Baptism | From Inside the Pool

My baptism experience is a challenging thing to write about, simply because there were so many different things happening at once. I want to tell you about one specific element of my experience that meant a lot to me: The relationships of the ones surrounding me that day.

Quite a few people crowded around that small pool on Easter Sunday, and each person there has played a huge role in my life. I have been involved at Grace Church since middle school. I spent most of my high school years searching for truth and trying to understand the gospel.

Throughout that time, countless people have pursued me and done the best they could to show the love of God to me. Brent Reffner, the man that baptized me, has longed for me to know the Lord, and has relentlessly prayed and fought for me. It is an incredible thing for those people to get to taste God’s glory and see that he has worked in me, and will not stop working in me!

Some of the people surrounding that pool were people that I now have a chance to pursue and live out the love of Christ to (Note that I am far from good at doing this). As I got out of the pool and was embraced by my brothers and sisters in Christ, I felt two little arms wrap around my knees. I reached down to give Shamarie, a young fatherless child, a big old hug. Two inner-city children with absent fathers and broken living situations got to witness a symbol of God’s grace that day. They are getting a glimpse of the true God who loves them greatly!

Our God is certainly alive. He is using relationships to display his character and to redeem his lost sons and daughters! Take hope in what Paul said to the church at Philipi, “…I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.” (Philippians 1:6)

-Wes Johnson, Baptized on Easter Sunday 2011