The Day Before I Get “Dunked”

An article by Jason    No Comments

So a lots been going on lately. I know these posts have dates, but they aren’t really accurate necessarily. They merely represent when I got this website up!

Anyway, after becoming a believer, I knew there was a bigger step. My wife Samantha really wanted us both to get Baptized at our church (Buckhead Church). I admit when she first told me about a few months ago, I was still young in my belief and the whole things seemed a little extra large for me at the time. But as the months, weeks and days have gone by, I really can’t think of anything else I’d rather do. I am so psyched to share my faith now that my old fears have fallen by the wayside (thankfully!). I guess my “giving it up” to God is working.

I’m not 100% comfortable telling other people I know who aren’t Christians though. I know I need to be and I really want to be, and I do think I’ll be at that place really soon (probably sooner than I think at this pace), but there’s still that OLD me who everyone knew before. Yeah, he was a nice guy, helpful and all, but the NEW me is way (I mean way) better to know. He way more interested in big things. Life things. Things that matter to God. So the old time, what’s on TV, or what’s the coolest Tshirt – kinda ME could really care less now about that kind of stuff. I know I need to eventually find a medium ground and not be so stinken black and white, but right now – if it’s not bettering me and my family in the eyes of God, I’m not sure I want to spend the time doing it. So, I’ll keep trying to figure out a way to live on Earth in the meantime. More on that later I guess.

So I googled the believers baptism. Found a nifty version on Theopedia. Here it goes -

“Believer’s baptism is the Christian ordinance of baptism (usually by immersion) in which the participant publicly professes his faith in Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. Believer’s baptism is also referred to as credo-baptism, from the Latin word credo, meaning believe. Churches and denominations that practice believer’s baptism do so in contrast to denominations that practice Infant baptism (or paedo-baptism, from the Greek word paido meaning child or infant). A key concept in believer’s baptism is that a credible profession of faith must be given by the recipient before baptism. Adherents to “Believer’s baptism” suggest that Acts 2:38 supports this premise.”

So, in a nut-shell I’m going to dunked and it’ll all be for my heavenly father.

The other part to this story is the infamous “my story” video. At Buckhead Church they tend to be on the more modern side of things and have great graphics and videos throughout their presentations. So the “my story” video is another way to let the person being Baptized speak without having to do it live and, well, freak out. I think I could have and would have done it live, but the video thing adds a “cool factor” to it I guess. This way they can share it on Vimeo and wherever to try to reach out to other folks like me (or like I used to be – a skeptic).

So this video is supposed to be 275 words (no more). It’s a 1:30 spot where you basically tell your story. I thought it’d be easy, but my first version was well over 3 pages long. (insert smile here:)

My wife is going through this process too, so luckily we got to help each other not get too stressed out. I finished my story on time and it came back approved. Yeah! Samantha was of course a little late (that’s just her style) and hers also came back approved.

We spent the next week practicing and rehearsing so we’d know exactly what to do when the camera lights came on.

Fast forward to that day (2 weeks from tomorrow) and we showed up Sunday around 2 ready to go. I was confident and Sammy was too. But then as soon as I was ready to tell my story to these other people I’d just met, well, let’s just say it didn’t go as planned. I got about two sentences out and couldn’t talk. I had that whole – there’s a lump in my throat – and I really want to cry – kind of feeling. I had to keep stopping and breathing. Everyone at the table was kinda like… “uh.. wow.. you ok?”. I finally made it through about 3 minutes later and promised the leader that I WAS ready to go. Just needed to get that one out of the way.

Samantha went first and did it in 2-3 takes like a pro. Then it was my turn. I prayed a whole lot over that 15 minutes. But in the end, I said I’d accept whatever happened in there in front of that camera. Well, 2 takes later, I was done. It went like a breeze. God delivered for me and kept my mouth moving while the words came out.

So at this point, I’d like to thank God for helping me out. We drove home from that filming and I really felt lighter. It was like my body was going through the motions of leaving, getting in the car, and picking which roads to take, but my mind… well, my mind was in another place. A hugely peaceful place. A really humbling place. It was great.

And now for tomorrow. Tomorrow is a big day for my wife and me. We’re both so excited. We feel like we’re getting married all over again. I guess in a way we are. Getting married to God. Letting him be the leader while we hold hands following.

As I said in my story… I’m here to praise the one who paid my debt, Jesus Christ.