Baptizo {} My Little Pickle

We were excited to baptize a few people in Lake Champlain at our church picnic last weekend, and good thing baptism is about immersion in Christ rather than the body of water into which you're dunked.  'Cause the lake water that day was kinda naaaasty.  Lake Champlain is gorgeous, but it has its days.  I'm glad we got to bring it a little holiness.

Baptism is rich with symbolism, but one cool thing to me is what the original Greek word baptizo means.  It means to be pickled.  How funny!  And sobering.  And appropriate.  It's the perfect description of one thing going into a solution and coming out a new creation, flavored by (and one with) that solution.  Baptism symbolizes the spiritual change we undergo, the complete transformation from what we were to who we are, ones who've been given a second chance, a new start, totally immersed in the goodness of Christ.  Spiritually speaking, we look, smell, taste, behave, move, think, act...like Him.  But not just like Him.  A cucumber doesn't become like a pickle.  It becomes a pickle.  In fact, it can never be a cucumber again, so infused it is with that new solution.  We don't just become like Him.  We become one with Him, godly.  That's some heady stuff, to be pickled into Christ.

At last year's baptism, Levi was really intrigued by it and kept saying he wanted to do it, but would then forget about it and let it go.  He was 5 1/2, and we're not constricted by age boundaries.  As his parents, Jed and I just wanted to see real revelation about it all.  Last year, he seemed to have it, but we had a little check in our spirits that told us to hold off and let it become deeper revelation to him.

This summer, the church picnic and baptisms rolled around again, and Levi was excited again about wanting to get "bathtized."  (He is so verbally precocious that when he does one of these little mispronunciations, I don't want to correct him!)  We had conversations.  We asked questions.  He acknowledged Yahshua as His Lord and Savior, as he's been doing since the beginning.  We asked him if he wanted to willfully make that choice and take that stand on his own.  We asked him what he thought baptism meant.  We were trying to sort through if this was a real proclamation from his heart, or if he thought maybe it was just a cool thing to do.  But we believe children are born spiritually alive.  We have seen spiritual proclivity in our children and the children around us from very early on.  We have done our best to nourish that and not squash it out, to enrich it rather than make them believe they're too young for things of that nature and can't "get it" till later.

In the end, he was ready. 

:)  :)  :)  :)  :)  :)  :)  *heartnearlyburstingsohappysoproudsomovedsochallenged*  :)  :)  :)  :)  :)  :)  :)

So we lead Levi down to lake's edge, and in those murky waters of New England, a light burst forth from our anointed young son who had a declaration for the world. 

So brave...

Ready to go, with Dad nearby...

"Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?  We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death...

...in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 

For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we will certainly also be united with Him in a resurrection like His."  Romans 6:3-5

As soon as he emerged, he bobbed excitedly and looked back at Apostle to exclaim, "Did you know I just got pickled??!!"  Boy's been listening.  :)  He got a laugh from his daddy and apostle, who repeated it to the crowd and drew more laughs and cheers.

(And I snuggled Adelaide, watching my son from the shore where I couldn't coach him or hold his hand--for this was his very own personal deal--while trying to manage the giant balloon of emotion expanding to fill all my insides, plus the simultaneous laughing and crying, without spontaneously combusting.)

And Apostle placed his hand on Levi's head and prayed for him, prophesied over him, and blessed him. 

(More emotional mama.)

"If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation: the old things are passed away;

behold, all things are become new!"  II Corinthians 5:17

The immensity of emotion is so rich and deep that my verbosity could take over here, but it's also overwhelming enough to render me nearly speechless (whew, right?!).  I'll indulge my mom-ness and state simply that I'm so proud of my little pickle, as I've been calling him to his secret delight.  He is a joyful spark of light and insight in our family and God's kingdom, and...I'm really proud of him. 

We love you, Mr. Leviticus Maximus!