An AWO Baptism

It was my privilege and honor to watch my spiritual son, Marcus, get baptized today. What an amazing moment this is! What a journey it has been to get to this point. I must say that when I first met Marcus, I liked him. That tends to be the case with all of "my kids"--I love them all at first sight. Marcus was special though. I saw in him, immediately, many gifts that I knew our Father had placed in him for a great purpose. I have never met anyone who was so lyrically inclined--he writes songs for everything, spur of the moment--and they are always very, very good. He has many talents and he has always been very respectful to me, too. I can't say that he was always respectful to others...in fact, I believe he has seen quite a bit of trouble due to "personality conflicts" with other authority figures and even his peers. That never carried over to me, though. As difficult as it was, there were times when I had to tell him he could not come to events because of his behavior. I hate turning anyone away, but as punishment there were times when I had to. Some told me he was "lost cause," and that I should "just give up." But it is not in me to give up. It just isn't. And no matter how he acted at times, my heart always filled with love whenever I thought of him. He is one of God's children and I know the Father loves him, and I just knew that God was not telling me to walk away or to give up. On the contrary, I kept feeling led to pursue him, to find him and hunt him down, even. There are more times than I can count that I did just that...search his neighborhood for any sign of him so that I could invite him to church or some event we were having. Sometimes I found him, but quite often I did not. After a period of not being able to find him (about 3 months) and only speaking with him sporadically, I was more than surprised when he asked to come to church one Wednesday. I was no less than SHOCKED when I saw him down at the altar, and even more so when he asked me to be baptized. I saw God move mightily in him, and today was the culmination of years worth of pursuing and prayer. I know that the angels even now are celebrating in Heaven! A prodigal son has come home to the Father, and you are in part responsible for this homecoming. It is your support and encouragement that keeps us going, week after week. Thank you for helping us to follow His call--it IS making a difference for the Kingdom!