently in his book Falling Upward: “Jesus made the sinner, the outsider, the Gentile, the Samaritan, the woman, the Roman centurion, the poor person, and the leper the heroes and heroines of His stories."

Our world loves the self-promotor: the movers and the shakers, the go-getters and the climbers, the achievers, and the champions. We love the young, the slender, the sexy, and the beautiful. We admire the ones who have made fortunes and empires. We worship the ones who can throw a baseball or football or dunk a basketball. We stand in awe of those who can solve great puzzles of science or discover the mysteries of the universe. Yet, most all of us, run past or ignore the hidden windows of God’s divine reflection in people placed in our midst, like Zach.

God is all around us. May you have eyes to perceive Him and experience His presence in a hidden vessel like my friend Zach! He’s the real deal.

-- Rollie J.