like Father, like Son

On Christmas Eve, I attended a night service at a church I've been visiting on and off.

It just so happened they were doing baptisms and boy were there plenty of folks getting dunked. Joking aside, I'm glad so many folks were turning their lives over to Him.

One baptism stuck out in particular. The pastor who was dunking folks was the youth pastor of this congregation and among the ones to be baptized was his son. Let me let that sink in.

He would be baptizing his own son.

I wonder how proud that father was to baptize his own son. How joyful he felt to know that his son has accepted Him as Christ. Like always, my mind got to turning.

Fathers generally want to be grow closer to their children. This father did just that when his son was baptized by his hands. I'm reminded that Our Father wanted to be closer to us and He did just that when He came in as a newborn.

Merry Christmas!

not one less

The older I get, the more I realize there are some things I still CANNOT get over.

Regrets from the past. Mole hill problems that have become mountain range problems. Minor infractions from other folks that have been allowed to fester. The list goes ON.

John 16:33- “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Every now and then, I am reminded of this verse. I'm glad He did and still does, because the petty individual that I call myself still continues to fight the world, myself included. We all know that both of these are losing battles.

Let me indulge you in another "a-ha moment" of mine: He meant that particular verse for EVERYBODY. Duh, right? To be honest, this realization came to me as I was deciding a title for this post.

Not one less.

Not one less who claim Him as Christ will know of His victory.

He promises that we'll be troubled, but He also promises that He has conquered it. For EVERYONE.

Hallelujah!