Baptized in Cold Water

Today we did baptisms in the very cold water of Peoples' Pond in Ellensburg. Five students took the plunge (pardon the pun) in their public declaration in their commitment to Jesus Christ. It is so humbling and fun to be asked to baptize someone, and it most definitely causes me to pause and reflect on my own moment of baptism. Each person being baptized was asked 3 questions:

"Do you choose to give up all the ways of this world and seek to be transformed in your mind and actions  - to be like Jesus Christ?"


"Do you choose to give up your right to self-determination and seek to do the will of God in your life - to commit to Jesus Christ as your Lord?"


"Do you choose to reject all the distortions of Satan and seek to live by the truth of God's word - to believe only in Jesus Christ?"


Tough questions right? Ouch. I remember how quickly I answered those questions (or ones very similar) on June 6th 2007 standing next to the same body of water; shivering. Wow I had no idea what I was getting in to! I am so grateful to where the Lord has brought me, and yet look back and shake my head my thought processes back then. Is it like that your whole life? Every time you look back to years past "what in the wide wide world of sports was I thinking?" Perhaps God designed it like that so that we are perpetually learning.

How would you, my hypothetical "audience" answer those questions? Perhaps we all need to ask them more often, and not be afraid of the result.

Romans 6:1-6 "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin."


I pray for each one of those students, that they not forget their commitment, that when life gets rough they will turn headlong into the wind and walk forward on the narrow path that Jesus describes and not duck out backward to the wide path that leads to destruction.

The Way of the Cross: Mark 8:34-38
“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”


It's a daily choice.

6 years

I never really thought that I would get into blogging. What with the myspace phase and facebook being so prevalent in our culture... but I guess I thought that it would give me the time and place to update more at length about life and what is happening; thoughts, events, prayers, and musings of life.

Seems crazy that I have lived in Ellensburg for 6 years almost. Time flew by! One minute I'm a freshman; kind of crazy and living my own life and then suddenly, catapulted 5 years ahead in time where I'm an intern with Chi Alpha, being stretched in ways that I cannot fully comprehend and understand yet, and feel an immense amount of love and burden-ness for to college students that I get to hang out with and meet! How did it happen that the time flew by??

Funny, we were just talking about time at church today with Nate's family. There is indeed a time for everything and we have to make the most of every opportunity in our days and lives where we choose to respond in ways that will be glorifying to the Lord. And yet, if we're not looking... it just goes right on by... you miss it and don't use the time you have! I hope I used my last 5.5 years at Central well. It went by so fast sometimes it's hard to tell. Ah well.

Just look for the opportune moment.... every day. (yes that was a Jack Sparrow reference combined with Ephesians 5:16)