October 2 – “From 5 to 68”

I always enjoy it when we have a baptism on Sunday.  People seem to have just a little bit more of an edge to them, like they are waiting on the edge of their seat for something really amazing to happen.  You know, something absolutely insane like, oh, say, going to the beach for church.  Oh, wait.  That’s what we do.  No wander the atmosphere was so electric.  The baptism we were all waiting for was David, a 68 year old gentleman who has been obviously affected by the outpouring of ministry going on after the Hurricane Harvey flooding.  He has been involved with the group going to Alvin, so he has seen it firsthand.  He was admittedly a little nervous, but one of his good friends agreed to accompany us into the water, so I think that calmed him a bit.  We gathered on the shore as usual and had our prayer. 

And just as we started for the water, a young Dad stopped me.  He asked, “Do you think it would be OK if young Jeremiah here was baptized, too?”  He gestured to his 5 year-old youngest son standing nearby.  Dad assured me that Jeremiah had prayed and asked Jesus into his heart the year before.  Chris found out later from his Mom that he had been a little afraid of the water up to this point, but swimming lessons earlier in the summer and his engagement with the teaching on baptism that morning had apparently readied his spirit.  When I asked the question during the service, “Why should I not be baptized?” he turned to his Dad and said he was ready.  Young Jeremiah was still a little cautious, but he took my hand and bravely joined us in the waves. 

Jeremiah went first.  He was shivering, a bit from the cool waters and a bit from nervousness.  We finally located his Dad on the shore, filming the whole thing, so he was ready.  He came up out of the water and I pointed him toward his parents so he could get dried off.  Cailyn met him halfway, took his hand and led him over to his Mom and Dad.  Chris wrapped him up in my towel.  Meanwhile, Dave was ready to go.  His good friend Lynn did most of the work on this one, to save too much strain on my neck.  We got him down to where a wave usually flows over, but we kind of misjudged the wave action.  We finally had to inch him a little further into the water to get the full effect.  And of course, as we began to help him up, then the wave came.  He was overcome with emotion, and said, “I feel like a completely different person.  I really do.”  Well, Dave, that actually a pretty biblical statement there, my brother.  Check it out:

2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”

Father, guide Jeremiah and David as they grow in you from two totally different seasons of life.  Amen.