Dustin and Gwen: a story you won't soon forget

Photo by David Rennick (on his Blackberry)

Dustin and Gwendolyn

By Jim Keyworth
Gazette Editor

This is a simple little story that will make you forget about all the stuff that makes life a pain. In fact, looking at life in a positive light is its moral.

Best of all, it's a very real story that happened right here in the Rim Country.

Pastor David Rennick of Payson United Methodist Church has a 13-year-old son named Dustin who has some special needs. He is a seventh grader at Rim Country Middle School.

Through some visits to the Humane Society of Central Arizona with his father, Dustin became acquainted with a four-month old kitten named Gwen who came to the shelter with half its right rear leg missing.

There was a connection between Dustin and Gwen from the beginning.

"He sat down (in the cat house) and Gwen sat right down in his lap," Rennick explained.

After a few visits, Dustin asked if he could adopt Gwen.

"He relies upon a wraparound community of teachers and other professionals within the community to help him be successful in school and in his life," Rennick said. "I think the light bulb just went off for him. He said, 'Dad, I'd like to do this for Gwen -- like what people do for me.'"

A good preacher can spot a sermon from a mile away -- or right under his nose. Rennick used the story of Dustin and Gwen, now called Gwendolyn, for the foundation of the sermon he delivered last Sunday.

"I lifted up the notion of how we cling to our disabilities," he said. "We got some older folks in the church here, so it's not uncommon to see canes, walkers, air tanks, glasses, hearing aids -- (and then there's) the handful of meds we take in the morning.

"We cling to those -- we get so caught up in our disabilities that we forget what our abilities are. The punch line was that I don't think this cat even realizes that she needs a fourth limb to get along in life."

(Editor's note: My thanks to Dustin for making this one of the best stories it has ever been my pleasure to tell.  What a special kid.  "Out of the mouth of babes and infants," indeed.)