Thursday Thoughts

Hi Everyone,

Sorry I missed last week's post.  It was a long week and didn't get a chance to. So, since I missed it last week, I am going to make up for it.  Last Thursday January 23rd was a big day for me. It was 30 years ago since I was baptized.  Let me tell you the story...

The summer of 1984, I attended a church camp in Pennsylvania. As the week progressed, kids would go to the pool at night and the whole camp would gather and kids would get baptized and give their lives to Christ.  I saw these kids and it made me want to be baptized too.  I went to the camp director  Brother Don and talked to him about it. After talking to me and my parents, he felt I was not ready and that I was doing it for the wrong reasons.  I was bummed and was upset.  He was right but I did not realize that at the time.

About six months later, I remember getting a call from Brother Don.  He told me that he was going to be in town on a Wednesday night and wanted to see if I still wanted to get baptized.  I said sure.  I remember going down on that Wednesday Night January 23rd in front of all those people and saying that I wanted to follow Jesus.  I remember doing down in the water, getting up out of the water. I remember the sound of the clapping by the crowd that had gathered. 

I remember getting out of my wet clothes, putting on dry ones, drying my hair with a towel.  I had looked foward to getting baptized and felt like once I did it, I would feel very different.  I would huunger for God. I would not want to sin.  I would want to read my bible. I would love church.  But you know what I felt?  I felt wet. That's all.  I was expecting a supernatural experience but it wasn't.

While I have since had some amazing experiences with the Lord, I learned an important truth.  The most important thing isn't seeking an experience;  it is seeking Christ, of putting yourself in a position where God can speak to you. I was responsive to the opportunity God brought my way when I was 14 and that was an important step in my journey.  Yet it was just a step.

Paul writes in Phillippians 3:14-15,  "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.  All of us who are maure should take such a few of things."  My hope is that I continue to press on towards God's calling in my life.  My hope for you is that you may press on toward God's calling for your life too, with greater passion, intensity, and love.