July 17, 2011

Sunday morning Fletcher went forward during the invitation to let everyone know he had asked Jesus into his heart and wanted to be baptized.  He was so excited about his decision and so are we.  He was baptized last night along with 5 other children close to his same age.  Grandma and Papa Charlie came to see this very important event. 
He accepted Christ a few years ago, but we really didn't push the baptism thing because we wanted to be sure he understood what it meant to be baptized (an outward symbol of an inward commitment) and what it meant to make a public profession of his faith.  After lots of conversations and a conversation between Fletcher and our pastor, we really felt he was ready (and was doing this because he wanted to, not because we made him or because some of his friends were doing it too). 

We reminded him that this is something he will remember forever.  It is so neat to see how God has been working in his life and how He has used so many people (our pastor, Sunday School teachers, RA leaders, school teachers, VBS leaders, friends, family, coaches, etc) to teach Fletcher spiritual truth.  What a blessing as parents to see our child come to Christ and grow in Him. 

On a funny note:  Our church doesn't have its own baptistry so when we do baptisms, another Baptist church in the area lets us use theirs.  However, someone from their church forgot to turn the heater on in the baptismal pool so the water was freezing!  One of the kids asked if they could do baptisms in the hot tub next time.  Ha!