Baptized

My grand daughter, Amber, was baptized this evening. It was pretty special. She accepted Christ when she was four, and now she followed the Lord in water baptism.

It reminds me when I was baptized in water. It was back in about 1970. I had moved to Minneapolis to look for work and found cheap housing at North Central Bible College dorms. I had told them that I intended to enroll in school in the fall, but really had no intention of doing that. But one Sunday morning I slept in and skipped church. Feeling a little guilty I picked up my Bible and began reading at the first chapter of Matthew. I didn't put the book down until I had finished the gospel of John. Wow! four books I had read in one sitting. And i wept all the way through. That is when I accepted Christ as my Savior. And I did enroll in college that fall.

I was then baptized in one of the lakes in Minneapolis. We found a secluded spot and a dozen of us waded out into the lake and there Alan Scott baptized me. These were the days of the charismatic movement.

Another thing that was memorable about that day was the spot we had chosen. We waded out to about waist deep. But the silt at the bottom of the lake was so soft that we began to sink in the mire. After I was baptized and stood back up the water was up to my armpits. It was with great effort that I was able to free my feet from the bottom of the lake. The others had the same problem. Even after our feet were free, the black slime clung to our legs. Leeches also thrived there.

After the baptism we decided to swim and rinse off. A few minutes later I heard someone yelling for help. It was Alan Scott, whose chine was just above the water. I saw panic on his face. He had stepped off a drop off in the water. I swam over and towed him in.

It was a day to remember.