Alive with Christ

Today was a very special day for our family. A little while back, Bub made the decision to become a Christ-follower. At VBS this summer, Gracie followed suit. They took the next step in their walk by following Jesus' example of baptism, and both were baptized today at the lake.

Though the experience of baptism was so beautiful and special, I was reminded from the time we pulled up to the property until we nearly reached home again just how importance our reliance upon the Lord truly is. From the time we arrived, I spent the majority of the evening failing in quite possibly every single way. Except for the very moment they were being baptized, both of my children acted like lunatics, which, as I'm sure you can imagine, brings out the sweet mommy in me. Ahem.

As we made our way to the beach, I told Gracie to stay out of the water, but when I looked up after sweeping sand out of the bandage on my foot, Gracie stood before me absolutely soaked, dripping wet, shrugging like she had no idea what happened to her clothes. More than once I said to one or the other of them, "Get off that kid/that jet ski/that jagged, rocky ledge." While everyone was trying to take in the tender moments of the various baptism experiences, I nearly fell on my face in the water trying to get to my son who was kicking mud on the other people waiting in line (not intentionally, but still). Instead of falling on my face, my bandaged foot landed squarely in the sloggy water, and who knows what kind of bacteria I invited into my bloodstream by way of the hole in my foot. (Needless to say, I came home for a heavy-duty scrub with Hibiclens.)

As I had Bub disassemble a grouping of sticks he'd arranged in a way that could have potentially impaled a passerby, I watched another family embrace one another in quiet celebration. For a moment, I felt a twinge of envy. Not one member of that family was kicking mud on anyone, no one was throwing rocks, no one was trying to pilfer the property owner's jet ski. I thought to myself momentarily, "Why couldn't we be like that, for once?" But then my sand-coated girl ran by squealing with glee and I thought, "Eh, nobody's perfect...

Thank the Lord for His grace*."

Our Ministry Staff: Rob, Brandon, and Eric


Confirming their decision


Introduction


"For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized.
And with him you were raised to new life
because you trusted the mighty power of God,
who raised Christ from the dead.
You were dead because of your sins
and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away.
Then God made you alive with Christ,
for he forgave all our sins.
He canceled the record of the charges against us
and took it away by nailing it to the cross..."

-- Colossians 2:12-14 NLT


New Creatures in Christ Jesus




* "So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good.
The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin.
I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right,
but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate...
And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.
I want to do what is right, but I can’t.
I want to do what is good, but I don’t.
I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway...
Oh, what a miserable person I am!
Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?
Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.

-- Romans 7:14-15, 18-19, 24-25a NLT