Spirit renewed

I was present for a friend of mine being baptised this morning. It was a really great service - very Pentecostal, Hands in the air, cheering, music going, full immersion, etc. All in all the service was very moving. I could feel something at work and I can only assume it was the holy spirit. I do not usually attend a contemporary church service and this was a nice change of pace. I do not think I could do it every Sunday as I have an old soul and the presentation of the traditional service sooths me. I love Catholic services, incense and all.

For my friend, it was a moment of happiness for me. Not so much because he had "found God" or been "born again", but because I think that he has filled something in his life that was empty. I have never seen him this content and this happy. I think a lot if that has to do with his wife, but overall there is an aura of tranquility around him that I have never seen before. It gives me hope for the rest of humanity.

He stated in his testimony that "the enemy" had filled his life full of questions and doubt that made it hard to believe. I thik maybe another way to look at it is that God knew that those doubts would only make his faith stronger - he just needed the right time and situation to see the truth. Intersting how God can take something and turn it around.

I know the feeling as a parent to want to always keep your kids out of trouble, protect them from getting hurt, keep life from attacking them. But the best we can do to really help our children is to let them fall, help them back up, dust them off, wipe their tears, and send them back in to the world. It hurts, but it provides them what they need to survive and thrive. And they know that we will always be here to pick them up again. I think, in sense, God does the same for us.