Well, let’s not waste any more time—let’s follow Gladys
Knight’s advice and get on down to the real nitty-gritty, shalt we?
So, this morning at First Baptist Church of Culver City,
where the Reverend Stanley D. Richardson is pastor, my family showed up and
showed out! In addition to filling up the church to near capacity, we all
witnessed our very own Rebecca Ann Morgan get baptized. I gotta tell y’all—it was
truly a sight to behold. I’ve never been one to deny that I’m a big ol’ softie,
and this morning in church was no different. When I saw Rebecca get submerged
in the water and come out praising The Lord, I had tears in my eyes. It was as
if I was right there with her… and in a way, I was with her.
I really wish that y’all were in church with us to
witness Rebecca’s baptism. For one thing, she looked so cute up there in the
baptismal pool with her bright but shy grin on her face… and incidentally,
Pastor Rich mentioned that Rebecca was easy to baptize, which was very true;
she didn’t put up a struggle or a fight—she just fell back naturally and
re-emerged naturally.
And of course, Uncle Ronnie jokingly told Rebecca that,
now that she’s been baptized, she is not allowed to cuss anymore—she can’t even
think those bad words, much less say them. Naturally, Rebecca knew that Uncle Ronnie
was teasing her, so she played along.
Afterwards, we all celebrated at California Pizza Kitchen
in Manhattan Beach, and Rebecca gave a speech of gratitude. Still sporting a big
beaming smile, she declared that she is the happiest that she has ever been,
and she is still humbled, honored, and grateful that we took her up under our
wings and taught her how to fly again. Rebecca went on to say: “Trust me when I
tell y’all—this has been the best three years of my life thus far, and I have all-a-y’all
to thank. Oh, and by the way, I still
thinking about changing my last name to Jones—that way, I’ll finally be able to
keep up with y’all!”
We all applauded and congratulated Rebecca again, then
Gramma Jewel got up and spoke on behalf of all of us.
“Becky-Baby, I am flattered that you want to be a Jones,
but you know that you ain’t gotta change your name for that—hell, you already are a Jones. And by the way, we are
grateful that you look up to us, but we were nothing more than vessels used by
God to guide you in the right direction. It wasn’t us that you saw—it was The
Lord.”
And then Rebecca bounced back with quite a profound
statement:
“Well, Aunt Tea—believe me when I tell you: I thank The
Lord that He allow all-a-y’all to be my guardian angels.”
In the famous words of Mother Thelma Jean Davis: It’s all
in a day’s work for The Lord’s children!
Hugs & Kisses,
Natasha
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