Day 17

Jeremy at our Halloween party, as Arthur Dent and his lovely girlfriend, Crystal

Happy Friday!

I got to have lunch with my old buddy and cohort, Jeremy this afternoon. Our relationship at work was not unlike the one made infamous in The Office; Jim and Dwight constantly pranking, ripping on each other, and exchanging riposte insults... but always out of love. (Of course, in this analogy, I'm the cooler, more collected and good-looking Jim and Jeremy is the ever-dorky and obsessive Dwight.)

Seriously, I love this guy. He was my friend at the PRC who could engage in some real Jesus talk, who was always growing in his faith and challenged me to grow. He showed me the ropes when I first started at Haney, taught me some mad laminating and Kongsberg skills. And while I ripped on his grammar, he could counter-attack with great Truth (and short jokes). After all the bonuses of having my own business and working for myself are added up, the one thing lacking is being able to work along side of a guy like Jerms.

But let's not get too carried away... He's still growing. I mean, 4 feet 8 inches is still a far piece from normal.

Burn.

Here's another thing that made me smile today... Adam and I have this friend, Stephen, who is one of the most "On Fire For Jesus" people I have ever met. This morning on Facebook he posted these pics of his baptism:

The event alone is reason to smile, but these photos brought me back to a moment in my own journey. These were taken on November 3, 2004. This was about the time that I had started going to Crossroads, just beginning to get back into church after a 4-5 year hiatus. My southern baptist baggage had kept me skeptical for many years about the sincerity of most "christians". My general view of Crossroads was something like, "Good, free coffee. The band rocks. Most of the people seem pretty cool. Still not sure about this whole 'Jesus' thing."

I have a very vivid memory of sitting in the middle-back of the auditorium, in the dark, sipping my highlander grogg, hearing all these stories of changed lives and watching folks go into the tub, being dunked and coming back up with smiles and a warm towel wrapping around them. There was a lot going through my mind and heart; mostly a conglomeration of my heart being touched followed by an immediate intellectual withdraw of doubt and skepticism. I clapped with the crowd as each new believer was pulled from the water. I smiled at the stories. I laughed politely at the funny quips from the pastor. I enjoyed the experience with a firm distance between "these people" and my own emotional tornado.

Then came Stephen. There was something so honest and bare in his posture and expression. I honestly can't remember now the details of his story, but the cast on his right arm definitely stuck out. (And literally stuck out, as he was submerged into the water.) Stephen was there in front of a crowd of (mostly) strangers and declared his love for Jesus more genuinely and rawly than I had yet to witness. There was a brokenness and humility in his spirit that is not typically seen in polite society. But that was just before Brian placed his hand on Stephen's chest and held him under the pool for a few moments.

A bit of the barrier I had been meticulously building around my heart crumbled as Stephen was pulled back to the surface. It was as though he burst out of the watery grave and into a brand new life. He thrust his fists into the air (cast and all), sending a spray of baptismal water over the folks in the first row. An expression of pure exhilaration and victory radiated from him. And I wept.

Stephen, who is not a fan of punctuation, wrote with his posted pictures this morning:

i literally felt the weight of all my life wash away as i could have flown out of the water as if the very gravity of earth no longer held me down as if I WAS NOW FREE to be the very person that He had made me to be........ this was the day of my salvation this is the day that for of my life will bare the the truth in my life that i am loved i am forgiven and one day yes one day i will in the eternity of the all loving God who made me for just that purpose to love. thank You thank You thank You thank You

Thank you, Stephen, for being a fantastic witness.