Awesome Day

I was so tired and had taken on a cold. We had spent Friday night and most of the day Saturday, cleaning the house, cooking food and getting ready for the big birthday bash to honor Malachi and Maleah with all the grandmas, grandpas and cousins. After 3 or 4 hours the house was quiet, the party over and it was time to clean up - again! I have long contended that we should not waste our time cleaning up BEFORE folks come over, let's just wait until after and do all of the cleaning then. Lee Ann has never bought into that. So finally, about 11 PM my head hit the pillow.

Sunday morning, the alarm clock sounded and even though it was the time I had set, it seemed way too early! My head was pounding and my chest heavy with cold now. I had a small inkling of staying home in bed. After a hot shower, I was feeling better. It soon became apparent that the kids were not going to make it to early service without getting them up and they had had a busy weekend so we decided to let them sleep in. I went on to the building for early service since I had a meeting scheduled for late service.

The morning was fairly uneventful, just people paying for Winterfest and making Honduras deposits but nothing out of the ordinary. We had a lot of visitors and I try to meet them all - especially the ones with teens - a difficult task with two services and so much going on. I had an encouraging meeting with a family that we have been close to since the day we moved here 12 years ago! Then I went to what was left of late service to sit with my wife. At the end of services a young lady (teen) who has been visiting made a bee-line for the front. In fact I almost missed her, she was going so fast. Lee Ann and I went to the front to be with her - she had been studying and wanted to be baptized! Lee Ann had been able to connect with her through a Sr. High girls class last quarter and was able to develop a bit of a relationship with her. (side note: I have an awesome wife who is far better at youth ministry than I could ever hope to be).

After getting ready, I helped her into the water. As she swung around, she looked at me with tears flowing down her cheek and said, "I am deathly afraid of water!" So I talked to her for a moment and then addressed the congregation and took her confession. I started to lift her arms and lean her back and she went stiff as a board! Uh oh...so I stopped and tried to reassure her. Nothing doing - when she said "deathly afraid", she meant "terrified!" After what seemed like 10 minutes (I'm pretty sure it wasn't more than a minute or so) she relaxed just enough. We were both soaked :) but it was awesome. A huge hug and an awesome smile from this young lady who has been through so much in her short lifetime. The very act of being baptized tested this young lady's faith. That's why she had bolted for the front...she was resolved to do it and didn't want anything to hold her back any more. She knew God's calling in her life and knew that unless she laid down her fear, she could not be in full submission to Him!

Many of us are fortunate - we do not struggle with the fear of water - so the "walk of faith" has not been so dramatic. I can't help but wonder how many people keep their lesser-seen fears from letting them do the right thing.