We had a lovely afternoon down at the beach at Broadwater as Sophie got baptised today. She had told us a couple of weeks ago she wanted to and after talking to Noel about it, today was the day. It was good timing because I spoke at church this morning about my job and chaplaincy as part of our regular mission Sundays focus. We gathered at the beach and lots of Sophie's friends were there.Noel explained what was going on and asked Sophie publicly if she accepted Jesus as her Lord and Saviour.Deb, the youth pastor's wife who has been running a group for the teenage girls at church, and I went out into the water with Noel, he said the traditional words, "We baptise you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and into Jesus" as Deb and I lowered her into the water.She came up grinning.We rejoined the group back on the beach and a number of Sophie's friends gathered around her and prayed for her.It was very special to be part of it and to see the way Sophie's faith and love for God has grown in the last few months, there has been a very obvious change in her heart, she's been much more at peace, with herself and with us, she's working and doing a really good job, and there is none of the conflict or tension that we were all living with 6 months ago. She is growing up and maturing into a lovely young woman and getting baptised, which was entirely her decision, is a sign of that maturity.We sat in the park having coffee and ice creams with a bunch of people from church afterwards, a very pleasant way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
When we got home Carolyn and I helped Jordan do his junk mail round because he wasn't feeling too well. With the three of us doing it it didn't take long to finish it.
Dominos did us a favour by cooking dinner for us.
Sophie and Clare arrived home just as I pulled up with the pizza saying they'd been craving pizza for an hour and were about to go and get some! I saved them the bother.
I finished a painting while watching TV, my second of the weekend, a more productive period than I've had for a while.
When we got home Carolyn and I helped Jordan do his junk mail round because he wasn't feeling too well. With the three of us doing it it didn't take long to finish it.Dominos did us a favour by cooking dinner for us.
Sophie and Clare arrived home just as I pulled up with the pizza saying they'd been craving pizza for an hour and were about to go and get some! I saved them the bother.
I finished a painting while watching TV, my second of the weekend, a more productive period than I've had for a while.
2 comments:
I could hardly keep reading, in fact I am having even worse trouble commenting, as my tears are hard to see through. I am so proud of you Sophie, my only regret is that I wasn't there to see you, just know that you are very loved, here on earth, as well as in heaven.
I am at Kay and Ron's, they are at work at the moment, and they kindly left the computer on for me, so I have spent the last several hours catching up. I am going to keep this screen up so that they can both read about you too.
I was also teary reading about Jordan's stage debut, I just knew you could do it Jordy, I do hope there is going to be a video tape for me to watch when I get home.
And of course Sport Boys interschool wins, and his wonderful comments afterwards, also had the effect of bringing tears to my eyes.
I have missed so much while I have been away, some very important events and of course lots of everyday things too. Maybe I'll just have to stay at home from now on.
I am so very proud to be your Mum/Nan, and love you all dearly.
hey dad, do you know what you did differently to this photo?? all the others are links (the mouse pointer changes to a hand) but this one is just a photo. i prefer them not to be links but havent figured out how to do it. was it an accident or do you have some techno-wizard secret??
Post a Comment