God in Nolan's eyes.

I remembered this tonight at small group.

In high school and college I took care of 4 kids in my home town. One of them, Nolan, has autism. We were asked a question today about when we remember feeling God's presence, and suddenly I thought of Noley.

I remember one day driving in to their house after I'd said good-bye to my grandparents, feeling that it might have been the last time I did get to see them. I cried all the way in, composed myself long enough to look put together for Nolan's mom and dad and then sat down in Nolan's room to be quiet... then I started crying again.

I remember Nolan crawling up on my lap, hugging me and snuggling, giving me kisses. He kept reaching up and touching my face, and kept doing that until I had stopped crying. Here was this little boy who was supposed to have such trouble understanding the world around him... but he had entered into my world in such a real way. And I knew in that moment that it wasn't Nolan on my lap, it was Jesus.

It was such a neat thing to remember... I sure do miss my Nolan.