A Chilly Baptism

More of the Steiner Family in Ohio Saga, circa 1980...


Acts 2:41 “Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.”

With the coming of spring also came some new challenges and blessings. The first challenge was that the Pastor of our church resigned and John was given the task of preaching both sermons on Sundays in addition to his other responsibilities of leading the youth, the choir, and continuing his seminary studies throughout the week. Although the situation was a bit stressful, John appreciated being able to keep his preaching skills in practice for the future, and the Lord was blessing both us, and our congregation in the process.

Not long after the spring thaw, several people came to John and requested to be baptized. This church did not have an indoor baptistry, so one of the local farmers volunteered to have the baptism at his pond. That was a very kind gesture, except for one problem: The water in his pond in April was still extremely cold! It was especially cold for John, a southern boy who did not much care for cold water under any circumstances! One of the church members loaned him some rubber waders to help “insulate” him from the chilling waters and keep him somewhat dry, but the morning of the scheduled baptism John was also running a slight temperature, making the water feel even more frigid! Dedicated to his task, he was determined to go ahead with the baptism regardless of the conditions.

One of the first candidates for baptism that morning was a very exuberant lady, who stood about five feet tall, and was just about as big around in the middle! As John began to immerse this rather rotund lady into the water, she became really excited and threw back her arms and started praising the Lord and shouting “Hallelujah”, and in the process pulled John right into the water with her, filling his rubber waders with icy cold water. When he tried to regain his balance and pull her up out of the water he just about lost hold of her completely. If it hadn’t been such a deeply spiritual moment, it would have been hilarious! Just the visual memory of it now brings ripples of laughter. As he regained his composure he remembered that he only had sixteen more people to baptize that morning!

Acts 2:46-47 “So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.”

Wow...Thanks, Lord, for these happy memories sandwiched in between the more difficult experiences.  Such is life in the real world...we learn early on that in this life we have to take the bad with the good, and vice-versa.  Thankfully, God gives us the grace we need to endure, and He promises that when things get beyond our ability to cope, He will be there to carry our burdens for us.

"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."            Matthew 11:28-30

What new challenges are you facing today? Are they overwhelming you?  Maybe Matthew 11:28-30 was written just for you today! Try it and see. What have you got to lose?  A heavy burden!!!  Sounds like a win-win answer to me. How about you?