Baptism in the pond | Previous Challenge Entry

how it works

TITLE: Baptism in the pond | Previous Challenge Entry
By bud elkin
10/19/07
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One afternoon I got a call from a close friend, Billy. He told me that his father had died suddenly in a work related accident. He asked me if I would come to the funeral, and then to the house afterwards. I felt honored that he would ask me.

Billy was the lead man on the crew that I worked with. He was skeptical and cynical about Christians in general. He never missed an opportunity to criticize anyone who spoke out about Jesus. Since I joined the crew he always kept an eye on me.
It was just a short time after I joined the crew that I was blessed with the opportunity of praying with him to accept Jesus into his heart as his personal savior. One day I was filled so full of the Holy Spirit that I was having trouble working. Billy saw this and asked me what was wrong. I told him that the Lord just filled me with a little too much spirit this morning, and that if he would help me I could give him some so I could get back to work.

He looked dumbfounded, and then said, "sure." I told him when I lay my hands on him I will ask God to give you at least half of what I have so I can get back to work. As I lay my hands on his shoulders he bowed his head. I said, "Father, in the name of Jesus please give Billy at least half of what I have so I can get back to work." His countenance changed immediately. He began praising God and acting crazy. The other guys in the crew thought he went nuts. He carried on all day like that.

When we got to his mother's house after the funeral the immediate family was all there, and the pastor from his mother's church also. Billy stood up and introduced me. He asked me to tell them about what happened at work. They had all noticed him acting different, but didn't know why.

I stood up and began telling them about what happened, and why Jesus must have empowered me that day. Everyone was silent as I finished. I had no idea that five of them had not accepted Jesus into their hearts. As I looked around the room I could see something besides sorrow on their faces. I couldn't keep from asking if anyone there would like to have the Power of God come upon them, so that they could accept Jesus as their personal savior.

One by one the unsaved came up, I laid hands on them, and prayed with them to accept Jesus. The whole room began to praise God. Then out of the blue the pastor blurted out that now that they have accepted Jesus we might as well baptize them too. Since I have no problem with that we all hiked down to the farm pond.

The pastor jumped in first with the newly saved following right behind like a duck and her chicks. Each one came up out of the water praising God with a loud voice. The last one to get baptized was Billy's pregnant wife. We all went back to the house and spent a good while teaching, and praising God. I guess you could say we had church. The funeral turned into a praise and worship meeting with a baptism to top it off. Billy's father would have been proud. His death brought this all together, and the fact that he was saved made it even more noteworthy.

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