All the apologies for falling behind here on Substack. I’ve been writing episodes. But I’m done writing episodes now, and I’m eager to look back at them. Let’s catch up, starting with Chapter 10: Look.

Here’s the audio. Have a listen.

All the Things

Manatees & Dolphins

Have you ever seen a manatee? They’re the strangest of creatures—more rock than mammal. Babies though—their little whiskered faces! I’m smitten. Anyway, in this episode I recount the story of the day I saw both a baby manatee and a dolphin in the river. I wonder aloud if it actually happened. Recently I’ve tracked down a bit of proof regarding the dolphin. My favorite Weeki Wachee Instagram account (yes, I have a favorite) shared video evidence of the new resident dolphin. Evidence helps with the believing (Hebrews 11:1 and all).

Re-Baptism

Just about every Church of Christ young person I’ve ever met has questions about baptism and re-baptism. Under what circumstances does it make sense to be baptized again? As you’ll perhaps notice in the story, I am not a re-baptism fan. If you’re looking for a more academic/theological explanation of why, consider my friend Brad’s recent article in Christianity Today: “Baptism is Not Optional.”

Baptism Videos

I don’t have video of my baptism, and I didn’t take video of either of my girls’ baptisms. But I did record Eve talking about her “why” a week after she took that step. The reason? I thought she’d second guess it, and I wanted to have something to show her if she ever wondered what she’d been thinking at 8 years old. Here’s what she said:

Maybe when she watches the video one day she’ll only see her youth (she really is so small). But I hope she sees how much she loved God and wanted to obey Him. And I hope she realizes that’s enough. An oak is an oak is an oak.

Was He really there? Did it really happen?

This episode is partly a meditation on knowing. How do we know what we know? Can we trust our experience? I think one of the hardest parts of being human (especially a Christian human who believes in an unseen world) is trying to discern what’s real and what’s not.

Am I the only one? Let me know in the comments.

Saved and Being Saved

It seems like maybe we talk a lot about “the moment” of salvation and not enough about salvationsssss. Yes, there is a point when God saves you, when He welcomes you into His family, but once you’re there you will still need to be saved again and again. You will still have moments of temptation, moments of weakness, moments of brokenness. You may very well (you almost certainly will) have moments when you take your eyes off Jesus and begin to drown. It sometimes feels impossibly hard to keep your eyes Jesus.

Look at any story in Scripture, and you’ll see these strings of saving moments. David’s saved dozens of times—from a giant, from Philistines, from Saul, from his son Absalom, from the weight of his sin… The gift of being God’s child isn’t a once and done salvation; it’s knowing wherever you fall, however you drown, Jesus will be there to take your hand and lift you up.

Presence

We’re slowing discovering, as this story moves forward, that the most important thing to know and be sure of is that, in all circumstances, God is here.

Along those lines, I’m loving this passage from Amos:

Where are you experiencing the saving presence of God right now? I’d love to hear in the comments!

To Be Continued,

JL