Baptism Speech

Tonight I was baptized at Riverlakes Community Church in Bakersfield California. In order to be baptized I had to participate in baptism classes and prepare a testimony to give in front of the church body. The following is the speech that I prepared but as I was getting ready for my turn I decided to give it from the heart. Hopefully I will be able to post the video of my actual baptism soon and you can see what I wanted to say and what it sounded like from the heart.

Baptism Speech

I grew up in a Christian family and we attended church regularly. As I got older, I became separated from Christ. I quickly latched on to societies’ definition of success and began the endless and unfulfilling pursuit of empty goals. Moreover, my definition of success for any one day could be anything and tomorrow I could be off to the races by a completely different definition. I have had a really interesting life; I have owned a couple of different companies, traveled a little, and had a relatively good life. Not too long ago, I went through a tough time in a difficult relationship that really made me question the way I was living my life. So I tried to remember the last time that I was truly happy, and happy being me but I could not remember when. With the support of close friends and especially my mom, I rekindled my relationship with God and Jesus Christ.

And this very moment is an example of what my life is like with Christ. Before I would have been bolting for the door or having a panic attack but I stand before you now professing my commitment and faith in Jesus Christ.

There are two difficult and important truths we have to understand in our lives. First, is that we have to learn to trust God explicitly. No matter what happens, God will never turn away from us and He will, if we let him, make us happy and successful. The second truth is that we will face many, many trials, and some of those trials will hurt us deeply, and in our moments of deepest despair, we have to remind ourselves that we will not turn away from He who loves us most. And I can attest to this personally, that in my darkest hour, I kept repeating to myself “I will not turn away”, I was delivered to the dawn of a new life. And what a beautiful day it was.

Today I live my life on God’s inspiration, peacefully waiting in the dark for Him to reveal the next step. There is no worldly pursuit that is so critically important anymore that supercedes waiting on God’s plan and spending time with friends. I wanted to be baptized today to demonstrate my commitment to my walk with Jesus Christ and as an affirmation that no matter how difficult life seems, I will never turn away.