Today, June 3rd, 2007, I was baptized.
Far be it from me to be predictable in describing the feeling you get from being under water. Heck, that part was all formality, all a blur. It was a really big church, so that part would have been more magnetic to my memory if there was more time for individuals to go through the affirmation, “Do you believe that Jesus is your Savior…” There were 11 individuals in my 9:00 service alone (there are 3 services with more than 1,000 attendees per service) getting baptized today.
Hold up…11 for 9:00 alone. 27 today. Roughly 3,000 or more folks at church today. That’s about 10 per 1,000. Praise God!
So, anyway, for me it was more like, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,” in you go, smiles, hugs, pictures, “I’m so proud of you,” “Congratulations,” and then me changing clothes. That was awesome. But….
The real “Oh Happy Day” moment came last night when I was doing the dishes. Yeah, weird, I know. Those darn dishes would not do themselves fast enough.
I thought ahead about the next morning, what significance that day would hold…my formal celebration of my birth in Christ. A physical manifestation of washing my sins, of my committment I have made in my heart.
And then I thought back to a month ago, a half year ago, a year ago, two years ago. I never thought this day would come, when despite any arguments I could throw at myself to play devil’s advocate, I could not deny the desire of my heart and the void that only Christ could fill. There is no other way. No other way could fill it.
I had prayed every Christmas to have this miracle epiphany that I would literally feel forgiven and that Christ was real, the truth, the way, the life. Funny how God works on His own time…and often undercover.
As I was washing that mountain of dinner dishes I had created I finally realized I had reached a point where that had all come true…I was worried it hadn’t or was always second-guessing my heart.
Suddenly I started happy-crying. I knocked on my roommate’s door and demanded a hug. Poor roommate. I’m 5’9″ and she’s 5″. She just laughed and gladly obliged.
So this morning, before I got dunked, I looked ahead, and behind at the happy faces of Rubie and Meghan (two essential people in my journey), my Mom, my roommate August, and her mom. I lost it. I was holding back tears so I wouldn’t look like a goon, but after I was soaking wet I hugged my mom and we both turned on the waterworks.
Oh Happy Day indeed. I would gladly take this step of obedience again. And I can, figuratively speaking, in prayer everyday.
Thank you, and God bless all of the individuals that helped me get this far and continue to push me in the right direction. Without your persistent prayer, love and compassion and relentless hope for my search, I wouldn’t be writing this blog.
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under Heaven.” –Ecclesiastes 3:1
I knew this day would come. It was all a matter of trusting Him to deliver it in his chosen time.
