We Praise a Personal God!
If you’re a Christian, you may remember the day you were saved. Do you remember your baptism? I share God’s story of our baptism day, on a Sunday, which happened to be the same day as my (Vanessa's) 38th birthday.
Looking back, everything has changed. At the time,
though, I just thought it was neat how He –our personal God—chose my birthday
to baptize us.
I mean, really WHO am I?, for God to be so personal?
Well, LOVED.
And so are
you.
I sat and
gazed out on the water, thanking God. It was September 20, 2015, and just 3
months before, my husband and I had become Christians and only 3 months before that I had left behind the band and music career.
Today, my mom was
visiting with us, for which I was overjoyed, and still sleeping on our large couch in
our living room. Kevin, my husband, was still sleeping as well.
It was early morning, the sky was misty, and I pulled my hoodie higher up around my neck and wrapped both hands around my coffee cup, as I walked, trying to ignore the crisp Fall chill.
When I reached the boat launch, I sat down on a nearby bench and gazed out across the mist at the calm ocean bay stretched in front of me.
This morning it was my birthday. Life is about to change. I could feel it. Not just because I was another year older.
Our pastor had prepared us for weeks about this "change." It started with the sermon preached the day we were saved, The Parable of the Sower.
If you're not familiar with that sermon, it's where Jesus talks about the seed is scattered on the ground, on 4 different conditions of soil. (Matthew 13, Mark 4, Luke 8). The first is hard, the second stony, the third is thorny, and the fourth is good soil. The first 3 types of soil didn't allow the seed to flourish and grow, either the soil was too dry and the seed was snatched up by a bird, or too rocky except for weeds which then choked the seed. The fourth soil was good and allowed the seed to plant deep roots and produce good fruit.
Again, being as naive and spiritually immature as we were, we didn't quite understand the meaning of the parable. Basically, when a new believer hears God's word, they need to be grounded in it and often discipled to grow in their newfound faith, so that they can grow strong in the Lord and eventually produce fruit for the kingdom.
****
3 hours later, the three of us were dressed and in the car on the way up to the small town upstate where our pastor told us to
meet.
We met at a park complete with tennis and basketball courts, picnic tables, barbeque grills, woods and hiking trails, and a river: that river was where we would get baptized.
Shivering, I stripped my jeans down to my swimsuit, and buttoned my white
see-through blouse over it. (We were told to wear white). Our pastor was a half hour late, but we were
glad because the water had a chance to warm up.
Who wants to
go for first? My hand shot straight up. I will! And I followed the pastor off the small (very small) beach area, and we waded into the river.
I felt relief; the water was actually quite
warm. The sun caused the surface to glow.
I plugged my
nose and felt my head and neck get pulled backwards into the dark water. Mom applauded from the beach, and I pulled myself out. My husband went in.
We applauded again, and I noticed a man standing there, applauding as well.
I went to speak with him. I’ve seen many
baptisms happen in the Jordan River, he told me.
What a cool
connection, I thought! Another Christian among us, here in these tiny woods!
He was actually coaching a crew team hurtling toward us as Kevin’s baptism took place. Close call, I thought.
We returned
to the church we had attended the past 6 months and there was a cake with "Congratulations." Fresh coffee brewing. Applause as we walked in (more church
congregants had arrived.)
But I
wasn’t prepared for the next thing I saw:
There on the blackboard, in bold white chalk:
“KEVIN &
VANESSA, welcome to your funeral!”
That was
grave. (No pun intended.)
Still
buzzing with the excitement that is baptism, I walked up to my pastor. "Why do
you call it a funeral? This is new life!" I said.
It has taken me these past 8 years to understand: baptism is an outward expression of an inward decision to follow
Christ. To deny yourself daily and pick up your cross.
Baptism: OUTWARD expression of an INWARD decision.
Deny yourself. Deny your needs, your wants to follow Jesus’ needs, His wants. Be His hands and feet.
Baptism is an outward expression of an inward decision, and I add it is an inward and outward celebration. Mostly outward, the inward celebration (and everything else that happens) is what continues throughout your life.
Before we were saved, as the devil would have it, we even experienced local (and regional) fame… strangers running up to us in Wal*marts or fairs, or shopping malls, "Hey, aren't you in that band…?!”
Anyway, when
it was time to leave 'the business,' God provided me a mentor. The place where we lived had bathtub and Jacuzzi so that I
could relax into those nightly.
His kindness also led me to call up my band and speak to them one by one about my decision. I also helped choose
and train my replacement. At the time, I had no idea where this urge was to
resign from the rock and roll lifestyle, but I knew that I wanted to write and focus on my solo
project which was a charity that wrote songs for and with other non-profits.
(I’ll tell you about that another time).
I am filled with joy, as I praise Him this morning.
God gives His children incredible stories. If you have the blessing of following Jesus, you have a testimony. What is yours?
Thanks to all God’s goodness and mercy and grace, I realize today, I AM SOLD OUT to the Lord. He has brought me back from the depths of my despair, He has redeemed me, bought (and brought) me out of darkness and into His marvelous light. (You are a chosen generation…) 1 Pet. 2:9
Birthday vision
On my
birthday I typically review life goals.
(Now this is different because my life goals are no longer my own to decide. They are Christ’s. It’s HIS Plan for my life that I need to follow.) Jer. 29:11
If God can
give you more than you can imagine, how are we supposed
to “see” what He wants to give us in order to post it on a vision board?
It’s a fine line, but I would err towards the initial idea of Vision board where it comes from, which is the New Age Law of Attraction.
I will stay away, thank you very much.
Like this blog post? Consider signing up for future blog posts in your inbox, right here. Thanks! See you soon.
Comments
Post a Comment