By Doug Bing, Washington Conference, president
Have you heard of Joseph Merrick?
Joseph was born August 5, 1862, in Leicester, England. As he was growing, he was seemingly a normal, happy-go-lucky child. This all changed when he turned five years of age. Something changed in him, and his physical appearance became altered drastically.
Medically, the doctors could not figure out what was wrong. Even DNA tests performed many years later were inconclusive. The best guess that medical professionals have regarding him is that he had a very rare condition called Proteus syndrome. This syndrome causes extreme growth on the body. When this started to happen, his mother came to believe, with the superstition of the day, that his condition was caused by an incident during her pregnancy. She had gone to a local fair and had been knocked down by an elephant. Thus, Joseph came to be known as the Elephant Man.
Joseph’s early childhood was challenging. He had a great relationship with his mother. However, she died when he was eleven, and his father’s second wife, along with his father, made life very difficult for him. Eventually, he found work in a workhouse of that time period, but later quit in order to earn money in the popular freak shows of that day. Even that was challenging. Everyday life outside of the show was difficult — not only because of his health, but also because of the way he was treated.
Eventually, he was admitted into a hospital because of his many health challenges. A surgeon there took a real interest in him and found that Joseph was very intelligent and curious. He would take him to the countryside, to the theater to watch plays, and on other field trips. There is much more that I could tell you about him. However, one thing stands out. Joseph Merrick’s common refrain was, “I am happy every hour of the day.”
Wow! Here is a man who had so many things against him, yet he lived a happy life.
I was reminded of the simple song, “I’m happy today, I’m happy today with Jesus my Lord, I’m happy today. Because He’s taken all my sins away, and that’s why I’m happy today.” As Christians, we live in a world that does everything it can to lead you away from Christ. Life can be very difficult and challenging. We, however, can focus and simply remember that we are part of God’s family.
According to Revelation 1:5–6, Jesus has brought us into His family and made us priests and kings. If that doesn’t make you happy, I am not sure you fully appreciate all that Jesus did.