New life...a "birth story"

For the past six months or so, Levi has been asking real questions about God, people, and being a follower of Christ. We'd been encouraged to see him waking up to what God says is a reality...that we can't come to God on our own, in our sin...but that God himself has provided one Way for our rescue: faith that Jesus' work on our behalf is accepted before God now and forever. Faith that as He was raised from the dead, He is able to give us the new life He has promised us...a life in sweet relationship with the God that made us and gave Himself for us. Levi kept asking questions, and we kept prayerfully answering him. For several weeks, as we prayed before bed, his "thank you" for the day, would be "that I am still thinking about being a Christian"...thinking about being, but not a Christian yet. For our oldest, it wasn't like that. She understood the gift of the gospel, and she took it. Levi, he understood the gift, and then spent the next month or two thinking it over. Finally, last Tuesday, he walked into the kitchen during quiet time and asked, "where's Papa?" "In his office", I told him. "Oh, I guess I can talk to you or him -  When will he come home? It's important." I stopped what I was doing, struck by how serious my silly almost 6 year old was being. I asked him what he wanted to talk to Papa about.  "I want to talk to him about being baptized," he said. (He and Glory have been reading through Acts together at night.) We decided to go out to Papa's office together and talk about it. After going over the gospel again with him, Taylor told Levi that it was great to talk to us about wanting to be saved and go to heaven, but that he was going to have to talk to God about it. What happened next was one of those thing that Mamas "hide in their hearts" like scripture says Mary did. My big mouth little boy, who has voiced little prayers since before he was quite understandable, was suddenly shy. He closed his eyes and in a little voice that was almost in tears, he asked, "Dear Lord, PLEASE give me a new heart. Amen." Does he have a lot of growing to do in understanding this God he belongs to? Yup. So do I. Did I have to spank him the very day after he was baptized? Yes, but then again, being born again is not a "'get out of growing up' free card". ;) Yet, I believe the angels in heaven were rejoicing last Tuesday...because my Levi finally decided he'd "Rather Have Jesus".