Taking the Plunge

Well, I finally did it! I was baptised at the 10:30am service on Sunday, October 12th, at Good Shepherd United Methodist Church (GSUMC). I was surprisingly more nervous that I had expected that I would be. There are approximately 500+ people per worship hour at our church. If I had to guess I'd say are probably more at the 10:30am service than the other two.

The series of sermons that we are currently in is titled Oddballs. Perfectly fitting for my baptism. I'm sure that I fit right in as an Oddball. ;) There were certainly many points in the message that I could relate to directly. You can check out that sermon here.

That morning Talbot had stopped me in the lobby to ask me if I was ready and to give me some idea of when during the worship hour we'd be doing my baptism. It went in one ear and out the other. I mistakenly told him that I was nervous (like he couldn't tell). I was suppose to be baptised after what song? YIKES! He then said it was an April song (meaning that April would be singing it) and I knew I could remember that. (She has an incredible voice!)

At the beginning of my baptism, in true Talbot fashion, he announced to the entire congregation that I had mentioned that I was nervous. GEE thanks Talbot. Although, it didn't make me any more nervous. At that time I was a little more focused in not falling face first into the portable baptismal pool. Funny that's the one embarrassing thing that I didn't dream about happening.

It went a lot quicker than I had imagined. Two simple questions and a dunk. I think I chose to wear clothes that soaked up as much of the water as possible. They were certainly heavy (for those of you who know my inspirational side, I'm sure you can imagine that I have some deeper thoughts about this statement). I was very, very, very, glad that I had tied the drawstring on my pants tightly. That would have been quite a finish to my baptism. The one thing that I was certain would happen did. I exited out the back of the stage without my shoes. Thankfully, Rebecca (one of the other Pastors at GSUMC) was right behind me and grabbed them for me.

I had shared with many of my close friends that I was going to be baptised. There, of course, were other friends that I've made at church that had no idea. I still get a few congratulations here and there. I guess it never occurred to me that an adult baptism was such a big deal, but I'm finding out from people that they think it is huge. I've been Christian for a while now, but just not done the formal public declaration of my faith. There was no instant transformation for me once I'd been baptised. The Lord has been working in my life for some time now.

We didn't do anything special after Church. Dennis needed to get home to pack and head to the airport. My Mom, Elizabeth, Katherine, and I attended a Panther's Football party at good friends house later that afternoon. Dawn was very excited for me and made sure to have a small cake to celebrate my baptism and card. It turned out to be a very nice afternoon.