Today’s special edition post is from Tova Dad, my favorite daughter and Virtual Assistant. She lives outside of Amarillo with her husband and their two daughters. 
On a dusty shelf, up in the corner of the room, there is a book.
A pliable, white, hardback book. On the spine, there is a thin, dark, cursive script that reads, “Precious Moments with Our Baby.”
Inside, on the first page, in beautiful, precise cursive, an inscription denotes, “This is the precious keepsake album of Tova Lee Lewis who was born to Gerry and Eva Dee Lewis.”
Inside the subsequent pages, there are lists of firsts, gifts, visitors, medical records, photos, foot prints, first steps – all lovingly collected and categorized in that meticulous cursive.
About a quarter of the way through the book, there is a page titled, “Our Praise to God,” with the subtitle, “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it. – Prov. 22:6.”
The first event recorded on that page is, “Dedication, May 15, 1988 at Eagle Mountain Baptist Church in Ft. Worth, Texas.”
But there follows 2 inscriptions that explain why I plucked this book off of the dusty shelf in the corner of the room. They weave together, but here’s the first:
“Tova asked Jesus into her heart on October 23, 1993 at the Children’s rally of the Greater Ft. Worth Luis Palau Crusade. She was baptized on October 31, 1993 at Eagle Mountain Baptist Church in Ft. Worth, Texas.”
The second one says:
“Daddy got to help you ask Jesus into your heart and got to baptize you. I can’t express the joy in my heart. I love you.”
So there you have it. Today is my 30th Second Birthday!
I’ll be honest that I remember practically nothing that was said at the Luis Palau Children’s Rally.
What I do remember is that everything said there made perfect sense. And if everything that was said was true, following Jesus was the obvious next step.
How could I NOT follow Him?
When the event was reaching the end, there was an “altar call” or invitation for anyone at the rally who wanted to submit their life to Christ, to come down to the front to pray and give your heart to Jesus.
I immediately rose from my chair and started to make my way down the many steps to the front. Then I remember my dad grabbing hold of me and the look of surprise on his face. He said to wait until we got back to the car so he could talk with me.
Again, I don’t recall clearly the questions he put to me in the front seat of our car, but I know I gave him the answers from my simple, practical, child-like faith. And in that car, we prayed together, and I asked Jesus to be my Savior and for the Holy Spirit to guide my life.
I remember my dad carrying me from the car, and my mom’s tears of joy.
I remember swimming out to my dad in the baptistry the next weekend, and him holding me in his trustworthy arms before I was submerged in the water.
That day was the first steps of my second life.
In John chapter 3,
“There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.”
Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
“What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”
Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again…’ For God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent His Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through Him” (John 3:1-7, 16-17).
A friend of mine recently shared on Facebook that in the last couple of years, he has survived a heart attack and prostate cancer. He said that at first his question was why he survived and so many others do not. Eventually his question changed from ‘why did I survive?’ to ‘what am I going to do with it?’
That’s the question that has been circling my brain today.
What is my next step?
How am I going to put my second life to work, producing fruit from the vine through the branches?
Well, there are two other books on that shelf in the corner.
And inside the first, these first steps are recorded, “Just before bed on Saturday, November 30, 2019, at the age of 5, Aziza prayed and asked Jesus to be her Rescuer and live in her heart. Mama prayed with her. And on Sunday, October 2, 2022 (1 week before her 8th birthday) at Redeemer Christian Church of Amarillo, she was baptized by Pastor David Ritchie and by Baba.”
And in the second, “Just before bed on January 30, 2023, at the age of 5, Ahava prayed with Mama and Baba and asked Jesus to be her Rescuer, and the Holy Spirit to live in her heart so she could be part of God’s family.”
Those nightly conversations and Bible stories are MY Precious Moments with my babies. I wouldn’t swap those late, late, bed times for the world.
And I think those first steps are a pretty amazing way to watch fruit grow from a vine.
