Well, why would God design a baby to live for just two minutes?

That's not a hypothetical question, even for some of you listening right now to the podcast,

and it was certainly no hypothetical question when it was asked in a 1994 article published

in Christianity today, written by a grieving dad named Marshall Shelley.

Marshall had lost two children to genetic defects.

He and his wife, Susan, lost a daughter just shy of her second birthday, and they lost

a son who lived for just two minutes.

Their children passed away within three months of one another.

Their son, born with the rare genetic disorder called trisomy-13, lived for only seconds,

as was medically expected.

The doctor cut the cord and gently placed him on Susan's chest, Marshall recounted.

He was a healthy pink, and we saw his chest rise and fall, the breath of life.

Thank you, God.

And then almost immediately he began to turn blue.

We stroked his face and whispered words of welcome, of love, of farewell.

And all too soon the doctor told us he was gone.

Later Marshall reflected on the experience and wrote this.

I was with my son his entire life, two minutes.

He entered the world of light and air at 8.20 p.m. on November 22, 1991, and he departed,

the doctor said at 8.22.

It seemed a very short time, too short.

My wife, Susan, and I never got to see him take his first steps.

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