We
made our way to Waco with absolutely no trouble at all. I mean no traffic, no construction, no
obstructions at all. We left Galveston
at 6:30 a.m. and arrived in Waco at 10 a.m.
Brand new all-time record for us.
The
baptism service didn’t start until 11, so we were all set. Big day for the family. We were there. Christi’s Mom and Dad and brother and niece were
there. Even Cary and Kay Lynn, our
surrogate grandparents from Arlington, were there. The church combined all their worship
services into one for their quarterly communion observance. That included their Spanish-speaking
congregation as well, so all the words to the songs were projected in English
and Spanish, and the Spanish worship leader joined with the leaders. The orchestra was playing along with the praise
band and the organist. The worship guy
for the traditional service was at the piano, and the worship guy for the contemporary
service was playing guitar. Both levels
of the auditorium were pretty full, so it was obviously a big day. Caleb did a great job responding to the
questions Josh asked him about his belief in Jesus, and when he joined us for
the rest of the service he was almost giddy.
After
the service the family gathered in Josh’s office for another little
ceremony. They have established a time
capsule for each of their kids with mementos of all the key times in their
lives. They plan to keep up with it over
the years and eventually present it to them.
Not sure when. Maybe as a wedding
present? This time they added some
letters from the children’s minister and even one from a dottering old granddad. Josh and Christi presented him with a really
nice compass that looks like an old pocketwatch. I think Caleb will remember this occasion.
We
had a bonus attraction that afternoon.
Zakary had a big piano recital, so we rushed through the line at two or
three different fast food places and raced over to the recital venue. As expected, Zak did a remarkable job. He has come a long way since the last time we
heard him play. The piece was obviously
much harder. Not that I would actually
know such piano-ish things. But it
sounded complicated to me, and he certainly had to employ some twinkle-fingers
moves.
Now,
for the evening activities we were to be a part of their church’s First Sunday
get-to-know-your-neighborhood event. We
listened to the video Josh posted on their church website for
instructions. I remember the acronym A.C.T.S. I know the “A” stood for something, but I can’t
remember. The “C,” however, was by far
the most significant letter in that alphabet.
Josh carefully explained the connection between the original language
word our modern version that we call “compassion.” Apparently that original word has something
to do with bowels. So come on, now. How great a leap could that be? I know I was not the only one. ACTS … bowels. I had to say it. “So, the essence of the video is that we are
supposed to go into our neighborhood and move our bowels?” We were all deeply moved by the challenge in
the video. So much so that we went down
to the neighborhood park, gave away sno-cones and band-aids, watched a rousing
game of kickball, and met some of Josh and Christi’s neighbors. It was a really
nice park, too. The only thing I saw that
was missing was bathrooms. Not sure why
that particular issue stood out for me this time. I have never been moved to consider it before
…
Mark
9:50 says, “Salt is good, but if it loses
its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be
at peace with each other.”
Father,
thank you for Caleb’s decision to follow you in baptism. Thank you for the skill Zak is developing
musically. Thank you for the unbridled
joy Luke is quick to display at the simplest things. Amen.
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