As I returned to my seat and sat down, Danielle turned to me with her jaw almost touching the ground, and her Mother was crying… Along with the majority of the others in our group…
Danielle said…
“Dusty, this morning when we prayed and did our listening prayer, we got the name Steven…”
What the heck!
God spoke so clearly to each of us, but we didn’t even communicate any of it to each other. That was proof that it was from the Lord.
Next we all made our way to the shallow creek and witnessed one of the most beautiful baptisms I’ve ever seen.
(Steven is in the green shirt and grey pants.)
(Waiting for the baptism to begin.)
(Entering the waters.)
(The first baptism of the day.)
It wasn’t in some huge church with the perfect water temperature and with white robes. No, this was one in murky water, filled with garbage, but full of joy and life! How good is our God?!
The whole time I was kept company by my new buddy, Steven.
Eventually, hand in hand we made our way back up to the church.
Sometime during our walk, he quietly slipped off behind me to walk with a member from the congregation, and once we reached the church, I noticed he was gone.
Somehow though, I knew he’d be back.
I hoped anyway.
Danielle and I had already decided that we were going to clean him up and make him look nice.
Still, we had never seen him smile and he hadn’t said a word. That was ok though, because The Spirit was doing all the talking.
Once at the church, we took the Lords supper, and then were blessed with a meal by the church members.
It was delicious!
A little while passed by and still there was no Steven.
I began to think I wouldn't see him again.
(Two of the parents enjoying their meals provided by the church.)
Then as we set finishing our meal, Steven came walking back up to me, but this time he was clean as could be! Somebody had cleaned him up and put him in new clothes.
I could tell he was hungry, and Danielle’s Mother, offered up her food that was hardly touched.
Steven and I then shared our meals together and he literally ate almost the whole bowl!
(Steven and I eating together.)
(Steven)
Eventually we all finished up, said our blessings over the church, and wondered back to our rooms.
The children followed us all the way back, and of course, Steven had a tight grip on my hand.
(Our walk back to our motel.)
When we arrived at the gate, we began to say our, “Goodbyes.”
We took a few pictures and once more, I hugged and kissed Steven on the forehead.
As I set him down, I continued to pray over him like I’d been doing all day. Asking and trusting God to watch over him, because I truly believe now, he’s dedicated to the Father and I trust he’ll grow up to serve and love the Lord.
As I turned to go, I waved at him and said, “Bye bye.”
And as he turned to leave, he looked at me with those big brown eyes, looked deep into mine, gave me a giant smile, waved his tiny hand and said, “Bye bye.”
(Steven and I one last time. He's finally smiling!)
Thanks for reading. I pray this was a blessing to you as much as it was to me.
Love yall.
P.S. Oh yeah, and if you don't mind, say a little prayer for my buddy, Steven.
