hard core baptism

I had a very neat experience this evening. Four new believers from our church wanted to be baptized in water. This is something we had planned a few weeks ago and there was quite a bit of excitement surrounding the event. The thing is, the weather got really nasty around here. There was a lot of rain and lightning most of the day. As the scheduled time of 5:00 PM got closer, I thought we may need to reschedule. I wasn’t crazy about being around water with lightning in the sky.

We got to the beach only to find out the beach was closed to the public. The lifeguard let us know that we couldn’t go in the water. The conditions were not favorable. These new believers would not be deterred, they wanted to simply move down the beach and get on with it. So we did.

I have never been in such a rough surf. The waves knocked two of them down as soon as we got in the water. It was pretty dangerous. It was raining and we were bouncing all around. But we got the job done. This evening about 5:20, we baptized 4 people who were making a public declaration of their faith in Christ. It was one of the best baptism I’ve ever been a part of.
It would have been very easy for us to back out and wait for nicer weather. But I think their insistence on going through with baptism is an indication of their faith commitment. Even in the face of inclement surroundings, they are moving forward. I think there are some good things in store for these four.