I posted, two Easters ago, about our son Blake, then seven, becoming a Christian.

Today he was baptised! I was privileged to be the one who baptised him.

Below are some pictures.

Blake

With Stephanie, the children’s minister

Doctor Howell, introducing us

Blake publicly professing

The baptism

After the baptism

With his coaches (coach Charles and coach Rusty, soccer, and coach John, baseball)

Buddies! Blake, Ryan, Ryan and Blake (not kidding on those names either 🙂

With Grandma and Grandpa

Brother and sisters (Molly, Andrew, Blake and Bethany)

My daughter Molly, a sophomore in high school, just found out that she is currently ranked twelfth in her class academically. Her class has 600 747 kids in it.

She’s not one to toot her own horn, but she’s smart and she works hard. I’m not surprised. Good job babe!

Last night we watched Akeelah and the Bee. It’s a great little movie, and Keke Palmer, who plays Akeelah, turns in an excellent (and adorable) performance alongside Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett.

This may seem random, but – hey – it’s Friday: I really liked the soundtrack to this movie. And mainly for one reason: it includes Rubberband Man by the Spinners. I think sometimes it’s easy to forget how groundbreaking that Motown sound was.

Hand me down my walkin’ cane

Hand me down my hat

Hurry now and don’t be late

‘Cause we ain’t got time to chat

You and me were goin’ out

To catch the latest sound

Guaranteed to blow your mind

so high you won’t come down

Hey y’all prepare yourself for the rubberband man

You’ve never heard a sound

Like the rubberband man

You’re bound to lose control

When the rubberband starts to jam

Excellent.

Also, the movie contains this quote (which is attributed to Marianne Williamson):

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.”

Thoughts?

My daughter Bethany recently completed her first audition in her theater class. It was a big deal; we had to get a resume together and, of course, headshots. Theater is Bethany’s passion.

And she got a part!

I’m proud of you babe!

Well, my arrived back home last night safe and sound after having spent Forty Hours of Funâ„¢ with her crazy blond girlfriends.

They had a blast.

Happy birthday babe. I love you!

I’ve been home this weekend with three of our four kids, while my better half has been off with her best girlfriends, top-down to Galveston for Forty Hours of Fun. They all took off wearing Thelma and Louise scarfs and white sunglasses. Heh.

I miss her! She is theoretically getting back home tonight, unless she’s just having too much fun!

My oldest daughter is on a mission trip to Seattle to help out with the church plant called The Journey. Pray for them – it’s going to be a busy week but I’m praying God will really work through them up there.

Daughter number two is sitting at her computer singing along with Eisley. It sounds good 🙂 Yesterday she and my youngest son and I went to Mountasia to play putt-putt. It was fabulous and fun.

Speaking of my youngest son, I’m about to take him to soccer practice. He rocks at that game!

And I’m sitting here listening to my oldest son play my venerable old Guild guitar (it is 24 years old, from before the Fender buy-out – excellent) and realizing, with a pleasure only a dad can know, that he is now officially better than me.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend. Mine has been good!

My eldest son Andrew, posting on Way Out of the Bloo, writes a brief retrospective on the grace and mercy of God:

I was just thinking about where I was this time last year (post-camp) Its incredible how long it took me to take so few steps. But the fact that I was able to take those steps at all speaks volumes of God’s grace towards me. He never gave up, even when I was through with Him. There were times I’m convinced that I broke His heart but nothing I did was ever able to bend his will. He ultimately restored my joy. Whats more, He did it through something that should have crippled my hope. He literally turned my mourning into gladness.

His ways may be strange but boy are they good.

“His ways may be strange but boy are they good.” Now that’s an amen times infinity quote!

Having watched and prayed and walked with Andrew through the struggles of last year, and having at times helplessly watched him struggle alone when there was nothing we could do, I can’t express the thrill we’ve experienced through Andrew’s reawakening, as the dimmed light was unveiled in his heart and eventually on his countenance. God sovereignly brought Andrew back to himself and brought true anathallo (revival) into his life. I can only say this: God’s grace is truly amazing!

Andrew is growing up: spiritually, physically, emotionally, skillz-wise – really in every way. As parents we learn, little by little, to let go of these ones that we love more than we can express as they inexorably grow older.

It’s so much easier to let go when we know that God holds them. He has proven the lengths he will go to for his child. He is zealous, and loving, with a love that, as C.S. Lewis once put it, could be mistaken for ferocity. The Lord is stubborn, and in total control. We live in a veil of tears and there are struggles and stumblings and painful growth ahead, no doubt, for Andrew and for all of us. But our destiny is not the pits, and not even the valleys. Our destiny is joy and gladness in the presence of our Beloved.

Praise him forever!

This weekend was my birthday. Part of the ongoing celebration – and, trust me, it is still ongoing. It’s a rolling 40 days of fun! – was seeing The Lion King at Houston’s Theatre Under the Stars.

It was awesome. Unbelievably good. It’s amazing how well the people who developed this play translated the story from a cartoon to the stage. The cleverness of the props and the seamless way the actors interacted with them was breathtaking.

It’s amazing how talented some people are.

We had a great time!