He's All I Have

•6•

I was watching as people got baptized. Every single one going in, getting immersed in water and stepping out. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before. The whole atmosphere was glorious and you could sense the power moving around.

Everyone kept telling me how lucky I am. I just happened to receive Jesus on the day that everyone was getting baptized. I had taken a short baptism class and I knew what taking that plunge meant, and I meant it, from the heart. Now I was making a public declaration of what Jesus had already done internally.

I was ready. More ready than I've ever been before. I knew my parents wouldn't agree, I knew the journey ahead was a long and complicated one but like before, I was ready. And it was my turn before I knew it. I walked slowly into the pool.

"What's your name?" The elderly man before me asked.

"TC" I said.

"Full name please" he requested.

"I'd prefer it if we used that one" I replied.

There was no way I was telling him or anyone around here my full name. It was something only my family knew and I never used it.

"Okay TC. Are you ready?" He asked.

"Yes!" Was my joyous reply. He wasted no time.

"TC, I now baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit."

He dipped me in the water and I thought I would drown for a moment but I came out nice and good. Maybe it was just me but I saw the world clearer after I came out of there. I felt cleaner and even more ready to face the world. This time it would be different because I was now a child of God.

                ★★★★★★★

I absent mindedly watched  the pot in front of me boil. I knew what I wanted to do with my day today, just sit down in my room and talk to God. That wasn't possible though because my family was going out to eat today since my results were considered a special occasion. We were leaving once Lucy was done drinking the mixture I was making because she was coming down with something. My mom was traditional and she taught us this mixture and it actually works. Always stops one from becoming sick even after the first signs had already shown.

My thoughts whilst coming from church had been all about me contemplating telling my parents about my new found faith in God. In all honesty I was so excited that I wanted to let my family celebrate with me. The other side of me knew better though. There wouldn't be any celebrating. The belt and some grounding sounded more like it. I had finally decided to keep my mouth shut about this. I would make it my secret life.

In no time we had left for the restaurant. I loved this place because they served the best pizza. I'm sure you've already guessed that we didn't eat pizza that much at my house. We all made our orders and waited whilst laughing around the table.

That is when I saw her. She was at the table opposite us with what looked like her family. They had their eyes closed and their hands together as they prayed over their food. Shock struck me. If Abigail sees me she wouldn't hesitate to come over and say hi. Now I was worried to my core. My family would definitely find out if she did.

My father saw me staring at her table and checked to see what I was staring at.

"Pathetic right?" He said when he saw them.

"Huh?" I asked thinking my dad had already read through me.

"I said how pathetic it is that these people are actually praying here. If only they knew." My dad said as he shook his head.

For the first time since my father had been making such comments, I actually wanted to stand up for my God yet I couldn't. It ate me up inside. I just nodded and said nothing. I made a silent prayer that Abigail wouldn't look this way.

My mind drifted to what would be happening on Sunday. There would be a Holy Spirit session and I would get to speak in tongues. Like I read in the Bible. I couldn't believe that it would actually happen to me. I only had two days to figure out how to get myself there though.

Dinner seemed to move as slowly as possible. I kept glancing at the table opposite us to make sure that I had not been discovered. We finally left and I breathed a sigh of relief once we stepped out. Now onto the other issue, how to get myself to church on Sunday.

************************************************************

ThatChristianKid

12/08/2018