Baptized!

Yesterday I was baptized in one of God’s beautiful lakes and streams that dot our landscape and have served as fountains of Life for untold generations.

(see, I told you I was a brand new Christian!)

My faith — which I know differs from some others — teaches Believers’ baptism. First you are saved by the grace of God when you confess your sins and profess your faith in Jesus Christ – the son of God who died on the cross for our sins, and then you get baptized.

I’ve been sharing my journey on this Blog — and intend to continue. But this week I was at the part of the story where, “then you get baptized,” so I did.

A friend and coworker of mine who’s a Pastor at his church up north – he’s the person who actually led me to Christ in the first place – found out at the last minute that he had to come to town for his job this week.  I’d already been thinking I ought to get baptized, so I asked if he’d be willing to baptize me while he’s here and he said, “Absolutely!”  So last night he baptized me in a local lake, with ducks, herons, bugs & other flying critters, cattails, a Labrador Retriever, and a handful of swimmers and sunbathers as witnesses.

It was totally awesome.

My faith teaches that water baptism by immersion is symbolic, and that actual salvation comes from the Holy Spirit’s baptism and indwelling of the soul, which precedes the water baptism. I do believe that and now have experienced both of those things and understand how they are different.

But WOW. For something that is “only” symbolic (as well as being a public profession of faith and a visceral reminder of Jesus death and resurrection) it sure was a powerful experience.

Praying for patience, humility, obedience, submission, and joyful attentiveness to God’s revelation of His next plans for me here on Earth.

God’s will be done!