For the Love of Cheerios

Our focus statement today is, “God loves us in so many ways. When we steep ourselves in that love, it comes out into our lives.” One of the Going Deeper questions reminds us that God’s love often comes to us through other people, and today I am remembering a time when someone showed me a special kind of love many, many years ago.

 

I was 10 years old, I think. My best guess is that this happened in the Christmas of 1960, perhaps 1961. I lived in Africa (Zambia and Zimbabwe) until I was 15, with only two visits to my parents’ families back in Pennsylvania. When I was nine years old, we spent six months in Pennsylvania, and for those six I lived with my Uncle and Aunt in Woodbury, PA. Also, during those six months, I discovered Cheerios! 

 

Then we went back to Africa. We didn’t have Cheerios in Zimbabwe! We had lots of good food, but no Cheerios. I loved Cheerios, and I made it known that I wished we had Cheerios in Bulawayo. Of course, we didn’t. 

 

My Dad was the Bishop of our church (the BICC in Zimbabwe) there, and we lived in the Bishop’s house. It was a big house in the shape of an L, and he had his office at one end of the house. His secretary (Lois Davidson) lived in the office wing of the house and ate her meals with our family. 

 

One day, Lois was in downtown Bulawayo doing some shopping and she found a box of Cheerios in a grocery store! I have no idea why it was there or who imported it, but it was there. She knew I liked Cheerios, so she bought it and brought it home. She kept it in her room until Christmas and then she wrapped it up and put it under the tree. I got a box of Cheerios for Christmas! (Here, that would be a crumby gift. Then and there, it was special!) 

 

Out Going Deeper questions lead me to wonder, how did getting a box of Cheerios make me feel? Ten-year-old boys sometimes don’t know how they feel, so I can’t tell you how I felt then, but 50 years later I met her again. In between that meeting and the gift of Cheerios, when I was in my 40s, I was pastor of a church in Indiana, where her sisters (Edith and Esther) were members. Then, 10 years ago, we were visiting Indiana, and I heard that the three sisters were living in a retirement centre in Goshen. 

 

I decided to drive over to Goshen and visit them. I found Edith and Esther, living together in an apartment. They were glad to see me, and we had a short visit. It was good to see old friends again. Then I went to Lois Davidson’s apartment. She welcomed me with open arms! She invited me in. We had tea together and talked and talked, and I realized that she loved me and my family. I remembered that box of Cheerios. It was more than just a box of cereal. It meant that she was thinking of me when she was in the grocery store that day, 60 years ago, because she loved that 11-year old boy. As a 60-year-old man visiting her that day, I felt loved and cared for by our old family friend. I knew it was God’s love! 

 

There you have it! You can ask your Mom and Dad if they have ever experienced God’s love, shown to them through other people? May you can even think of a time when someone else has shown you that they love you, and you can tell your parents about it.

Note: I told this story as the children's feature for our Sunday Service at Steinbach Mennonite Church on May 2, 2021