Shaun Groves
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. -Romans 10:9
“What does ‘Lord’ mean?” she asked.
“Boss, king, master. When you become a Christian you’re saying you want Jesus to be the king of your life. You want to do everything God’s way and not your way – to think like Jesus, love like Jesus, live like Jesus.”
Her miniature versions of my eye brows and nose scrunched up like question marks.
“I’m confusing you?” I laughed.
She shook her head no. But something was bothering her.
“Do you understand?”
“I don’t know…if…I don’t want to be a Christian now,” she stammered.
When her older sister and brother were baptized two years ago she immediately begged to do the same: A crowd of people all focussed on her. Grandparents traveling halfway across the country just to witness the event. A celebration dinner together afterward.
At best her motives were mixed back then. I understood too well. When I was six I walked down the aisle of a country church, repeated a prayer after the pastor, and got baptized partly because my big sister had done the same a few weeks before. It took many years for me to understand what the commitment, the confession “Jesus is Lord” was meant to bear.
I wanted Penelope to understand the meaning of those words too, the implications of a life handed over to God. But do we ever? Fully understand? How much understanding is enough to wade into the waters with?
“I can’t do it,” she said.
“I can’t either,” I confessed.
There were still some things we needed to talk through first. Grace and forgiveness, for instance – the hardest kind of each being that which we must learn to give ourselves when we fail to live unwaveringly under the rule of Christ.
But she was ready before those conversations ever happened. She was ready when she confessed that she wasn’t. She was humbled, convinced of her inability to keep her commitment and troubled by it, terrified to speak a public promise she’d certainly break. She understood. And Jesus was Lord of her. She wanted him to be Lord of her.
Hand-in-hand we waded into the chilly waters of Aenon creek – father and daughter, brother and sister.
Friends and family dotted the shore with cameras and cellphones drawn.
“Do you believe Jesus is the Son of God?”
“Yes.”
“Do you believe he died for your sins?”
“Yes.”
“Do you believe God raised him from the dead?”
“Yes.”
“Who is the Lord, the king of your life, Penelope?”
“Jesus.”
Buried with Him in the likeness of his death and raised to live a new kind of life.
Beth says:
I remember the day she was born. Thanks for sharing the moment of her re-birth.
Deb says:
Beautiful… and humbling… thank you for sharing this glimpse into your life once again.
Blessings on the journey~
Kris says:
Oh man. baptisms make me weep. Well, not just baptisms–redemption, that’s my sweet spot, that’s what breaks me again and again. This is beautiful and true. We comit our lives knowing we won’t do it all perfectly, knowing we’ll need a hefty measure of grace every day. Some days, every hour.
Your daughter’s heart is beautiful.
On a side note, having been sprinkled as a baby in a Catholic Church, I long for baptism by full immersion. Is that strange? I haven’t set foot in a Catholic Church since I was 14, and my current Lutheran church doesn’t do full immersion baptisms.
Anyway, thanks for this beautiful peek into your life. Rejoicing with you!
Yvonne says:
Kris! Fly out here this weekend and we can make sure you get a full immersion baptism in the Pacific Ocean at our annual church beach trip!!
Vicki says:
You have me in tears, Shaun. This is so sweet, but so much deeper than sweet that I have no word adequate for the import.
I was baptized at 12 years because our church had decided to open baptism to kids 12 and older. All my friends were going to be baptized–except for the pastor’s own daughter. Oh, we all knew Jesus as the Son of God, as God come to earth to save us; that he had died on the cross, been buried and risen again, to accomplish the Father’s purpose. We all believed, and we all wanted to live for him. But….
Did I understand the commitment? Probably not; the baptism classes had been boring. I thought I knew all that we needed to know. Mostly, this was a neat thing we were all going to do, about as exciting as going to camp.
I’ve always regretted that I didn’t wait until I was more mature, and sometimes I wonder when that will be.
Natalie says:
Thank you for sharing such a beautiful moment from your family’s life. I love the idea that she was ready because she wasn’t. How true for so much of our walk with Him.
Kelli says:
Beautiful. What a moment.
Cori says:
I was baptized in 3rd grade. I had to share my testimony, which was all of two sentences: “I accepted Jesus when I was in 2nd grade. I didn’t really understand what that meant, but now I understand it more.” I can only pray that continues to be my story. What a sweet moment to baptize your daughter! Thanks for sharing.
Rebecca says:
Thanks for sharing this moment and her tender, wise heart.
Cheryl says:
Loved this and shared it with the parents in our ministry who often wrestle with this same question of readiness.
What a blessing to stand in the waters that day.
Yvonne says:
What a sweet, life changing moment that marks the beginning of a new path in her life. Thank you for sharing with us!
Hannah H. says:
Thanks so much for this post. It’s such a great reminder that we fail every day and yet Jesus is still Lord–and that He enables us to get back up and live on.
Cheri says:
Sigh – beautiful. A great reminder that His mercies begin afresh each morning. Thank you to you and Penelope for the reminder.
Miranda says:
Beautiful! As someone who accepted Christ at the age of 8 and can now say I didn’t fully understand it back then, the honesty of this post and experience you’ve shared resonates with me. I was baptized in my early 20’s, although the long wait was not completely by choice or in part to lack of understanding (long story). I am glad I was able to understand the commitment and reasoning behind my baptism when I finally made this public profession of faith, and I love witnessing baptisms! Thanks for sharing and letting us virtually witness this precious moment!