Celebrating A Birthday Of Sorts

I love how God works.

In my eyes I dedicated my life to my wife in April 2002.  We then had two engagement services (one for her people, one for my people … who happened to be her people as well, just because that’s how she stays) – the first in August, the second in October.  That culminated in the wedding in June 2003.  So to all intents and purposes people regard the date of our wedding as the time to celebrate our anniversary, yet I’ll start celebrating from April!

Similarly we celebrate the birth of children from the day they emerge from the womb and yet to some (like me) life took place from conception some nine months earlier.  So although you will celebrate my birthday on 21st November (with gifts as selected from my Amazon wish-list – no pressure), I entered existence as my father’s seed was successfully planted in my mother’s womb way back in March.

What does this have to do with anything?  Well a while back a friend of mine asked me how long I’ve been ‘in the faith’.  That was an intriguing question to ask.  In fact ever since I’ve been an active member of church I’ve never been able to give a straightforward answer to that.  So my response to my friend was not brief!

There is the lazy theological route that suggests that you’ve been in the faith ever since before the foundation of the world when God foreknew and predestined.  That sounds cute and nice, but misses a lot of the story.  Some may want to go by the date that they got confirmed or baptised.  That’s interesting as well – and it has bearing for the date of today’s post.

Yet for me I fall short of stating that I started out ‘in the faith’ at the date of my baptism, for the same reason that I wouldn’t say my marriage began in June 2003 when we had our wedding ceremony.  As I said last year, things kicked off the year before in August.

Still, the fact remains that my public declaration of faith and symbolised in the act of total immersion took place on this date 19 years ago.  So it is celebrating a birthday of sorts.  What made the deal special was that of the two men who conducted the baptism (why they needed two still baffles me, I wasn’t that heavy) one of them was my Dad.

With every passing year as I remember the time, so grows my affection for my Dad being one of the two in the water to help me in the dip.  I still see him in my mind’s eye now.  Pleased without being overly proud.  The smile on his face acknowledging the awfully obvious observation I made as I went into the pool and said to him that the water was wet.  Quite something. So he lived to see his firstborn son acknowledge the Father.  That must have been something for him.  I know it would be something huge for me should my daughters take a similar step.

For today, I celebrate the public expression of a work of the heart that God miraculously wrought through His Son.  That public confirmation that indeed His love had broken through and I was no longer on my own and I was no longer my own.

I thank God to spare my life to see another year marking the most significant step any human can take, far more important than any other, and far more fulfilling, enriching, challenging and stimulating.

For His Name’s Sake

Shalom

dmcd