I had the pleasure of giving my older son Steven the second birth Sunday at the end of worship. This picture is from Easter '05 when he was nine - it is also the first picture I've posted with my much better half Sue.

He's been asking about getting baptized for a couple years now and I struggled with when he would be "old enough".

He is very spiritually mature for an almost eleven year old. He reads his bible every night during our family devotional time and he has a heart of gold (thanks to Sue I'm sure). We got him an NIV about a year and a half ago and he started reading at the beginning and he's currently into I Samuel. We started family devo time when he was a baby. He had a bible story book and by two or three he had the book memorized and would "read" the stories to me and Sue. It was during one of these devos that we heard him tell us the story of Samuel and Eli. He did the part where God is calling "SAMUEL, SAMUEL" and his future baby brother was named.

I asked a good friend, Mark Phelps, about it last year and I'll post his comments here. "Was the faith that led you to baptism not enough for that time of your life? Does your baptism mean something different for you today than it meant then? If so, does a new meaning invalidate the old meaning? Will the faith Steven has be enough for this time of his life? It will mean for Steven what it means for Steven, and what it means to Steven--now and later--is given to him by God." This made me know that the next time Steven said he was ready I was ready. Thanks Mark :-)

It was difficult getting through the speaking parts. I don't think there were too many dry eyes in the house.

God is Good, All the Time.