Come To The River

Check Out The Video Of My Baptism Here:

 http://youtu.be/jo_Aj3RcDpQ

Blog post number two! I just wanted to continue to share a little bit about myself and what this last summer consisted of for me. While working at Hiawatha Youth camp in the U.P. I decided to get baptized. It was something that I had never done and therefore wanted to do, and it was something that (thankfully) my parents had decided to let me choose when to do on my own.

After making the decision to fully commit not only my present life to Christ, but also my whole future to Him and to what He has planned for me, to get baptized in Piatt Lake, the lake that the camp is on. I was blessed enough to have a close family friend who is a pastor baptize me in front of the Hiawatha staff and my parents, which made it even more special.

Here is my testimony that I shared before the big dip: 

As a senior in high school, I was doing what normal high school seniors do during the fall: filling out applications and looking into colleges. I’m being completely honest when I say that God was the farthest thing from my mind when I was applying to schools. I only thought about what I wanted and what college would give me the most success in my future. I had my plan set into place, and no one, including God, was going to mess that up.

But God had His own plans for me. When I went to my first Azusa event, I only went as a courtesy to a friend who was actually interested in going to Azusa. When one of my parents’ friends implied they were wrong for letting me even consider go to a non-Christian school, I was severely offended that they thought they could have any say in MY future. Then, when I went out to visit California to tour UCLA, Stanford, USC and Azusa Pacific (in that order), I had no desire to go to Azusa, I didn’t want to look into their journalism program. It’s campus and size paled in the face of the giant schools who surely could give me a better education 10-fold the one Azusa could provide me.

When my disinterest was the lowest is when God stepped in to kick me in the butt, but I still didn’t notice Him at work because I was too caught up in my own pride. When Azusa waived my application fee, I didn’t flinch. I attributed it to my high grades, my success. I finished my applications and acceptance letters started coming in, I brushed off the fact that a.) I got into early admission and b.) got one of the largest academic scholarships that Azusa can offer.

But finally, when the rejection letters came in from the schools I had planned to go to was when I was humbled enough to see what His plan and purpose was. After a few weeks of being bitter and angry about Him not letting me have what I wanted, I finally opened my hands and let it go. Because even if I couldn’t see it, He was doing all these things for my good because Jesus said, “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

My purpose in being baptized today is to start fresh, to be redeemed. Today, I am cleansed by His spirit. And from this day on, I pledge and dedicate myself to live for His sake and purpose and not my own.