Byron Bay, Australia
February 7, 2010
11 years ago, I got baptized at Oak Hill Baptist Church. 11 years ago, I also accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior. For the past 4 years I have been struggling with the memory of whether I was baptized before or after I actually accepted the Lord. I grew up in church, so I have always known who the Lord is, I just can’t remember the exact date of that commitment. Before the race, I spent a good amount of time in prayer on this subject- so it came down to whether I was going to get re-baptized before or during the race. I told God I was ready and that I was going to wait on Him for the perfect time.
A few of us were talking about baptism while playing a card game. During that conversation, I felt my stomach welling up affirming me that the perfect time is now. In thinking about who I wanted to baptize me, the answer was 100% clear and one I didn’t take lightly. My squad leader, Kyla Cornelius, has been a great example to me. Through her, the Lord redeemed my ability to look up to someone the way Timothy looked up to Paul. Because of my strong and confident personality, it is not easy for someone to push me in my walk with Christ. Kyla did the impossible in my eyes. She challenged me hard, pushed me hard, and loved me hard.
I sat down with Kyla to explain my thought process behind the baptism, now I will share that with you:
Romans 6:4 says, “We were therefore buried with Christ 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.” Someone once said to me that it is almost hilarious how many times we try to raise our old self up from the dead. Ephesians 2:6 says, “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.” Why in the world would we want to raise our old selves up from the dead when we are already seated in heaven with Him… baffling, isn’t it? By getting baptized, I was committing to leave my garbage, my old self on the bottom of the ocean floor. Never again will I be held back by my flesh- I’m continuing on in a forward motion.
