New Birth

I had the privilege these past two days of teaching a baptism class to a group of kids in our ministry who have expressed interest in being water baptized. I confess that when I wake up in the early minutes of Sunday morning each week, less than spiritual thoughts come to mind as I desperately wish I could just sleep in. Moments such as teaching this class, however, remind me why I'm doing what I'm doing.

I have to say, that I learn more teaching a lesson about baptism than I ever did just by reading about it myself. I learn by teaching and many times from the surprising insights from the kids. They're oftentimes poignant, genuine, and many times, funny.

I had just finished explaining the symbolism of baptism to the kids, standing in the water, going down in it and coming back out being a picture of Jesus standing on the cross, going into the tomb and coming back out alive. Afterwards, one boy asked, "How long will we stay under the water?" I assured him that it would be really quick, in and out. He seemed relieved saying, "Ok. You said that it was like Jesus dying for us and He was in the tomb for 3 days, so I thought . . ."

I can only imagine the kind of joy that John the Baptist had doing this all the time. Do you think he ever struggled building his identity on what he did? I mean, if he changed his job, he's lost his name and then he's just plain old John. Hmmmmmmm. Deep thoughts.