The Rev. Dr. Jonathan Chapman

W hen I was six or seven, at least to hear my parents tell it, I loved to play with leaves in the Fall. The backyard would fill with them, and I relished piling them up and running through them. Close behind me, always there, was our faithful beagle. One afternoon, I got suspiciously quiet. My Mama looked out, wondering what I was up to. She saw me standing tall letting leaves fall from my hands over the dog’s head. Later, when they asked me what I was up to, I told them the truth: “I baptized the dog.”

“Why’d you do that?” she asked.

“Because I want to be a preacher when I grow up, and preachers baptize.” 

It was the first time I’d re-enact the stories of the Bible. But it wouldn’t be the last.