I Baptized Myself

So I was in Tobago today relaxing at the beach and after I was done jet-skiing, I decided to take a dip and do a few backstrokes in the water. The beach in Tobago is probably one of the most relaxing experiences for me. The water is blue, totally calm, and not a lot of people are around. I was floating and I started thinking about God. I was spacing out on his infinite power and love and I thought about the whole idea of baptism. It is such a great concept. We are submerged in God's living water in our old life and when we come back up to grab a mouthful of air, our new life has begun. I asked a lot of questions in regards to baptism last year and if I should have one. I was born into the Catholic Church so of course I was baptized there. My pastor from my first church said that I should honor the value in that because with it came some sort of gospel knowledge foundation. He said that even though I didn't have a relationship with God nor chose to be baptized, the obligation my parents took to (somewhat) root me in the whole Jesus story was still there. This was true. I'd be so lost at Young Life camp without that minuscule knowledge I had of Jesus, even if it was sorta screwed up.

On the other hand, there is my church Imago Dei. Hillary wanted to teach there and they said that she couldn't teach unless she was baptized. She was baptized under the Catholic Church but apparently that doesn't count, so in the back of my head I was wondering what was valid or not. I don't believe Hillary's salvation is incomplete because of that, and there's a reason why that rule is there. It probably has something to do with knowing the right theology; if you're going to be a teacher at a Protestant church, they should at least know you're not telling kids to light a cinnamon-scented candle and pray to St. Peter when you lose your keys or something. That was a joke.

After all of that thinking and pondering, I said "whatever," had a brief prayer time with God about spiritual renewal, and dunked myself. I feel like there was something special in that too. I don't really feel like it was unofficial because it's not really like Paul and Peter had seminary badges on their robes as they dunked people in the name of the Lord. It was a good day.

After my mini-ceremony, I really got to thinking about this new life with my Imago Dei family. I love it so much and I've come so far. For the longest time I've thought about the whole process of salvation and how it comes in different forms for different people. For people who were raised in a Christian home, it seems like their monumental moment of "salvation" is when they make this faith their own, rather than depending on mommy and daddy to drag them to church and whatnot. I feel like this year I've been able to make this faith even more of my own. Brian Hall is like my dad and he took care of me my junior and senior years of high school. He was a mentor, a father, and an extremely intelligent man whom God used to lead me to Him. When I did realize what this life was all about, I depended on his views and his knowledge to keep me close to what God valued and expected of me. I think any person would do this with someone who they felt they could trust with anything. I knew that the bible was there, but I wasn't ready to put 100% of my faith in it because it was still that archaic pew decoration I never knew people actually opened. It's funny seeing how much I know about it now...just the whole idea of being able to identify themes in specific books and where they're located blows me away. For the longest time I thought that normal people never used it! I guess it felt intimidating. Well my friends have helped me understand the importance of it and the truth it tells.