I might have already mentioned in a previous blog that when I became a Christian I was not even aware of it. My Mother told me of an incident when we were visiting our neighbors one bright moonlit night. We were standing out in their yard and our neighbor Harold was holding me.  I was around two years old at the time.

Harold teased me as he announced, “See that moon Mickey” (Yep, that’s what they called me back in the early days of my life.) “That’s MY moon.” I became as frustrated as a two year old can get and began arguing with him. Now I have no memory of this but my Mother reported that finally after several minutes of heated back and forth discussion I burst out, “That’s God’s moon!”

Well that ended the discussion on that topic. That was the first time a Catholic family and a Lutheran family came to an agreement back in the days when that didn’t happen very often. 🙂  But who could argue with my two year old logic.

So all my life faith-filled experiences have been meaningful to me. I can still vividly remember my first communion. We were all in church preparing for our first confession and I was busy organizing my numerous sins and determining the number of times I had committed each of them. I was becoming frustrated because most of the other children were giggling, visiting or poking each other and seemed not the bit concerned about making that perfect first confession.  I began to worry that maybe I was just a bigger sinner then any of them and my self esteem began to take a nose dive.

Then came confirmation. My brother and I were confirmed at the same time. I was an eighth grader and Jerry was a seventh grader I believe. I have vivid memories of that spiritual experience too. We all were worried about kissing Bishop Schlagwyler’s ring as well as pronouncing his name correctly!

We were informed that we would be receiving the Holy Spirit and I was wondering if I would feel the spirit’s presence. I was disappointed when I didn’t but that’s one of the first times I had to draw and my favorite biblical quote, “I believe, help me in my unbelief.”

I relived the Confirmation experience through my grandchildren two times now. I was our oldest grandchild’s sponsor several years ago. They had a very thorough and complex process as they got the teenagers ready to receive the sacrament. As a sponsor they asked me to write Tristin a letter that he would read at a retreat they would attend several weeks before their actual confirmation.

I have never been very good at proselytizing, which the dictionary says ‘means to make converts’. The first time I heard that word used was in a Walmart store when two teenage boys cornered me in the sporting goods section and asked me if I knew where I was going after I died.

I played along with them to see where they were going with their questioning. Finally I shared with them that I was in agreement with them and I was planning on spending eternity in Heaven too.

About that time a clerk came charging up to us and asked the boys what they were doing. “Oh, we’re just proselytizing to this gentleman.” Other customers must have complained about their tactics so they were quickly escorted out into the parking lot to continue their proselytizing. So as the boys departed I continued shopping and marveled how brave those two youngsters had been. Also I was thankful that they had broadened my vocabulary with the addition of the word proselytizing. 🙂

As I wrote Tristin his retreat letter I had my first taste of proselytizing. I enjoyed the experience, however, I’m not sure how good I was at it. 🙂

This weekend I experienced being a sponsor for a second grandson, Logan. His preparation did not require as much input from his sponsor and no proselytizing letter was required. We just had a short meeting Saturday morning before the Sunday Confirmation ceremony.

I stood behind him with my right hand on his shoulder as the Bishop made the sign of the cross with holy oil on his forehead and invited the Holy Spirit into his life. I don’t know if he felt anything at that moment nor did I ask him. But I did have a feeling of peace knowing with Logan’s permission the Holy Spirit will be at work in his life forever.

We sponsors sat in the pew behind the seven Confirmation candidates and as I observed these seven new “Soldiers of Christ” I thought about the world with its many temptations that they were about to re-enter. They were equipped to conquer that world as long as they drew on that new indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Just in case I think I’ll continue to say a few prayers for all of them to insure they continue to live a successful Christian life.

It was an enjoyable weekend as we also enjoyed a volleyball game, homecoming coronation (Logan was high school royalty as well as Christian royalty that weekend), football game, family pictures and oops, one more thing.

I need to confess this one. I broke my carbohydrate intake rule. After the Confirmation Ceremony at church we went to the basement for coffee and cake. I intended to have just one big piece of delicious cake until my granddaughter Selena brought me a second helping. So what did I do? I ate it, what else? 🙂

We returned to the farm and proceeded to stuff ourselves on spaghetti, white sauce and shrimp. But there were no carbohydrates involved with that right? And of course what did we have for dessert? Yep, you guessed it. A big piece of delicious cake.

I could feel the insulin being pumped into my bloodstream all afternoon!

With that final “sweet” bit of information I’m going to end this blog.

Until next time!