My greatest day recently

So in most of the ministries that I lead we do a small group session entitled High/low. In this category you share your high for the past week and your low for the past week. I haven't had enough people to do my small group the past few Sundays but I want to share my high and my low anyway. I apologize now most of you have heard this story as I have shared it with anyone who would listen. I have driven to meet many of you who I know would want to share in it so that I could tell you in person. This is what it is all about, but first my low. My low is most definitely the power wheel. We bought and put together what was probably the most anticipated gift in Gatlin Christmas history, Christmas morning arrived and we watch Brae run into the living room. She climbed up into the seat of her new truck and buckled her seat belt. We cranked it up and turned the radio on for her and then it happened. We couldn't get her to do anything but turn the steering wheel back and forth so I just lightly tapped the gas pedal sending her forward and into a chair, not hard but suddenly. From that moment on she has not gone near it. My high will probably be my high for a while. Saturday, December 19th I had a wedding to perform and it was a wedding that was for someone who meant a lot to us and our family. I was looking forward to it, had it all put together and I was just chilling with the girls anticipating the wedding ceremony. About mid morning I got a call from Mr Ricky Nix who sells firewood out in front of the church most days. He had someone who wanted to talk to me, I told him I would stop by on my way to the wedding. Well, I stopped by and met a man by the name of Tony. He was walking from Tallahassee to Miami, his mother had just passed away and he was headed back home from her funeral. Well, as he walked he passed our new sign and the word Freedom had jumped out at him. He decided then and there that what he needed was to hand all of his guilt, all of his burdens and all of his shame to God. I drove him to McDonalds and we had a quick lunch, we talked and he prayed and accepted Christ. His eyes were teary and he looked at me and said now pastor, I have to get baptized, and I have to do it now. I don't want to wait I don't want to spend another day having not been baptized in obedience to God's plan for me and my life. Here is where it got tricky, when we put up our new sign(which caught his attention) we tore down the old one. In the tear down we had to shut down our pump, well and that is what we use to fill our baptismal. It was very cold and windy that day and I wasn't real interested in jumping into the Atlantic or a swimming pool. So as I drove the wedding I called a friend, Mason Reigger and asked him if he knew of a warm body of water I could do a baptism in. He called back soon after and told me there was water in their baptismal at Anastasia Baptist Church and the heater would have the water warm in a few hours. I drove back by and broke the news to Tony and he was overjoyed. I went home, changed clothes and then went back and picked him up and took him to get new clothes. We purchased a new pair of pants, some new shoes and a few new shirts for his trip back home the following day. He refused to accept a bus ticket and said he prefers walking so I respected that. We then went to Anastasia and met up with Mason, he let us into the baptismal and Tony and I began to get ready. We prayed together one more time and then he told me he wanted to be baptized in the clothes he was wearing. He wanted the full effect of laying down his old life and rising again a new creation ready to live his life for Christ and in CHrist. So we agreed to do it that way. He took his shoes off and then his socks and continued to get ready while I stepped into a stall and changed into a bathing suit and t shirt. To my surprise when I stepped out of the bathroom stall there stood a man in his jeans, t shirt and wouldn't you know he was wearing a Jacket softball t shirt. The very T shirts we had made for the girls to wear when I was still coaching softball about 7 years ago at St Augustine High. I remember praying after the first day of practice that God would take my coaching, my passion for softball and sports and use me to impact his kingdom. Tony had no idea where he had received the t shirt, it was way too small and I will try to post it here when I finish up typing. That day God tied it all together for me, the sign at Freedom stopped him in his tracks, a simple lunch at McDonalds and sharing the Gospel made Him long for it more. Then, a baptism in a shirt that I prayed to be used all wrapped up in God's great gift to me this past Christmas season. Moments like these are what it is all about and I thank God for that suttle reminder. I mean sure I want to impact our city for Christ, I want to preach to more bodies than pews and I want to do some great mission work. But for one day, my day stood still so that one guy passing through could know the fullness of what God had planned in the original Christmas story and thousands of years before, I will take it!