Baptizing James

Wedenesday was an interesting one. Rosario led a fellow to Christ after a Bible-study at the Lighthouse.

I hit the streets on my bike, seeing who I could scare up. Last stop I made was Butch’s neighbor, a fellow who is dying of cancer. Butch took me over there about two weeks ago. The guy wanted to get right with Jesus, but he was laboring under the common thought that he had to be good enough, or he had not had the time to make up for his wild ways. I tried to talk to him about grace, that God gives us the free, unmerited gift of His love and salvation, if we will believe, repent, and accept it. He couldn’t quite get it. Maybe it’s pride, we want to hold on, think we’ll get it right one day…

I came into a different situation today. He was on the couch, it’s just a matter of time, a few days maybe. I won’t lie, it was hard to see, changing color, all that stuff that comes as death closes in.

He could not talk. I asked him if he was ready to get right with the Lord, to finally let go and let grace take over. He nodded. We prayed to accept Christ as Lord and Savior to trust Him for forgiveness of sin, for whatever time is left, and for a future of light. Then I got a bowl of water and baptized him.

I tell you, there have been a few times where those very close to death have either accepted Christ or had some spiritual awakening and it seems that there is more light in the room than there was when you came in. It always seems that “I Saw The Light” is on my heart in such moments.

I don’t understand how these Jesus freak-outs happen. They have been ramping up lately. I will miss them when they are gone. I’ve come to see that there are seasons to this. There is a dry spell where you wonder, “Does it make any sense for me to keep pounding the pavement, keeping the feet on the street and the eye on the people?” But then I know there will come a frenetic time when somehow, the Holy Spirit is active and stuff starts happening, weird stuff. Like seeing the girl I have been waiting for, the school becoming even more open to us, getting to baptize someone in their home, and realizing it is coming from countless faithful people spreading the love of God, and using words sometimes when necessary. I just get to come in for all the fun.

The big need, the big prayer request: that more people will enter this hard work of loving our neighbors—becoming friends, sharing life together. To catch how this works, check out Peter White’s blog, Jesus in the 05: www.oligopistos.blogspot.com