“Praise God, Hallelujaaaaah!” shouted Lena. “Glory to God!! Glory!!”
“Thank You, Jesus! Oh, Thank You, Jesus! Hallelujah!” Tamiko praised.
Allen was astonished at the miracle he had just witnessed. Here was a person who had believed more in his own self than in any conception of God, who was now willing to be baptized as a Christian, no less. It reminded him of the voice that spoke to him at the Election Night party: “With man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”1 Yes, Allen knew Tim believed in God. He didn’t know how deep Tim’s belief went, but apparently it went deeper than his own.
“Allen, why don’t you go on and be baptized?” Vernon suggested to Allen.
“Why? I thought you had me baptized when I was a baby?”
“You weren’t baptized, you were christened.”
“Isn’t that the same thing?”
“Not that I can see. When you were a baby you didn’t have a choice. Now you do.”
Allen thought about what his father said for a moment. At first he didn’t want to get caught up in what could be a meaningless ritual, but then he reflected on the sermon. A while ago, Allen had wondered how one could love God, but after today’s sermon, he was beginning to understand. His father was right. It was his choice now. He had to devote his own life to God for himself. But he was still so unsure about a lot of things. He wavered back and forth in his faith, so much. But then he thought about what his mother had said. He wanted a relationship with God, and if he really wanted that, baptism would be another step in the right direction. However he was a little ashamed that his father had to suggest it.
“You’re right.”
Allen went to the altar call where the people were lining up to be baptized. The women went to one side of the altar and the men went to the other. Since Allen had taken so long to make his decision, he was one of the last men on the line, and Tim was way ahead of him. There had to be at least 30 people on the line. Brother Anderson was now leading the men to the changing rooms on the mezzanine level above the altar. As Allen proceeded forward with the rest of the men, he thought he saw someone else on the line that looked vaguely familiar. Then he recognized the curly fade haircut. He must have sensed Allen’s eyes on him, because he looked back, at which time Allen looked down as the line slowly moved forward. Since Allen had looked away, he didn’t notice when Davis got off the line and came to the end.
“Hey, Allen.”
“Hey!” said Allen shocked that he was speaking to him. Neither of them knew what to say next and so there was a moment of awkward silence.
“Kinda surprised to see you here. I thought you would’ve been baptized already”, Davis continued.
“You would think, but no. I’m kind of surprised to see you here, too. You haven’t been here in a while.”
“I know. I wanted to talk to you about that, man to man. Do you think we could meet up after the baptism?”
“Sure. How about we go for coffee after church.” Allen knew he would miss the brotherhood bible study, but he felt this was more important and he didn’t want Davis to feel like he was blowing him off.
“Cool. I’ll meet you out front and we’ll walk over.”