Heather and I gave her Dad a book on CD for Christmas and it has come back to revisit me. Now I say this in a very positive way. The book I am talking about is “Twice Adopted” by Michael Reagan. I now have the audio recording from Heather’s dad, so I can check it out, too. Michael Reagan does speak through the first hour of the recorded version of the book. Then, another narrator takes over. On the long road trip to Thief River Falls and back today, I listened to the first 7 hours of the book. It is exceptionally well written and at times, the story of Michael Reagan’s childhood takes you on a roller coaster from tears to hope and even an occasional chuckle. When you are in a truck a hundred miles from nowhere, you don’t have to worry too much about other drivers wondering why you are looking like a sappy, emotional doorknob, all because an audio book has your heart in knots. As a sidenote, whoever heard of an emotional doorknob anyway? Maybe Sid and Marty Krofft and their H.R. Puffenstuff world of foam rubber-costumed characters has a few doorknobs that aren't just inanimate objects. But I digress.
“Twice Adopted” is the true story of many things. One part in particular is the story of Michael Reagan and his relationship with his father, Ronald Wilson Reagan. At least as enlightening is Michael Reagan's childhood experiences from self-loathing to accepting Jesus Christ in his life. It was a journey that began with his adoption by Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyman, parents in a setting that his peers assumed was the idyllic life. The behind-the-scenes story of his life is remarkable and painfully familiar. That is, he was the son of the 1950’s version of Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt, and yet, he is just like you and me in so many ways. Michael Reagan has many anecdotes that anyone can relate to, with insight and candor that came from surviving a mixed-up childhood. His “wonderful life” began to unravel when he struggles with the divorce of his celebrity parents, and seeking the reasons why his biological mom “didn’t want him”, feeling worthless and unloved. He finds a verse in Deuteronomy that seems to state that a de facto fatherless son and the ten generations following him are condemned and banned from Heaven forever (in the mind of a child, incorrectly understood to say he was doomed). Thus, he turns his back on God for thirty years, after concluding that God has forsaken him. He leads the listener through his victimization at the hands of a man he trusted, when a trusted camp counselor molested him when he was 7 years old. The story continues with his bitter adolescence and his misguided attempts to shield his parents from his shameful secret by acting so disruptive that he hoped to ultimately force them to forsake him. Michael tells the story of finding comfort in his middle-aged years after a lifetime of hating himself and hating God, blaming both for the sexual abuse he experienced as a child.
This isn’t a story about being a “woe-is-me” victim. It is a story of survival, faith and praise to God for peace and understanding, through the dark days, and from the dreadful past into a hopeful future. It is a story about the end of innocence for one child, which concludes with hope and joyfulness, knowing that God never turns from anyone who trusts in Him. The story moved me, and maybe it will move you, too. Check it out sometime.
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