Today is my 3rd Rebirthday.
Although raised in church my entire life, I have only known real life for 3 years. Crazy. It's not that I hadn't made a commitment to follow God before that. I did, in the 3rd grade, at VBS, at my grandparents church. Then I was baptized a few weeks later by Dr. Majors at FBC Menard. So what's the story? Why do you only consider yourself a Christian these past few years?
Well, it goes something like this:
1) I'm not so sure that, as an 8 year old, I fully knew what I was doing. I just knew that God was the Lord and Saviour of my life, that He created heaven and hell, and that if I wanted to go to heaven I was to follow Him. Following Him meant that I prayed with the VBS leader, I got baptized as a symbol of my decision to be raised in Christ a new creation, and I was supposed to live a good life according to the Bible. And I did all of that. Some might say (and who's to say they're wrong) that it takes that kind of simple child-like faith to become a Christian- and to a point I can't argue that. But, I'm not so sure that an 8 year old can make a serious life-time commitment to follow and yeild your life to Christ. For me, personally, I believe that I was a child that loved to do what was right and what I was told to do. So I followed the rules.
Over the years, I learned there is more to it than that. I learned that there are other denominations and congregations out there besides baptists and I learned that baptists do a few things that are not "by the book." I learned that being a Christian is so much more than following the rules. Yes, you do what is right and do what the book says to do. But you also have to develop relationships, the most important of which is with your heavenly Father and Brother. Then you have to develop relationships within your church as your family of believers. Then you develop relationships with those around you in the world as a Christian child/spouse/co-worker/student, etc. And then I even realized you have to develop a special relationship with yourself to dedicate your life and make personal changes in your life as a Christian. You have to change who you are.
I learned how to do these things over the years, but neglected one other essential part of my relationship with Christ. I never studied. Oh, I went to church and loved my small groups and read all kinds of books (mostly on being a great single Christian woman), but as a professional student, I'm trained to listen or read something, memorize it and spit it back as rote memory. I never questioned what I was taught or read. I was a student, studying to get all the answers right on the test. I didn't realize that what it takes is actually research.
Three years ago I graduated and moved to Bowie. I met wonderful friends through my now-beloved church family. One person challenged me to actually study salvation and the reasons behind baptism in particular. I did study, but not with him. I was dating him and knew that I didn't want the reason for change to be over "just some guy." So I studied with other friends, did a lot of reading of the Bible, the source, and prayed. It was scary to challenge what I'd been taught and what my entire family accepted as truth. I made a decision to be "re-baptized" and followed through on October 23rd, 2007.
Why? The Bible says, "one baptism". Yes, but the first time I did it was because someone told me to and I complied because adults were telling I needed to. To be fair, I met with the pastor beforehand and he asked me all kinds of questions and I gave him the right answers (because I was that kind of kid). This time, I was baptized out of obedience to my heavenly Father, because I wanted to do what He told me to do. I'm still not as spiritually mature as I need to be (who is?), but I'm growing, and now I get to grow with that same man that challenged me to grow 3 years ago. Happy Birthday to Me!! :)
