To Be A Blessing

I don’t know why crazy (but yet wonderful) things always seem to be happening in my life, but they do. Last week was no exception.

My wife started reading her Bible again and something she read gave her an interesting idea. She suggested we get baptized. We were both baptized as babies but neither one of us had been baptized as adults. It sounded like a good idea to me because adult baptism is an affirmation of faith already established, and if you do it as a couple, it can also be an affirmation of your love and faith in each other as well.

So we decided to go to the 4pm Saturday service at Saddleback Church and get baptized directly afterwards. The associate Pastor started out the service focusing on Mother’s Day and how important Moms are, how much love they give, and how much they sacrifice for the rest of us. It was a beautiful and moving message. The main sermon came next and Rick Warren focused on a message that tied in nicely with the Mother’s Day message. We should never give to others to “get a blessing”. We should give to others to “be a blessing”. (If you ask me, most Mom’s do that regularly anyway without even thinking about it.)

After the service, we changed into shorts and T-shirts and got ready to be baptized. We had some special friends there who joined us, but there were also dozens of other people watching which made us a little nervous. The pastor baptized me first and then together we baptized my beloved wife. When we raised her from the water, the wetness under my eyes wasn’t just water, and the goosebumps I got were definitely not just from the wind or my wet clothes, they were simply signs that something truly special had happened.

After the baptism, we decided to celebrate by having dinner at our favorite Mexican Restaurant. Unfortunately, it was really crowded and we were told the wait would be 1 ½ hours. However, we got lucky and found three open chairs at the bar and decided to grab two of them and eat at the bar. A few minutes later we noticed another couple waiting for a table so we motioned them over, scooted our chairs down, and tried to make room for them at the end of the bar, which they appreciated. As we started in on appetizers, the hostess came over and said that a table for two had unexpectedly opened up. I started to get up and my wife motioned me to sit back down. (She’s a Mom, remember!) Then she turned to the couple next to us and said why don’t you guys take our table. They were really happy about that and thanked us for our kindness. Likewise, we were in such a good mood after our baptism experience that we decided to live it up with appetizers, drinks, expensive entrees, and even Butter-Cake for dessert! I knew the bill would be huge but like I said, we were celebrating. When we finally asked for the bill, the bartender surprised us and said, “It’s already been taken care of!” Apparently, when you “give to others to be a blessing”– it can rub off on others!

If you listed all the reasons for your faith, 

and all the things that make you cry, it would essentially be the same list.

~ Robert Brault