Path Forward - 7. Baptized in the Fount of Mercy

Baptized in the Fount of Mercy
January 5, 2025 –
Ferndale Alliance Church

By Brandon Haines

I stepped into the water not just to be cleansed, but to be claimed—
by the One who held me
through hospital nights, through silent prayers,
through the ache of watching love fade but never disappear.

The fount was not cold. It was warm with memory—
my mother’s voice
echoing in grace,
my brother’s laughter
swirling in spirit.
They were there.
Not in body, but in breath, in blessing.

Pastor Richard stood beside me, but it was God who carried me—

from the grey zone of diagnosis

to the wide-open field of mercy.

From the child they almost overlooked to the man who now stands in covenant.

I was baptized between two birthdays,

between two worlds,

between grief and glory.

And when I rose from the water,

I didn’t just feel clean. I felt called.

In loving memory of my mother Rhonda, whose lessons on grace still carry me
And in honor of my brother Jonathan, whose sense of wonder still dances with me.