My brother-in-law, Andres, and his girlfriend, Sunha, were baptized a few Sundays ago.
Next to weddings, baptisms are my favorite occasions. The symbolism of saying farewell to your "old life" (an existence without Jesus Christ) and welcoming your "new life" (starting a lifelong adventure with said Messiah) has always been profound, beautiful and incredibly moving for me.
I've always believed baptism is the public declaration of one's love and allegiance to Jesus. Just like Christ died and resurrected, the immersion in water is like burying life as you once knew it and being raised with the ultimate hope, joy and my favorite-- eternal perspective.
Watching Andres make this commitment gave my heart such delight. I was overjoyed. I was thankful. I was so happy for him. And you know, Andres has experienced an amazing transformation. There's this peace about him. An inner-peace that's otherworldly.
We had given Andres and Sunha flowers to celebrate the event. It was blazing hot that day. Unfortunately, the flowers barely survived the heat and were nearly dead by the time they brought them home. Then the funniest thing happened. Thinking it would be a shame to throw them out, Sunha decided to put them in a vase with water.
You know what happened? They came back to life.
Now, how's that for symbolism? :)
