Goodbye, Maurice Sendak

       As many of you have probably heard, Maurice Sendak passed away yesterday. Mr. Sendak was a children's author, most famous for Where the Wild Things Are. He wrote many other books, some good, some bad, but none more powerful than Wild Things.

I am writing this because my son loves the work of Maurice Sendak. For the longest time, he had me read Where the Wild Things Are every night before bed. We read it so many times that he memorized the book. There was even a time when we borrowed the cartoon from the library and he watched it over and over. We played a game where I would start to recite the book (I had it memorized too) and he would finish the lines.

Mr. Sendak died as a result of complications from a stroke. I heard several interviews from him on NPR and I caught a very sad line. He was talking about a friend who believed in Heaven and hell and life after death. Mr. Sendak then went on to talk about how life was so hard for unbelievers like himself. It made me sad because I knew, from his own admission, that Maurice Sendak did not know Jesus and had not had his sins forgiven. That thought brought tears to my eyes.

Mr. Sendak, I want to thank you for the joy that your books brought to my little boy. I want to thank you for the wonderful memories that you have allowed me to have with my son as a result of your books. And I pray, that somewhere along your journey through life, someone shared the Gospel with you and you made a decision to accept the gift of salvation, even though you claimed otherwise. Mr. Sendak, you will be missed.