{"id":10247,"date":"2014-11-13T21:21:19","date_gmt":"2014-11-14T05:21:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/?p=10247"},"modified":"2014-11-13T21:21:19","modified_gmt":"2014-11-14T05:21:19","slug":"baptism-third-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/2014\/11\/13\/baptism-third-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Baptism, Third Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Baptism-Li-650\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There’s no good photo of me in this situation, nor the armed guard looking on, but this of my friends is just as good.<\/h6>\n

I wish I had a picture of me standing with the Israeli soldier. He wouldn\u2019t have minded; others had and he was compliant about it. I just never think of such things. But this time it would have been something worth having, if only to share here.<\/p>\n

The occasion was the continuation of our tour in Jericho. We completed the playground (a photo yet to come) and moved on to other things. A big one for a morning was the supposed Mount of Temptation where Jesus withstood the three-times tempting of the devil. I could say more about that as it was pretty interesting, but I want to stay on focus here.<\/p>\n

A few more stops and we were at the River Jordan and likely the exact spot where John the Baptist did the work for which his title was derived and where Jesus incredibly showed up to take part. What sins did he have to repent of? No matter; he was going through the death and resurrection symbolism that he would ultimately undergo in reality. A number of our group had decided to follow this rite at this spot on this day.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d thought about it myself, but vacillated. Don was first to go in. In his 85 years Don\u2019s become a giant in the motorcycle field, leading the effort for importing a number of major brands over the years. He\u2019s an interesting person to talk to, but I\u2019d not thought a believer. Then, there he was, standing in the water, answering the questions affirmatively. Did he believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the only merit for eternal life? “Yes.” Then down he went, and lifted back up again.<\/p>\n

I still wasn\u2019t sure I\u2019d follow. Raised in a Christian family, had I not been been baptized at around age nine? Seems my brother was ready, though two years younger, and I couldn’t be outdone. But later I began giving in to a lot less temptation than that mountain is known for and the effects led me far afield of my earlier teachings. It broke my mother’s heart and made me the subject of many prayers of many people for many years.<\/p>\n

But I didn’t care about any of that.<\/p>\n

There’s a book’s worth of experiences to follow but suffice to say in time I began to pay. As the famous parable goes, it was among the pigs in a far country I woke up and in humility returned to my Father’s house.<\/p>\n

That was in Mexico. Anne was rather shocked. In time she also believed and a year later was baptized. Providing company for her and wanting to reaffirm my own stand, I also was baptized, then a second time.<\/p>\n

So why again now? Good question. There was certainly no need. But when else could I make such a proclamation right here where Jesus did? Remember, he didn’t need to either.<\/p>\n

And there was a certain uniqueness to the situation, being under the eyes of these two Israeli guards in full battle gear. So I did, but before going down, related a few of these things to the small group of friends on the bank and any others listening in.<\/p>\n

Afterward I was moved when one of the guards, the one with enough English, approached me and said, “I was glad to hear your speech.”<\/p>\n

Who knows what effect these things have? It’s in the invisible realms that change happens, but it’s manifest in ways that are seen.<\/p>\n

(Now to keep avoiding those other temptations that the wind keeps blowing in.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Was there any reason to do this again? Yes. When else would I be here?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10247"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10247"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10262,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10247\/revisions\/10262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}