the joy of slime in-between your toes

 

Off in the distance the sound of the bagpipes beckoned us to come to the water.

The sky was bright blue filled with big white clouds…the kind that make you wish you could lie on or jump up and down on and roll all around in.   The bright sun was reflecting on the water and the Only Son was reflecting in that same place where anticipation and joy encompassed each person there.

 

This was a holy day…or as our church leaders call it…the Super Bowl Sunday for our church…the last Sunday in August where people who were lost and now found walk into that water to experience what it feels like to be washed clean and gain a new understanding of true forgiveness and grace.

Immersion.

One by one, people young and old and in-between step foot into what seems to be murky water…yet water that cleanses white as snow.  Stepping in with anticipation, nerve, wonder, the question…“am I really doing this?”   I AM gives a gentle push to walk in further.

There were ripples in the water closer to the shore where people were baptizing and being baptized.  But seeing out a little farther, it looked like a piece of glass.  Close to the shore dirt and murk were being jostled and disturbed…and being taken away.  And yet, right there just a few feet away in that same lake, the water became as smooth and clear as glass.  Hearts moved from  grime into spotlessness…became cleansed and unbroken.  Pure and whole.  No cracks or blemish but instead calm and stillness.  Rest and restoration.  Peace…the peace that transcends all understanding.

I felt blessed to have the opportunity to take photographs of these holy moment experiences for the people who wanted to be baptized.  I thank God for the chance to put my feet in the dirty, slimy sand at the edge of the lake.  I thank God for the opportunity to capture a holy moment on a camera with pictures of the people being redeemed…so it can be a way for them to remember this experience.  I thank God to get the chance to hear some of the stories of how Jesus is now real. 

Being at a distance from the baptism and from the cheers and clapping from others in the water, I couldn’t hear much from the people I was photographing but what a joy just to witness them soaking in the Water that surrounded them and absorbing the pastor’s words of renewal and hope…. 

“Jesus… ‘blood’, Jesus… ‘the cross’, Jesus… ‘water;, Jesus, ‘cleansed’, Jesus…

‘Love, love, love’.

 

As I stood there in the water with my camera, memories of the day I was baptized flooded in…encircling me…wanting to absorb it all in again.  August 28, 2005.   To remember that oh, so hot and humid day and yet that oh, so cool and cleansing water that flowed off my face as I came back out of the water.  I can still feel it.  A feeling I don’t ever want to forget.  I never want to forget that Christ had taken my fear and failures and lost them to the deepest part of that lake and resurrected me with perfect grace and love. 

I was remembering that as the young girl told her story while standing in the water and was surrounded by loved ones, when all of a sudden my husband standing beside me whispered, “Look!  An eagle!”

There gliding over the water behind the people being baptized was a bald head eagle.   Breathtaking because instantly these words soared in my mind…

“…but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.”

This afternoon, down a long, country road of Alamance County, where there were picnic baskets, bagpipes, people laughing, crying, clapping and cheering, a bald head eagle and osprey bird, rocks, slime, water, immersion and purity… 

Strength was renewed. 

Strength was renewed…whether it be a needed reminder or an experience for the first time…

I will never grow weary of reminders of immersion.

Oh to thank God for….

#844  the chance to put my feet in the dirty, slimy sand at the edge of the lake.

# 845  the opportunity to capture a holy moment on camera with pictures of the people being redeemed…so it can be a way for them to remember this experience.

#846   being part of our close friends' baptism and seeing how deep this holy moment was for him in his young eyes. 

#847   to get the chance to hear stories of how Jesus is now real to that person.

#848  seeing a bald head eagle fly over the water as people were being baptized

#849  the joy of slime in-between your toes

#850  making new friends from son’s team

#851  wearing jeans and sweatshirt at home in the middle of August!