A child, cradled in her mother's arms and dripping with baptismal waters, is marked with a sign of the cross on her forehead. It is both calling and commitment.

The truth of Christianity lies not in carefully crafted claims that describe heaven or warn of hell. The truth of Christianity is not based in practical advice or sure-fire secrets to success. The truth comes in that mark made on the crying child. The truth comes slowly, sometimes painfully, as that calling to the cross is lived out.

"Whoever loses their life will save it." is the promise of Christ and it is a terribly difficult truth to believe.

We are enamored with just the opposite. We become convinced that what brings peace is precisely the opposite things described by Jesus. We persuade ourselves into believing that it really is money or power or privilege that will save us. And so we fail to recognize the gift that is being given right before our happily weeping eyes.

We have as much difficulty trusting Jesus as Peter did. We want a God who will protect this little child from all harm. We want a God who will guarantee that this watery sacrament will shield her from the pain and anguish that the unbaptized rest of the world will sadly have to share. But that cross on her forehead is calling her into a world of suffering not out of it.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer once wrote that "only a suffering God can help."

Only a God unafraid to enter into a world of despair can bring hope. Only a God willing to live among the sick can bring healing. Only a God who walks among us. Only a God who shares our sorrows and joins in our tears can bring healing. Only a God who shares our sorrows and joins in our tears can bring us to the truth. "Whoever loses their life will save it."