April 15 – “The Outburst”

Well … Happy Income Tax Day, I suppose. 

We had quite the day at church yesterday.  Two different men approached me asking to be among those getting baptized at the sunrise service on Easter.  One has been coming for some time, and has seen a complete turn-around in his own life.  I’m meeting with him again on Sunday morning before the service.  He plans to be there early to help the crew with the chairs and sound system setup. 

The other was there for the first time Sunday with his wife and little baby.  I met his wife a few weeks ago when I did the funeral of her mother.  She had to help me out with her name when I didn’t recognize her right away.  Anyway, the husband told me he had never really been to church, and had for sure never been baptized, but he definitely wanted to do it.  I walked him through what salvation looks like and how baptism is a picture of that.  He told me he had prayed earlier during the service.  I really think he has responded to God as fully as he knows how.  He does have a lot of learning and growing to do (as do we all), but I’m pretty excited for him.

We had a great lunch with five or six other Seasiders over at the local Jamaica Beach grill.  We did some laughing and talking and eating.  Oh, and speaking of laughing, let me back up for a second.  Right in the middle of the teaching at church, when I was explaining some connection or another within the Palm Sunday story we heard a rather loud outburst from the kids’ room just off the sanctuary where Chris leads the youngsters to hear some of the basic Bible stories.  Now, an outburst is not all that unusual, and generally when it happens one of the parents make his or her way over to calm the child or be of assistance. 

Not that kind of an outburst this time.  Nope.  This time what we heard was laughter.  Not a chuckle or giggle, mind you.  This was an all-out, all-in belly laugh from the heart of a little child.  It was the kind of laugh that you absolutely cannot ignore.  At the very least you have to acknowledge it.  At the very best you have to join in.  It became rapidly evident that among us “older, more mature” creatures, we were experiencing a little of both.  Heads were turning in that direction.  Grins were spreading across a multitude of faces.  Hey, I was enjoying it so much that I stopped trying to ignore it.  I unleashed a bit of a chuckle from deep down inside, left the flow of the teaching for a minute, and said, “There’s nothing quite like the laughter of a little child.  Go ahead and join him.”  Some did.  Others at least smiled.  Some were a bit confused that I would allow such a distraction.  But, hey.  Things like that happen when a family gets together.  Why not enjoy those special moments when they come?  They are truly a gift from God.

John 6:35 says, “Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life.  Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.’”

Father, thank you for the two guys who want baptism.  Help them to grow and mature more and more in you.  And thanks again for that belly-laugh sermon interruption.  Welcome anytime.  Amen.