"baptamatized"

Jul 16

Three years ago Silas and Eli were baptized together at Crown Point in Mission Bay. I was looking back at photos from that night and found the words that I had written at that time:

"Tonight was the answer to our greatest prayer, our greatest desire. We have watched both Silas and Eli grow into young men who not only love the Lord, but seek to serve Him. Both had expressed the desire to take the next step of faith and to be baptized. I don't even know how to put into words what tonight meant and I watched with tears streaming down my face. Thank you, Lord, for their beautiful and sweet hearts that love you! And thank you to each and every person that has invested into their lives, their spirits, their hearts. We are forever grateful for those that pour into them and love them so deeply."

It was one of those moments that will be engraved in my mind forever. It's the answer to your deepest prayer as a parent - for your child to choose Jesus. I will also never forget JJ, who was 4 at the time, who wanted to "baptamatized" too. Of course, he didn't have an understanding of what their decision actually meant, but wanted to be like his big brothers.

Fast forward to this past August. JJ began coming home from school with lots of stories and questions, sharing with me all the things he'd been learning in Bible. It was on a regular basis and I could tell something was stirring in his sweet little heart. One night he asked, "Do you ever sin?" That brought up a whole conversation about sin, forgiveness, heaven, and God. At the end, he wanted to ask God for forgiveness. He told me, "Mom, I prayed to the Lord to save me."

Pretty quickly after, he began asking about being "baptamatized." He asked me to write this down for him at the time:

"My name is JJ Sniff. I go to a Christian school. I watched my cousin get baptamatized and that encouraged me to get baptamatized too. I’m excited to let Jesus Christ into my heart and I’ll be able to bow down when I die to the cross and all of the other people in my family who have gone to heaven. I want to live my life for God. I’m thankful that Jesus died on the cross for me and soon I’m gonna go and see Him because I said the prayer of the Holy Spirit and this day I wanna get baptamatized."

Bless it! He finally had his opportunity this weekend and got to be baptamatized in the same place his brother were! {p.s. I will never ever correct him - He can say baptamatized forever if he wants!}. Again, it was a night I will forever cherish. He was scared because he has always had this thing about water, but he was so very brave. He walked out there on his own and was baptized by our pastor and the children's pastor. My heart rejoiced at this beautiful moment, and of course my eyes were overflowing as well. There's just no words to express the thankfulness in my heart to see his commitment to the Lord and his sweet faith.

"Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.'” Matthew 19:14