Baptism

Last year at our church retreat, my 13-year-old daughter surprised me by being emotional in front of the congregation. She spoke of how much our church impacted her and “helped a lot”. My daughter has always been in church, and of course, been in Covenant Players, but she had never really spoken personally about it. After the retreat, she told me she wanted to be baptized and approached our pastor Harold about it right away.

And this morning, she was baptized.

She was the only one in a white robe, sitting in the front row of the church. The church chairs had been set specially to face the baptismal pool. She had packed her change of clothes and her towel. Her friends came and sat with her for a bit, and then went to go sit with their families.

She had put her hair up in a bun, and she had the order of service. I had asked her so many times if she was ready, I thought she was going to really get mad with me. She sat through the service, and then went up to give her testimony.

She said that she had come to Christ through Covenant Players, especially performing a play where the girl was sad because her dad was away at war. And that had really affected her because she was working on the play with her dad.

And then she sat again and waited to get baptized.

She went into the pool well, and Harald asked her to confess her faith. She did it well, and then she was baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And she came up sputtering and I went to help her get changed. And she was cold and put on the outfit she chose, and we went back up for the service.

My daughter is baptized. She chose it like a grown-up. She made a decision for Jesus. I am so incredibly proud. She is still a girl, and has trouble remembering to pack her bag for the next day. But the important stuff, she gots.