Joshua was baptized Sunday at our church. It was a wonderful ceremony. John and I gave testimonies of God's work in our lives and our hopes for our children. You can watch the video below.I hope that you're blessed as you watch this. As a sacred ceremony, it was a very meaningful event for us and our family.
Here are the testimonies that John and I were planning to give, though John decided not to use his notes so his words are slightly different.
Me: "Hi, I’m Jen, and this is my husband John, our daughter Katie, and our son Joshua. I was born into this church and met John here eleven years ago. We were married here, and Katie was baptized here about two years ago. We consider ourselves extremely blessed to be a part of this church, and are so thankful to the many of you who have invested yourselves in our lives and family.
"Now that we have two children, I’m reminded all the more how much I need the Lord. No matter how hard I try to be a good mom, there are often dangers, both seen and unseen, from which the Lord is protecting us. When I haven’t had enough sleep, I’ve seen the Lord give me supernatural strength and patience. Because of this, I’ve learned not to make my prayer, 'Give me more sleep', but rather, 'Give me more of you today, Lord.'
"We ask you for your continued prayers and support as we seek to raise our children to know and love our Lord Jesus just as we do."
John: "Thank you for being here today to celebrate the baptism of our son. It is our hope and prayer for our son that he become a strong leader for Christ.
"The thing that I am most grateful for about our families is our Christian heritage that began with our grandparents, was carried on by our parents, and has now been passed down to us. However, it is more than heritage that keeps our families bound as tightly as they have been during difficult times- it is Christ’s love.
"He is named after 2 models of Christian leadership. The Joshua of the Bible was unwavering in his devotion to God. Even when asked to do things that did not make sense in the world’s eyes (such as walk day after day around the city of Jericho), he trusted that the Lord would grant them success and never doubted that the Lord would be faithful to His promise.
"My son also carries the name of my grandfather, Roger Hetzner, who was a profound model of Christianity in my life. Having grown up in the depression and then serving in Africa and Italy during WWII, he knew difficult times and his positive attitude and perseverance always served as a guide for how I should be conducting myself.
"As Jen and I were thinking about a name for our son, the verse I was originally struck with was the famous quote: 'As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.' Indeed this is a powerful statement of conviction and leadership. But as I began to prepare for today, another passage immediately struck my attention as well (Joshua 4:5-6), and I felt would be more appropriate for Josh’s baptism.
"Today, just as in times of old, we have a sign for our children of God’s faithful covenant in Christian baptism. I am so fortunate that when Josh asks us about our Christian heritage, we will have a lot to tell him about what his name means, why we gave him the name that we did, or what his great-grandparents were like.
"However, leaders are not born; they are grown, taught, and tried by fire. It is only by the fire of trial that a man’s true character is shown. So today I ask that each of you, that as my son grows up in your midst, please assist us in the task of showing my son what examples of Christian leadership are."
And then there are several things that made this ceremony unique and especially memorable.
1. My brother Stephen, a future Army Chaplain, did the prayer before the baptism.
2. Todd, the pastor who did the baptism, is not our senior pastor. Our senior pastor typically does the baptisms at our church (he did Katie's), but we asked Todd to do Joshua's since Todd is an excellent pastor and a friend of ours.
3. As Todd returned to the front of the sanctuary, you can hear a little voice call out, "HI KATIE!!!" That was Katie's best friend Daniel, calling from halfway across the church. And then you will hear Katie yell, "HIIIIIIIII!!!!" Yes, the microphone definitely picked that up.
4. When Todd was holding Joshua, apparently Joshua spent a good deal of time staring up at Todd's face. But friends have since told me that when John and I started talking, Joshua was doing lunges to try to see us.
5. As Todd sprinkled water on Joshua's head, Joshua grabbed his hand to hug on it.
6. As Joshua was being baptized, I was whispering to Katie about what was happening. Her response? She pointed to the water in the baptismal and said, "I want water!"
Thank you to those of you who shared this special day with us. And the many more of you who will share it virtually through this blog or Facebook. We appreciate your prayers and support of our family.
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