On November 2nd Sammy was baptized at our church. Dan planned the worship and a few people told him it was a 'three tissue' service. He sang "By the Rivers of Babylon" with a friend during the offertory. The song is in reference to Psalm 126.

If you read it you'll see that it is about the Lord bringing back the Israelites to Zion. Verse 5 says, "Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy." We have done this dozens of times and we have seen so many ways that God has been faithful.

During Sammy's stay in the neonatal intensive care (NICU) Dan read that Psalm a lot because it was comforting and because we did feel as though Sammy was being held against his will, like the Israelites in a sense.

But, here we are 8 months later and Sammy is, thank God, in good health. We know life is a gift and we know that "The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy."

Infant baptism can be a touchy subject for people. Some don't believe in it because they think you can't offer salvation to a child who, without cognition cannot accept it. But the Bible says "...He first loved us." Before we ever KNEW - God loved. And more amazingly, this love came to us "while we were yet sinners".

So when we brought Sammy to be baptized, we and our church family made a covenant promise (is that redundant?) to raise Sammy to know the God that loved him first, so that one day he could make his own profession of faith and love to that same God. The God that brought him out of Babylon - so to speak.