All Hallow's Eve

Halloween is a tricky holiday for Christians. We don't want to embrace and celebrate evil, but we also don't want to seem judgmental and holier-than-thou. Our goal: to be in the world but not of it.

So at our house we take a moderate approach: We dress up and trick-or treat. We enjoy the tamer side of Halloween, avoiding haunted houses and evil costumes. Much to our chagrin, Halloween is Nate's favorite day of the year. Better than his birthday, better than Christmas. Two hours of running from house to house for FREE CANDY!! What could be better than that?

Well he may not fully realize it yet... but yesterday he did do something better than even free candy.

He's been talking about Baptism for a while. He asked Jesus into his heart when he was around 6, and he understands that Baptism is the next step. But he's a typical almost 9 year old boy. So it's hard for us as Mom & Dad to know exactly when the right moment is, when he's mature enough to take it as a serious life commitment. Karen, the children's ministry director at our church, gave Nate a really nice workbook and he finished it up this week. So on Friday I said to Nate, you can be baptized whenever you are ready. He said "o.k. how about Sunday?"

At first it seemed a little strange to choose Halloween, but as I thought about it for a moment, I realized that God's timing is perfect. Halloween was the perfect day for Nate to be baptized. October 31st will always be a day that holds pure joy for Nate, even after he outgrows trick-or-treating. Someday He'll look back and realize that there is something even better than free candy.