My brother. Born again.

Seconds before a new life

Two weekends ago, I was practically dragged out of bed after mere hours of drifting in and out of sleep. Armed with my camera and still in the midst of combing out my frizzy hair, I was packed into the backseat of my Dad's Civic along with my mum and my younger brother, Joel.

That day was a special day. Except that I can't exactly feel how special it is when I'm still rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

Focus. FOCUS. It's a special day today.

Of course, focus had double meaning that day. My mind refused to stay focused when all I wanted was to crawl back into bed on that Sunday morning. Also, I was having trouble focusing with my zoom lens. My vision was way too blurry. Not good.

I fell asleep for about 25 seconds before I opened my eyes and saw a massive crowd of churgoers at DUMC. I felt a blush creep into my cheeks.

Haven't been to Sunday celebration in a long time, eh? I could almost swear I heard a small voice inside my head planting seeds of guilt in my cottony mind.

The next 10 minutes went by in a blur. I was introduced to the pastor. I said hello to a couple of Joel's friends. Someone welcomed me to his/her (I don't remember) church. The usher gave me a sermon tape. "Is it bright enough? Did you bring enough film? Can you see anything from here? Do you want to move up front?" I vaguely heard my mum ask as I settled down in my seat and started fumbling with my camera.

Fast forward an hour. I started clicking away. I felt like a papparazzi. I dodged, I maneuvered around a few hundred people (I'm not exaggerating because there were over 2000 people attending service that day), I was asked to go back to my seat and through all that, someone had left a fingerprint on my lens.

In my dreamlike state, I heard my mum sniffle. When I glanced over, I saw that her eyes were glistening with tears. She was very proud of Joel, I knew. It all happened so fast. Three seconds. Joel walked out dripping wet, with a huge grin on his face. My mum handed him a towel and gave him a hug.

Her baby boy. Reborn. All grown up now.

True, I wasn't in the best state of mind at that time. But I was glad I was asked to take pictures of my baby brother's baptism. I was glad I went for Sunday celebration that day. I was glad I was there to witness that important landmark in my brother's life.

I walked out of church that day with my heart feeling a hundred times lighter. I felt like I could breathe. That veil that had been covering my eyes for the past few weeks had strangely disappeared.

And when I looked at my baby brother, he seemed like a new person to me.

Congratulations upon your baptism, Joel. I'm proud of you.