New Daddy

Honor went forward at church today to announce a decision she made year ago. Last week, I sat working while Honor and Joel chatted beside me. Joel's voice penetrated my focused haze as I heard him say, "...but you have to be saved to get to heaven, Honor." And Honor replied, "Oh, psssh, I did THAT a long time ago!" I stopped working. Joel and I raised eyebrows at each other as I asked, "Honor, when did you do that?" About a year ago. Not sure she was really grasping what we meant, I tried pinning her down to specifics. "Where were you when this happened?" In the living room on the couch. It hadn't occurred to her to share the news with us. It was something that needed done, so she did it.

I asked the others to leave the room while Honor and I had a chat. I quizzed a bit to be sure she understood what she was saying. It seems Joel had explained the sinner's prayer to her about a year ago. After he left the room, Honor decided she wanted to do as he suggested and she asked Jesus to be Lord of her life. At five, she recognized that we all sin. Everyone. She recognized that God is holy. She recognized that sin separates us from God. She recognized that Jesus died so that we might live eternally without separation from God. She repented and gave her heart to God.

She had been asking questions for years and even asked if we could "go ahead and pray that prayer right now" a few times. You might think this sounds awful, but I usually answered with a, "Sure, but how about we wait until Daddy gets home so he can share this with us?" I did this knowing she'd forget before he came home. She was so young and I wanted her to be able to remember this decision. Iwanted her to be able to grasp the beauty of God's awesome grace. Apparently, she got tired of waiting for me to be ready.

She talked to me with such confidence and joy. It was a delight to hear. She faltered for a moment though and said that she was worried that she might have said some of it wrong and what if she prayed it wrong. "I don't want to lie about this or anything." I reminded her that the Bible says that if we believe with our hearts and confess with our mouths, we will be saved. "You have shared with me that you believe with your heart and in sharing it, you've confessed with your mouth. The Bible says you don't need to worry about that anymore. It's a done deal." She was quite relieved.

The next day, she told Daddy about our conversation. She told him, "Daddy, there's something I want to tell you but I'm afraid of hurting your feelings." Chris insisted he was tough and could take it. She hemmed and hawed a bit, obviously worried about his reaction. Finally, she said, "It's like I have a new Dad." Chris melted. She does indeed.

After the service, many of our church family came up to shake her hand and welcome her to the family. One friend put it so well. He said, "Honor, you don't just have a new Dad; you have lots of new brothers and sisters, too. And I'm one of them." This tickled her. I'm so thankful for our family.

Baptism? Well, we're the dunking kind 'round here, so this might take some time. She wants to do it, but is terrified of going under water. We might need to sign up for some swimming lessons first.

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