Thursday, February 23, 2023
My friend Brian became a follower
It has been a hard life for Brian. He is working on overcoming addiction. He has not always been what he should be in his relationships. He will tell you he hasn't lived the life he should have. And he really never knew much about Jesus. He did go to church camp for a week 2 or 3 years in a row when he was a teenager. 2 or 3 weeks of Jesus over an almost 50 year life.
But his friend Holly started coming to our Jesus Journey class on Wednesday nights. Holly had been invited by a co-worker and enjoyed it. Brian started coming also. He listened to the Jesus stories. He shared in our prayer requests. Talked about our verse of the week.
Then ended up in the ER where they discovered he had a heart tumor. And a valve that needed replacing. Holly's co-worker Chris and I went up to the hospital to talk about Jesus. His request. He acknowledged that he was not ready to meet Jesus. He knew he wanted a different life. He was ready to die with Jesus and be reaised to a new life in baptism.
But he was in the hospital with a life threatening condition. Facing open heart surgery and battling pnuemonia. He was in a hospital that did not have a pool or any place to baptize someone. Too sick to leave for a baptism and come back.
We talked to some of the Doctors and it turned out that the plan was to combat the infection, let him go home for a day or two, then check him back in for surgery. That was our chance to baptize him between hospital stays.
Brian wanted it done immediately. So lots of us started praying. The Journey class, lots of groups at Hillcrest, even a church out in Jim Ned Valley where I spoke the weekend before. We talked about God's love, grace, and mercy. And we asked God for an opening to let Brian be born again.
His pnuemonia got better. He was released from the hospital in a two day window before meeting with the surgeon to line up his open heart surgery.
We scheduled his baptism. Which clearly irritated Satan. Immediately the heater in our church baptistry went out. Water too cold to risk a set-back. One of the members of the Journey class brought a horse trough up to our parking lot. We filled it with water, including several pans of hot water.
And last week a lot of us gathered to see Brian born again.
In spite of his illness, in spite of his pending open heart surgery, and in spite of a broken baptistry.
God came through. Lots of Christians did too. And Brian is our brother.
Whatever happens in his surgery, Brian is at peace. The peace that only God gives through Jesus.
