Pray for the fish...

In this blog, I will be providing a soundtrack, however I am just lazy enough to not want to figure out how to make music play artfully, so you will have to just click play on this youtube link:

Yesterday, my baby brother was baptized. James hates it when I call him "baby brother" and that may very well be why I do it.  In the past couple of months, I have seen a real change in him, not only in his behavior, but in his attitude and approach to life.

James is the sixth and last child in the family. With 3 brothers ahead of him, seven years younger than the next oldest boy in the family, he's got a lot of trouble to live up to, and he has given it his best effort. Watching him be a teenager, I have often thought of him as "The Last Hurrah" and I have jokingly told Mom that the trouble he causes is just his way of trying to make sure that his older siblings left no stone unturned.

When I heard he was going to be baptized, I was concerned he was just doing it because a group of friends was doing it, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt, because of the recent positive changes I have noticed him making lately.  At dinner the night before, I teased that we should "Pray for the fish" (and also that he should put koolaid powder in his pockets so the water would change colors... we did neither).

When Pastor Danny got up there and started questioning James, however, I realized that this decision was more than just something his friends were doing. Pastor Danny asked James what God had been doing in his life recently, and why he wanted to be baptized.  While the rest of the church may have seen him falter, may have complained that he was talking too quietly, may have heard disconnected words string into sentences that meant little to them, I saw my ham of a brother, who is never at a loss for words, never afraid of an audience, never quiet, never shy, and never short of a story make a difficult and broken confession. "I have... um... messed up... messed a lot of people... and God has been there in my childhood... even then...and I want to be baptized to publicly show that...um... I... I want to be... I want to live better... like a Christian shou...like... " like Jesus... His voice broke, and while he didn't cry, he didn't manage to say it.  I think the meaning was clear. I had to take a few deep breaths to make that stinging feeling in my eyes go away.

(Forgive the blurriness. The flash wouldn't work in this area, so it all had to be done on exposure.)

  

 

 

I have prayed so much over James, and I continue to.  With this baptism as a milestone, I pray that the novelty doesn't wear off soon, as it so often does with us seasoned and bored Christians.

I am proud of my baby brother. He's turning 16 this month.  His actions are beginning to show signs of manhood, not just really tall boyhood.  He has worked steadily to bring his grades up through sheer dedication. He has actually begun saving for something that requires a bigger monetary investment than he has ever dared to attempt before.  He is beginning to curb his reactions to more even keel responses. That's not to say James has become perfect.  He's still human, and still a teenager. He's got plenty of years of rough roads ahead of him, but those bumps and bruises are honest ones.

Last I checked, they don't use the baptismal as a koi pond during off periods, so we probably don't need to pray for the fish, but I'm sure James wouldn't mind your prayers as he embarks on the extremely tough experience of loving Jesus and meaning it.