My 13 year old brother made a public declaration that Jesus is the Lord of his life this weekend. Watching Jake get baptized was one of the sweetest moments of my entire life.

I spent three summers at my parents house in Cincinnati while I was in college. Since Jake is 10 years younger than me, he was a constant companion during those summers. I would take him on errands with me, take him to lunch and try to convince him to spend time with me, making up for the lost time when I was away at school. I used these summers to tell him all about Jesus. I practiced the sharing the Gospel with him and often asked him spiritual questions that were way over his preteen head. But somewhere a long the line, seeds were planted by me and countless others,  God watered those seeds and now roots are taking form. Praise God!

He is learning at thirteen what I started to learn as an eighteen year old – following Jesus is worth it. There’s nothing else worthy of giving my life to apart from Christ. Jake has a long road ahead of him, part of me feels relived that I did not walk with Jesus in high school – high school is hard enough, but on the other hand, how comforting would it have been to know that I was enough for God as I walked through hard years of friendships and grades. Whatever age we come to be saved at, it takes a heart level change to realize that compared to following after Jesus, everything else is a loss. Jesus is worth it.

“Baptism doesn’t save you, it’s what saved people do.” -James MacDonald