What a great weekend! Between the four services, there were.....but wait. Figures might blow you away. They did when we heard of the sheer staggering number of people who were baptised over the weekend.
It would be easy to try to take credit for us or the church, but it was really God at work. No two baptisms were the same, and no two stories were alike.
There was the 13 year-old girl who's father told her it was stupid to be baptised. She came anyway and was baptised.
There was the man who had been incarcerated and accepted Christ into his life in jail, only to return to his old friends and habits upon release. Realizing he needed to change while "on the outside," he recommitted his life to Christ with his public baptism.
Then there was the 86 year old woman in a wheelchair who decided she wanted to declare her faith publically - with her grandson. Her family, and the entire crowd, cheered like fans who had just found out their team was headed to the World Series.
Broken marriages restored. Addictions battled. Friends that discovered their faith together, baptised together. Friends that came to witness another friend baptised, deciding to be baptised also.
Account after account, each one unique. All of those who have been touched by Christ; a miracle, each one, in their own right.
While I was inside the Worship Center, I bumped into a woman who I recognized from last year's indoor baptism. "Remember me?" she yelled over the band. "I sure do!" I yelled back. "Look at me! I can walk!"
It was an easy memory to bring back. The woman could barely make it down the aisle while leaning on her walker. She worked really hard, determined to get up and back down the stairs into the pool, then repeated the climbs to return to her walker without assistance.
"I am so happy to see this! What God is doing! I want God to do for them what he did for me! All of them!"
Don't let the number get to you. It's just a whole bunch of believers gathered in the same place. All watching in amazement, praising God for the lost, found.
It WAS an amazing week-end. So personal. It was wonderful to be able to watch the faces of each person. Thanks for sharing more of their stories. There was also a Middle School Student who was asked "why are you choosing to be baptized?" and her reply "it's just been a really hard year." How neat that she chose baptism to help her realize she doesn't have to face anything alone.
ReplyDeleteI'm also glad you didn't focus on the number. It's just knowing that even one person has been saved that is so neat.
Pam Enz