Faith or Delusion II

We went to see that house again this Saturday.

Before we went in we prayed - "Lord, if this house is not your will then raise obstacles, but if it is from you then give us a good feeling while we are in there."

He gave us a good feeling.

Now lets stand back a bit - if we went into a showroom of fast cars saying the same prayer, it is quite likley that we would be seduced by the gleaming curves and the smell of leather.  It could still be delusion. 

But looking at the house, things that we had had concerns about and were checking on seemed to melt away.  The satndard of secor was generally OK to move in - not the deriliction we remembered.  The kitchen was actually very posh - we had previously been fixated on the ugly hole where the dishwasher goes.  It was all just generally better than we remembered.

It was a bit scary that they have cannibalised the radiators from the ground floor, but they say they will replace them.

And some of the weeds in the back patio have leaves that look like Japanese knotweed - but I think the stems and general shape are different.

And so we do feel that it is the Lord's will that we should at least start to enter negotiations with their idea of a house swap.

So we have sent them outline details of our house, and they still seem interested, and are coming to view our house next Saturday.  We have also booked 3 or 4 estate agents to value our house on Friday and to give us their valuations.  This week is the last frantic painting and furniture re-positioning.

And so it is all looking good.

But I'm still not sure where we will put all the kids to sleep.  There are fewer bedrooms, and Mrs wants to set up her 'Play church' through two of them.  She has even said I will have to start sharing her bed again - which would be good in many ways but I still snore and I've got used to having my own room.  I don't think she appreciates how much I need to have some man-space in the house.

Believer’s Baptism

Well, my youngest has passed the lower age limit for ‘believer’s baptism’ in our diocese. He’s always been a bright and mature lad, but recently he has taken to asking very deep questions about the trinity etc, which really challenge us. (eg Recently my wife was discussing with one of the Mums at the school gate the case of their mutual friends - a Christian couple from a nearby church – whose marriage had broken down and the disgruntled and cynical man had allegedly said ‘God is divorced’, and my lad’s ears pricked up and he wanted to everything about this weird concept of God being divorced. Also he has recently been worried that he might actually be ‘on the devil’s side’ and misleading himself about his faith – we have reassured him that inasmuch as he ever did belong to the devil, he has been fully redeemed. If he really was on the devil's side, it wouldn't cross his mind to worry about it)

So we had already resolved that when he passed the relevant birthday we would enquire about a ‘believer’s baptism’ for him. His Birthday fell on a Sunday, and behold, that very morning they announced that next week will be a baptism service, and could any potential candidates be made known etc. Needing no further divine guidance we approached the vicar afterwards, and now the boy will have a token interview with our assistant minister (they trust my judgment and the interview is a mere formality, but I don’t want him to be done by pure nepotism) before the big day.

You would think my parents would be pleased, but they were concerned that it was something we were putting him forward for rather than coming from his own initiative. I see their point. But in the Bible baptism took people as soon as people declared faith, without waiting for them to become accomplished theologians. The commission is to make disciples, baptising them etc. “Believe and be baptised” it says (it always says it in that order). In an older person I would definitely wait for consent. But I know my son believes, and as a parent I have to provide some leadership with regards to the actions that stem from belief.