A Child Shall Lead Them

A few days ago, my wife and I traveled to Bethel Baptist Church in Bentonville, AR to witness the baptism of our granddaughter, Ella Grace. Ella is the daughter of Pastor Brandon and Angela Cox and one of four precious grandchildren to Carolyn and I. Ella had recently trusted Jesus to forgive her of her sins and to be her Savior. Although very afraid of being immersed in water, she wanted to follow her Lord’s example and be baptized. Now I have to admit, that I was somewhat anxious about how she would react when it came time to go down in the water. As a Baptist pastor, I have witnessed adults who panic at the last second and then struggled against going under the water. Yet, it seemed that Ella fully trusted her daddy not to let harm come to her and she held tightly to him during the baptism. Just before she went under, she cried out, “Daddy”, and held on to him even tighter. Holding her father very close, Brandon had to literally half baptize himself to get Ella all the way under.

Days later as I observed the video-taped record of her baptism (see below) I was impressed that our faith in our Heavenly Father needs to be similar to that of my granddaughter. Water baptism was a hard task for Ella, yet she trusted her dad to keep her safe. She held unto her father tightly and called his name to let him know she was scared and needed help.

In our daily journey we are often times called upon to exercise our faith and do things that are not in our comfort zone. Ella has taught me that in those times I need to draw closer to God the Father, call out His Name for help, and trust Him completely to walk with me.
It worked for Ella…it will work for me as well!

Ella’s Baptism from Brandon Cox on Vimeo.