10/28/20 FAVORITE BAPTISM MEMORIES #3 — The land on which our church was built had been donated by the farmer who owned all the adjacent property. And the facilities were 50 years old when I first arrived to be their pastor. Not surprisingly, lots of its features were not exactly “up to code,” shall we say. People continued to be saved, praise the Lord; so we were baptizing regularly. And it seemed that nearly every baptism was a new challenge and adventure.

Once, in the dead of winter, 3 or 4 new believers were anxious to be baptized. That Sunday morning as I stepped into the water, I immediately noticed that it was FREEZING COLD. My feet were nearly numb and the rest of me was, perhaps literally, advancing to hypothermia. The very first candidate was a young lady. As I took her hand to help her down into the water, she gasped, “Pastor Ed, are you OK? You’re BLUE all over!”

I turned to the candidates assembled on the stairs, just out of view of the congregation. I told them that they only needed to be in the freezing water for a very few seconds—they would be OK! But I was NOT too sure about ME! I think my teeth had stopped chattering just in time for me to preach.