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Sunday was baptism day at One Life. Baptism day is always special for all involved, but this one was a celebration on a whole different level.
We did our service outside on the Henderson riverfront. Approximate temperature: 176. The first baptism was Kevin. Bret said it was personal for him, and that it was the answer to a lot of prayers. That may be the understatement of the year. It wasn't personal for me. It went far, far beyond that.
Kevin is my brother-in-law. Three years ago to the day he got baptized, I was sitting on the patio of Sportsman's with Kevin and his wife Krista. We were chain smoking and doing shots of Maker's Mark. I was trying in vain to explain to them why their 6 year old daughter had been killed two days earlier. I was searching for a way to tell them how amazing Christ was - while listening to the grief of parents getting ready, in less than 12 hours, to bury their only child.
Brooklynn, their daughter, went to church with us. She was an awesome kid - full of energy and attitude. She could never say my name, so I became "Biq." We would do things to purposely irritate each other, like all kids do. The day of her 6th birthday, she went to church with us - telling anybody who asked, "I'm SIX years old today!" She was growing into an awesome person.
And then, on a hot Tuesday night in July 2008, she was gone. Riding her bike, she was struck by a garbage truck. And so there I was, trying to explain to her parents how awesome Jesus was and how there was a plan in all of this - all the while questioning the plan myself.
Was there a plan? Could there be? Could a loving God allow a six year old to be ripped away from her family, and do it as an act of love? I still don't know the answer to that. I don't know if there is an answer to that.
I said at her funeral that we were left with a hole in our hearts the size and shape of a six year old girl. We tried over the years to reach Kevin - with no success. He respected our beliefs, and we respected his - that religion was "fairy tale time." Kevin went further into a spiral of drugs and alcohol, and we were powerless to do anything about it - except pray.
When Kevin and Krista moved to Nashville, we prayed. When Kevin wrapped his truck around a tree and part of an apartment building, we prayed harder. Eventually - we didn't give up, but it went on the back burner as a "prayer that God hasn't seen fit to answer yet."
Two weeks ago, we got a phone call. Kevin had been at a Christian rehab center - and he had started asking questions about Christ. We went to my mother-in-law's house to meet him, and I expected him to be searching for answers.
Within 30 seconds of talking to him, I realized he wasn't searching. He had found answers. The change in him was immediate and dramatic. We talked frankly about our shared history of substance abuse, and about Christ - and we started talking about baptism. I told him we had baptisms coming up at One Life. He pondered it for a few minutes.
And so there we were, on a Sunday morning so hot that i sweated through both shirts I was wearing, watching a scene I had prayed for but never imagined would happen. A man I never thought would be baptized went under and came back up. His arms were raised in the air in triumph.
I couldn't tell if I had sweat rolling into my eyes, or if i was crying. I'm not sure it matters. It wasn't my story. It wasn't my day.
It was about this:
(Thanks to Jeff Seymore for use of his amazing image.)
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