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It is a milestone and a cherished privilege to watch my son get baptized in the Caribbean. As a testimony to God’s faithfulness in both his personal life in our family’s ministry over the past 15 years, this past Sunday’s baptismal celebration was significant for many reasons.
It was almost 15 years ago that I too was baptized in the Caribbean as I felt the Lord’s tug on my heart to make my profession of faith unashamedly public before the Mt. Olive congregation gathered outside the Training Center in JC. Although it is Christ’s work that accomplishes the grace behind baptism, it was a hallmark of my calling to the Bahamas to receive immersion in Christ in the land where we would devote our ministry.
Micah has known no other home than the Bahamas. We gathered him up at barely 2 months old for the journey across the water on this small strip of land in the sea, and he has blossomed to love the Lord and find a safe place to grow and question and learn to love and fear God. Some of my favorite memories are of Micah traveling with me to Wednesday night church where I get the opportunity to teach through the Word (I’m certain the ice cream treat he get if he is good at the end is incentive enough to join me). Along those nights Micah would ask me questions like, “Why doesn’t God just take away all our sin and then take us to heaven,” Why is God the best,” or How is God the most powerful? Although he asks me about the Avengers just as much, its his questions about God that I answer most clearly and exhaustively, and I love to see his curious mind encounter the mystery of God.
Recently, while back in Wisconsin, Micah would tell me that he would like to get baptized. When I asked why and when, he would say in June in the Bahamas. He, with Emily and I, spent many late nights talking through what salvation means and why Christians get baptized. And on the Sunday for the event, he was happy and excited.
As much as I would have liked to have been the one to perform the sacrament, I felt that it would be more meaningful to have our Bahamian pastor Garth do the ceremony. The Palmetto Point Gospel Chapel has been our home church for 5 years and it is the church that Micah has grown up in and recognizes the preaching of the Word. As such it was fitting that our Bahamian elder perform Micah’s baptism as a testament to his connection with the island and our connection with this particular church family.
I offered a few remarks cornering the Biblical practice of baptism and in connection with the obedience of Christ and great commission. We sang a few songs, Ryan Yates prayed and then Garth and Micah made their way into the water. It was a beautiful day and I will always hold the memory of our little Bahamian church gathered around the sand to celebrate God’s call on Micah’s life and our sweet fellowship as they passed him around for hugs and blessings.
God only knows where and when our connection with this mission field will develop fruit. But I am proud to say that my son was baptized in the Caribbean a decade and a half after his father.