canyoning and baptism

well, i woke up today, not knowing what God would have in store, but He sure did. I woke up, had some oatmeal, then started organizing and cleaning out my place, since Im going to be leaving soon. I got a call around 9:30 from mary wolfram asking me if i wanted to go canyoning with her husband, her son, and 2 friends...so i said, why not! so, we went...and the day started off by raining, but we were going to be wet anyways, so it didnt matter. there were a total of 5 of us. we all got on wetsuits, and headed to the other side of the road and walked into a bunch of jungle...then we came to a waterfall/river. we walked for a while upstream and then would come to waterfalls that we had to climb up with a rope. it was really fun, scary, and exciting. i fell atleast 5 times...but after the first time you get used to it. i was a little slower than everyone else because i just take it slow on water and rocks...i was afraid of falling, spraining my ankle...i was basically walking on all fours the whole time. when we got to a part where we had to use the rope to go up the waterfall, don, the "leader" and husband of mary would climb to the top and tie the rope around his waist...then he would coach us up. somtimes, jordon, his 15 yr old son would go up with the rope around his waist, and don would go up behind us, and we would step on his feet and knees as support bc most of the time, there were no footholds..and it was slippery with water coming down fast and in your face. a lot of the time, you had to step in the crevase that the waterfall had made. pretty exciting.

so we got to the top and there is a waterfall and a small pool of water, pretty beautiful! and it was starting to get a lot nicer out, the sun was shining, it was nice! except now, we had to go back down the waterfalls we came up..which i was not looking forward to. once, as don was helping me down one of the toughest falls to go down, i saw 3 small rainbows and it made me think of God and somehow the idea of getting baptized popped into my head. don is a pastor, and does some pastoring for a church here, so i know he had done it before. i finally got the courage to ask him if there were any more pools of water...and then asked him if he would baptize me and if there was anywhere to do it...then what do you know :) there was a pool of water just a few steps ahead (God's perfect timing) and as i was sliding into the pool of water, i saw another rainbow. so the other 3 sit down on the log that was perfectly placed there, and Don baptized me! it was so great.

its so amazing how God prepares you for those things...because the other day, i spoke with marc on the phone, which was a great convo, and he mentioned to me about Rob Bell's website and how all of his sermons are online. so that night, i listened to his sermon about baptism--which is God too because i didnt think that i clicked on that sermon, and i was hoping to listen to another one...:)--so i listened to it ...and it was great and i felt like God was telling me to get baptized and i just prayed for a right time, his timing. so today, i woke up, not knowing what God would have in store, but he had in mind for me to get baptized today. it was really beautiful. just the waterfalls and in God's creation, where my spirit really feels connected with God. Praise God for leading me into His good and ABSOLUTELY perfect will.

"So what do we do? Keep on sinning so God can keep on forgiving? I should hope not! If weve left the country where sin is sovereign, how can we still live in our old house there? Or didnt you realize we packed up and left there for good? That is what happened in baptism. When we went under the water, we left the old country of sin behind; when we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace--a new life in a new land!

Thats what baptism into the life of Jesus means. WHen we are lowered into the water, it is like the burial of Jesus; when we are raised up out of the water, it is like the resurrection of Jesus. Each of us is raised into a light-filled world by our Father so that we can see where were going in our new grace-sovereign country." romans 6:1-5 the message