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Many have seen purported visions of saints, Mary, or Jesus appearing in objects throughout the world. Bread, trees, clouds – nothing is apparently off-limits. My Roman Catholics friends are famous, more known than any other tradition, for flocking to reported sightings.

Well, here at Sojourn, we don’t have anything that “splashy.” What we do have is a kitchen floor that reminds us that the kitchen was being built in a time when this church was undergoing a historic (in this church’s history) spike in baptisms! Let me explain:

Before the concrete floor was poured, the baptistry had a leak. The water poured from the pipes to the basement (kitchen) floor below. This was not a show-stopper for the advent of baptisms this year, as the water would fall harmlessly on the rock and dirt of the torn-up kitchen floor.

Then one Friday afternoon, in the middle of many weekend baptisms, it happened. The electrician was working on the panel box that powers the baptistry. When he took the cover off, switches fell on the ground! The age of that panel box was on full display. When the electrician reassembled the switches to the best of his ability, he turned them all on – not realizing that two of them powered the baptistry and heater. He left and the baptistry filled overnight.

The water flowed onto the newly poured concrete below, creating rust stains that are now a permanent part of the floor!

Like everything in life, we see the 20-80 principle at work. 20% of our lives are defined by the things we encounter. The other 80% is composed of how we react to those things. We could hang our heads and fixate on this rusty spot in the concrete, we could pretend to find a likeness/image in it and hawk it off as a tourist attraction, or we can smile when we see it because it reminds us of the near revival in lives at Sojourn Church turning toward God in believer’s baptism!

I vote for the latter.

Drummer Josh pointed this out to me, and elder emeritus Stephen said it was a “blessing from above.” The rust spot doesn’t get a commemorative plaque, probably because it is its own commemoration. Now we have to give it a name …