Take Me to the Water

I confessed Christ at Sam’s Club on a Saturday.  Way back when the Metroplex Event Center was a Sam’s Club.  “Confessing Christ” is just a fancy way of saying that I said out loud that I believed in Jesus Christ.  I wanted to claim Him as my own.

I was helping my mom with our Saturday grocery selections.  In those days, my family had an addiction to Clearly Canadian, and Sam’s had it in bulk.  Just a little piece of heaven on earth.  Alright, I’ll get back to the point.

I asked my mom why you had to be twelve to be baptized.  She told me that wasn’t true.  I suppose I was too smart for my own good.  We came from the country.  In the country, you sit on the mourner’s bench when you’re ready to be baptized.  My older cousins had been baptized in the creek at around twelve so that cemented a rule in my mind.

Right in the middle of Sam’s Club, I verbalized my faith in Jesus Christ.  There was not a congregation.  Nobody played an upbeat song or beat on a tambourine.  But I was saved.  Instantly.

My mom also plays by the rules, so she took me straight to the pastor’s office that next day.  He talked to me to see if I had a clear understanding.  At the end of service that day, my mom walked to the front of the church with me when the pastor opened the doors of the church.  Then he questioned me like we hadn’t just talked in his office.  I’m not gonna lie.  I was offended….kmsl.  I understand now, but back then I was wondering if there was something wrong with his memory.

The day I got baptized was glorious.  All of Turkey Scratch came to see me get dipped in the water.  And I wasn’t in a creek.  They had a big pool with a clear glass window that was sitting high above the pulpit.  I was excited!  They put my shower cap on to preserve my side ponytail, and I got dipped under the water.  In my head, I came out white as snow.  I was clean.  I was delivered.

You don’t HAVE to be physically dipped to be saved.  I was covered the moment I declared my love for Jesus Christ in Sam’s.  You don’t HAVE to be dipped in a muddy creek to be more authentic.  The dipping is a symbolic display of the death of the old you, and the resurrection of your new life in Christ.  You don’t HAVE to be baptized in a fancy pool high above a pulpit to feel redeemed.  His blood has already made you brand new.

But you DO have to call on the name of Jesus for yourself.  You HAVE to confess with your mouth that Jesus IS Lord.  You HAVE to believe in your heart that Christ died and was resurrected for you.  And just like that, YOU become clean.  You are delivered.

I’ve said before that people remember where they were when life changing events take place.  If you’re saved, do you remember where you were and what you were doing the day that you gave your life over to Christ?  Where did you confess Him?  Who was there?  What did you feel?  If you haven’t claimed Christ as your own, why not?

My public declaration in Sam’s was hands down the best choice I’ve ever made.  #wepreach