My grandson, Jack, asked if I would speak at his baptism on April 11, 2026, so we traveled to Albuquerque for the big family event. Below is a copy of my remarks.
Why are fish so easy to weigh? – Because they have their own
scales.
Where does a fish keep its money? – A riverbank.
Why did the fish get bad grades? – Because it was below sea
level.
I live in Montana and I love to fly fish. My favorite fish
to catch are cutthroat trout, rainbow trout, brook trout and brown trout. I
especially like brown trout because they can be big and active. And boy, they
are strong, strong swimmers.
One more fish question. What in this room is like a brown
trout?
I’ll give you a hint. It has three names – Jack Lewis
Brownell.
If you have ever seen Jack around water, he is totally
comfortable in it. This kid can swim! He can jump into the water. He can flip
into the water. He can swim deep underwater. Oh, and he’s got a pool in his
backyard. When it’s hot outside, that is where he lives. And in the summer,
Jack turns….brown, just like a brown trout.
You know who else liked fish and fishing? Jesus did.
In Matthew 14 in the Bible, thousands of people showed up to
listen to Jesus talk about loving God, loving each other and he healed those
that were sick. But it was getting late in the day and his friends that were
with him said they needed to send everyone home to eat before it got too late.
Jesus said let’s feed them here. But all they had were five loaves of bread and
two fish for these thousands of people. Jesus sat down, blessed it and kept
giving and giving and giving to his friends who gave bread and fish to everyone
– five thousand men, plus women and children. Nobody went home hungry. It was a
miracle of Jesus’s love for everyone.
In Matthews 17 – also in the Bible – a temple tax had to be paid so do you know
what Jesus told Peter to do? He said go the sea, cast a hook into the water and
bring in the first fish you catch. When you open its mouth, you will find a
coin in it to pay the tax.
In John 21 in the Bible, eight of Jesus’s friends spent the
night in a boat fishing. They fished all night and caught nothing. The next
morning, Jesus showed up and asked if they had any meat to eat. “No,” they
said. “Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find,” Jesus
said. They threw in their net. Do you know how many fish they caught? 153!
In Matthew 4, Jesus called on his friends to be “fishers of
men.” In Luke, he said, “Catch men.” And what did he ask people then to do? The
same thing he asks us to do today – three words: “Come follow me!”
You know what else he said? We can’t enter into the Kingdom
of God in heaven unless we get baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
In 3rd Nephi in the Book of Mormon, Jesus said, “be perfect
even as I or your Father in Heaven is perfect.”
We’re not perfect now but we can try to be good in all we
do. After we are resurrected, we will be perfect. Our bodies will be perfect
and strong and we won’t get sick or hurt any more.
That’s still a long time away. One thing we can right now –
and do perfectly – is to do what Jesus said. We can follow him by doing what he
says by being baptized.
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| Jack's brothers, cousins and friends sing to him just before he was baptized |
I’m trying to be like Jesus. I’m following in his way. I’m
trying to love as he did, in all that I do and say.
And… I know when I am baptized I choose the Savior’s way.
And I will be forgiven as I turn to him each day. I want my life to be as clean
as earth right after rain. I want to be the best I can and live with God again.
Jack, I love you. Your other grandparents love you. Your
parents love you. Your brothers love you. Your aunts, uncles and cousins love
you. Your friends love you. Your church teachers and leaders love you. Heavenly
Father loves you and Jesus love you.
And by being baptized, you show how much you love them, too.
In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
