Answering His call

For the past year or so, my 11-year-old son has been asking a lot of questions about baptism and what it means. He's been thinking about getting baptized for several months now but he's been hesitant because he didn't like that it was so public. He's very scared about being in front of a congregation. So for the past 6 months, he's been conflicted between his desire to fully accept Jesus Christ and be baptized and his fear of being up in front of the entire church. During many altar calls, he would say that he's not ready mainly because he's scared to go to the front. We didn't pressure him and knew this had to be a decision he needed to make on his own.

Well, this past Sabbath, my husband was singing at Pioneer Memorial Church (PMC) which was the University campus church. It's a very large church around 1,000 people every Sabbath. Anyway, so we (my son and I) hopped from our home church to PMC to be with my husband for Divine Worship. The preacher at that particular Sabbath was wrapping up the theme for the Week of Spiritual Emphasis. He spoke about how we needed to be wise about how we spend our time and how we need to spend time with God on a daily basis. Anyway, at the end of his sermon, he made an altar call for anyone who'd like to commit themselves fully to Christ and make that a public commitment through baptism. I noticed my son was paying careful attention to the speaker and, after deliberating for several minutes whether I should say anything, I asked him if he wanted to go and that I would go with him. He said that he wasn't ready but I noticed this wasn't the same "I'm not ready" that he usually says. He seemed to be really conflicted. So I started praying. Praying that the Holy Spirit continue to call to him to set his fears aside and answer the call of Jesus. The Pastor kept speaking... making the appeal then a vocalist in front started singing "Come to Jesus". I would look over to my side in between prayers to sneak a peak at him. I watched my son minute by minute moving ever so slowly... inch by inch toward the aisle. I continued to pray for him and others that Lord is calling to him. Just when the song was about to end, I looked over to my side and saw him gone... he was no longer beside me. I looked up and I saw him standing in the front with his Dad beside him!!! Oh I couldn't hold back my tears of joy!

My husband later told me that he too was praying. He said that he noticed that our son moving closer and closer to the aisle and so he stepped aside to let him through. He was equally surprised when our son took his hand to go with him up in front. =)

I've never been so happy for him. So happy that he experienced following Christ even if he's so scared. It was proof that the Holy Spirit is stronger than any of our great fears. To think this was no small congregation but a huge congregation. The Holy Spirit moved him so strongly that (as our son later explained) he "just had to go up there".

What a blessed Sabbath morning that was! Praise be to God!