On Our Way To Crazy

So yesterday was a pretty big day for me. I performed my first baptism. It was kind of awesome.

One of my favorite kids, a junior high girl named Annie, approached me a few weeks ago. She is one of those kids that asks a million questions and is never quite satisfied… she always thinks there’s more to the story than what you’re telling her. Almost every week i left with something to research and figure out so I could help her understand better. She is also full of energy, random stories and jokes, and loves Elvis Presley a little more than should be allowed.

She had been thinking about being baptized for a long time and wanted to do it yesterday, her 14th birthday. We had several conversations about what it means and why she wants to do it. We met with her mom and our pastor and were all set.

And then she decided she wanted me to do it.

I was not prepared for that. I do not feel like I should be allowed to baptize people. Me? I don’t know anything. I am a disaster. I feel like I just got baptized myself yesterday. Clearly she needs someone more qualified and smarter and older than me. Me? I am a child. I am not the right person.

Lucky for me, I am surrounded by people who have a lot more confidence in me than I do. So I got myself together, had a meeting with my pastor and felt moderately prepared.

And seriously like I was going to throw up.

But everything went really, really well. The water was freakishly warm, I told a couple of stories about Annie and borrowed a joke about holding her down until she bubbles, and I didn’t mess up any of the important parts. It was very sweet and totally appropriate for Annie’s personality and her relationship to me and her family. No one drowned.

It was the most officially pastoral day I’ve had so far at the church, and I survived it. I’m still much more comfortable in the big church setting when I’m talking about camp or flamingos and would definitely rather be teaching my junior high girls class than anything else. But it looks like I might be able to hold my own outside of my comfort zone, so that’s good to know.

All in all it was a really special day with one of my very favorite kids.