The tiny community of Richwoods, MO is a happy place this morning. Shawn Hornbeck is home, and safe. As a friend of mine said, we live in a fallen world, but every once in awhile something happens to bring a smile to even the most hardened faces and the saddest of hearts. The return of this young man is such an event.
When Shawn was kidnapped his step-father, Craig Akers, an incredibly decent and loving man, had begun the process of adopting Shawn as his own. One of the most poignant moments of the reunion was when Shawn asked Craig to see that through, to make him his son. "Shawn wants you to know that you might soon know him as Shawn Akers," Craig said, tearfully.
Craig Akers is a heart patient. After he and his wife received the call that Shawn had been found, and began the long drive to the Franklin County Sheriff's office for a long prayed for reunion the excitement of the moment overcame him and he began having chest pains and numbness in his left arm. "Please, God. Don't let me have a heart attack now. This is no time to have a heart attack!" Thankfully, his symptoms passed and he and his wife were soon with Shawn once more.
Smiling through his fear and pain, he cried as he recounted the first wonderful moments of reunion with Shawn. Neither he nor his wife could express the beauty and deep emotion of the moment. They simply held on to Shawn for all they were worth, and thanked a benevolent God for another miracle.
Upon his return to Richwoods Shawn was greeted by many signs proclaiming the communities joy, colorful balloons gaily bouncing in the breeze, smiling faces and happy tears, and most importantly, the realization that his small hometown had never given up hope and had never stopped searching.
His abduction was hard on this small town. His little classmates suffered and cried for him, and were forced to face a world in which not every person is good, and where not even a child is safe from the deviant desires of madmen in our midst. The abduction of this boy was the loss of innocence for many, and I hope his return will ease the pain of them all, and I pray Shawn is treated well by his old friends. I'm sure he will be.
When his class graduated eighth grade they left an empty chair for him and prayed he would someday fill it again. Upon his return, many of his classmates filled the bleachers with signs of welcome and love for him.
"I hope he remembers me!" one young man excitedly said.
"Don't cry, Papa", a little girl told her grandfather, the assistant principal of Richwoods school who couldn't hold back his tears when Shawn came in.
Our small towns are dying, the mines are closed or closing and there is little hope for another industry to move into our area, but the search and vigil for Shawn has shown the world why we live here, why we don't want to leave, and what being part of a community really means.
A child in trouble is every man's child, and each man and woman in this community gave something of themselves in the search for Shawn. Thousands of hours spent looking through the fields and forests searching for any clue to what happened to this young man. A search both relentless, and loving, and in which hope never died.
That hope was realized a few days ago. The thousands of prayers were answered, and a young man has returned to the family and the community that loves him.
There is a God in Heaven, and every once in awhile He shows His face.
