Over Christmas break, I was looking through my journals from the past 3 years. I've made several attempts at journaling over the years, but never was consistent in it until I worked at camp. So when I came across my first completed journal, I was excited to see what God was teaching that year and what I was thinking or my reactions to stuff. What really caught my attention was that the first page of that journal was from the night that Bo Towns acted out a scene, reading through the book of Colossians. In bold, I wrote "I want to be baptized." I don't think it at all ironic that I wrote that during my first days at camp and that I was baptized this past summer at CVP. For those of you that weren't there, and for those that were, I wanted to recount how it all fell into place.
The first week of camp this past summer, I decided to stop fighting my pride and start talking about getting baptized. Since most of you have heard my testimony, I won't go into details,but as a recap; I accepted Jesus as my Savior in 7th grade, but the concept of a relationship with a God that loved me and a recognition of His presence in every aspect of my life did not sink in until my senior year of high school. Coming to college, it was easier to let people assume that I had been baptized because the longer I waited to get baptized, the easier it was to move on with life as always. Whenever people found out that I hadn't been baptized, they would usually say something along the lines of "Oh my gosh, really?!? That's crazy!" It was hardly ever, "Why not?" said with care because for so many Christians, getting baptized is "just what you do". But I didn't want to get baptized until I really understood the meaning behind it and to have a meaning in it for me.
This past summer at camp, during the first session of campers, I went to talk to Jerry about possibly baptizing me at camp. I had toyed with the idea before, but throughout staff training God continually laid it on my heart to follow through with the feeling and do something about it. Jerry said that he would talk to the camp committee, but he would love to do it when the time was right.
Fast forward to the end of the summer during the staff clean up week...Both of my parents were planning up coming to Soddy Daisy and I couldn't be more excited. I was finally going to follow through on my desire to be baptized and remain faithful to God's call for a believer's public declaration of faith among other believers.
The morning of my baptism, my mom called saying that she had been throwing up since 4 am and didn't think that she would be able to make it up to camp--I was sitting on a log in The Hole when Kasey and Anna saw me crying after I got off of the phone. They calmed me down, reassured me, and said all of the right things to help me through my tears. Then, my phone went psycho. That whole day, random numbers would dial repeatedly...without me ever touching the keys. My poor friends that were on my speed dial got quite a few phone calls that day! ha! So all the while, I was trying to get in touch with family and friends that were coming to camp. Oh did I mention it was raining all morning? Needless to say, I was a little stressed!
The staff did work projects as usual that morning, but we stopped earlier because the rain was stopping us from being too productive. Yet another glitch-first my mom being sick, then my crazy phone, and then the rain. I was starting to think that Satan was trying to stop me from ever getting baptized! My mom had made her way up to camp, still not feeling well but still there, and my dad met us in the middle from Oak Ridge. Mrs. Cleland even came out to camp to see me get baptized!
My whole baptism experience is something that I will never forget. It felt weird because I had to go "collect" everyone from their cleaning projects...All I thought of to say was "Hey, you can
come see me get baptized now if you want to..." How do you tell people to come see you get baptized? ha! So, I walked down to the beach amongst the herd of people, holding Jessica Paulsen's hand, talking about how getting baptized is like a marriage (that conversation comes into play later). Once we all collected at the "beach" aka the sand box, I don't know who started singing, but before I knew it, everyone had joined in to sing "Down to the River to Pray". That's when I started crying...and couldn't stop! (Fortunately, Kasey and Alex helped me to stop crying enough...) I was just so overcome that I am so blessed to have such loving friends and family that were there to see me get baptized and support me in my faith.Jerry and I stood in front of everyone of the boat ramp. It was mostly a blur, but I do know that Jerry read from Ephesians 4:1-6. {4:1As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2Be completely humble
and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.} Jerry also, totally a God thing, talked about how a baptism is an outward expression of an inward change. That baptism serves as a symbol of my faith, much like a ring serves as a symbol in a marriage. (!! since Jessica and I had just talked about that!)As Jerry and I walked away from the crowd into the water, the first thing Jerry says to me was "You know to plug your nose before I dunk you, right?" I kind of chuckled because I was not expecting for him to say that to me at all!! haha Afterwards, it was a blur of hugs, tears, and a feeling of joy. After years of hesitation, I followed through on God's word and I felt the difference in my heart.
I'm super impressed if you made it all the way through this blog post!! It certainly took me a while to type up, so I'm sure it's taken you forever to read it! This was such a special event in my life and something that made a huge impact on my relationship with our great God. I am so grateful for those of you that were there and as equally as grateful for those that joined in prayer. I'm so glad that you were able to read this and share my experience!
