1 December 2007

The great thing about Christianity is that every new day is an opportunity to make it the best and most important of your life. God is just that vital and alive. On most days I simply take all my progress forward and add increments to it. Some days God calls me to do something, whether it be to help someone or share my happiness. Other days I spend mostly by myself and read scripture. But I'm always the better for any of these scenarios.

Today, however, I was led to one of the defining moments of every believer's journey; the J-dawg was baptized. I must acknowledge a few things here.

I should first mention that I was ceremoniously baptized around the fragile age of two weeks. I trust that my parents did this on my behalf with all the good intentions that apply, but I don't share in the belief that any God-centric testimony is genuine when the person offering it doesn't even know God. Heck, I didn't know the alphabet. Or my own name. What a name was. (You get the picture.)

When I attended a membership class at the Wesleyan church a few weeks ago, they noted that baptism is one of the membership requirements; that it was a testimony before Jesus Christ and all those present that you've accepted Christ as your personal saviour and that you believe He paid the debt of your sins, as well as those of all men and women; that most people describe it as a life-affirming gesture to God. That, I can assure you, has nothing to do with the water that was poured on my head when I was a baby.

So I asked the pastoral staff if I could be baptized post-conversion. They answered in the affirmative. There was a bit of a hurdle, though, if anyone cares to call it that: because our church will be offering a series of performances over the next few weeks, the stage would have no room for the tub they typically use to baptize new believers. Seeing as none of us was willing to wait until the set came down, this would mean doing the deed outdoors. Pastor Jim had the idea of videotaping it. I was happy to oblige. (Stay tuned over the coming days for a video link. I must needs secure a copy, of course.)

Thanks go out to all those who volunteered their time today to further God's kingdom and my progress as a brother to all those who serve Jesus Christ: Matt Bourque, for planting seeds in my head over the last 10 years; Pastor AJ, whose work for God helped to open my eyes during said membership class; Pastor Jim, Senior Pastor AKA the Big Kahuna; Julia, AJ's wife, our camera tech during the proceedings.

Today the wind made our bodies feel something to the effect of -14 Centigrade. But our spirits were eternal flames. In other words, you gotta try it!