4/6/11 Only You could do this one, Lord. Reggie walked into my office, sat down, and said, "I'm ready to get my life right. I'm tired of the old man and want Jesus to take it away. Been thinkin' about this for a while. So, could you baptize me?" Reggie's only 21 years old.

I'd seen Reggie around, but I'd not seen what was revealed when he stood next to me in a tank top t-shirt as we pray following his immersion. It was a spread winged eagle with a swastika attached at the bottom, you know, the kind of emblem Hitler would have proud of and sported. I knew what it was. I've seen it before.

So as we traveled back to RCM after the baptism, I leaned over quietly so those with us in the back seat couldn't hear, "That tattoo's a nice piece of artwork."

He hung his head, "That's generational, you know, from my family."

"What's it mean?" I asked. "Well, my dad is a leader in _________, and the tattoo stands for the fourth call to the final battle between blacks and whites. My mom has one on her lower back that stands for the fifth. It was a family thing."

So, Lord, I had to ask, "Reggie, are you a racist?" he smiled, "Nope, I'm a new man. That's what my family's into, but not me. I don't see them very often. I don't live that way." I looked back to see DeJuan smiling, our new brother of a couple months, who helped me take Reggie under the water. He also had seen the tattoo and knew what it was about. DeJuan is a black brother. Reggie, who grew up in a racist white supremacist hate group, was immersed by a black man. Lord, only You, can that kind of change in the deepest part our souls.

After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the lamb ... And they cried out in aloud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God..." Revelation 6:9-10