I've gotten to be a part of many special moments in the lives of Ellie and Ethan. First time rolling over? Check. Crawling? Check. Eating solid food? Check. First steps? Check. Bike riding? Check. First day of school? Check. I think my point is made. Obviously I've been present for most of the big milestone moments in the kids' life. However, this past Sunday may very well have been my favorite moment of Ellie's life thus far as I got the opportunity to help baptize her in front of our entire church!
Ellie being baptized wasn't a last-minute decision or anything like that. It's something that's been talked about for a long time in our home. In fact, Ellie's been discussing this very subject for close to a year and a half!
Throughout our kids' entire lives, we've taken effort to make sure that we were sharing the Gospel with them on a near daily basis through Bible stories, family discussions over what we read, and praying together each night. Therefore, Ellie has always understood that the basis of our faith is that Jesus is the sinless Son of God and that He died on the cross in pretty much the most horrible fashion imaginable, taking the brunt of our sins so that we may one day have eternal life with God. While Ellie knew all the right answers, for the longest time Bethany and I weren't 100% positive if she fully believed or not. Those concerns were definitely put to rest though.
For one thing, sometime after we returned to church post COVID, Ellie began wanting to join us in church each week for service instead of going to Children's church. That was totally fine though as she wasn't a distraction and she even took her own little notes about the sermons each week. Over time, Ellie began asking more frequently when she could get baptized. Since we were still 100% uncertain, we encouraged her to have a chat with Sharon, our church's children's director. Sharon let us know that she believed Ellie was ready. After that, one of our lead pastors, Rustin, sat down with our family and after having a chat with Ellie agreed that Ellie really had put her faith in Christ and that it was time for her to be baptized. So with that, we scheduled the big day for the last Sunday in August, the 28th.
When the big day arrived, we were accompanied to church by both sets of grandparents who had come into town for the occasion. Finally, as the service began to wrap up, it was time for us to head to the stage. Rustin had asked me to share a little bit of Ellie's and our family's story before she took her place in the cattle trough on stage that our church uses for baptisms. A special treat that I did not anticipate at all was that I would actually get to help baptize my daughter. With Rustin kneeling on one side and me on the other, after Ellie made a final proclamation of her faith in Christ, we gently pushed her under the water and brought her back up. With that, Bethany wrapped a warm towel around a dripping wet Ellie and Rustin quickly prayed before she went to the back to get changed.
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| There's so much I love about this photo. Chief among them though is the massive smile on Ellie's face and the fact that her shoes are just haphazardly strewn about on the floor of the stage. |
While it was ongoing, I certainly was just kind of living in the moment. However, the more I've thought about it, the more I realize just how special Sunday was. For one thing, I got the opportunity to help baptize my own daughter. That's an experience that I'm going to hold on to for a very long time. For another, I'm proud of Ellie standing up in front of our entire church and proclaiming her belief and trust in Christ. That's something that Bethany and I have prayed for both of our children since they were born and to see it happen was totally amazing. God really does answer prayers; you've got to love it!
#DaddyWrite
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