Vacation

Alyssa and I at a beautiful waterfall that David and Sarah showed us

Alyssa and I just got back from vacation in Costa Rica, where we visited my great friend and college roommate David, and his wife Sarah; and we spent a lot of time on the beach.

David and Sarah live in a research station in the mountains of Costa Rica. They picked us up at the airport, and took us to their place in the jungle. They live at just over 7,000 feet of elevation, so after about 24 hours, and one amazing hike to some beautiful waterfalls, I got insanely altitude sick. As it turns out, altitude sickness is a lot like food poisoning, so I spent much of our second night in Costa Rica (well, you know what food poisoning is like).

After a couple of days with David and Sarah they took us to a bus station nearby to get us to the much friendlier elevations of the Pacific coast. On the coast we spent three full days sitting on the beach, splashing in waves, dodging high tide, discussing the finer points of men’s swimwear, watching sunsets, spending colones, avoiding monkey bites, being patient with sloths, fleeing from lizards, riding public buses, fearing for our lives in taxis, speaking Spanish, going to bed early, reading, not eating chicken sold on the street (much to my disappointment) but haggling with other street vendors, getting sunburned, and applying aloe. It was amazing.

David and Sarah met us again in San Jose the night before we flew home for dinner, it was great to see them again and not worry that I might throw up on their shoes.

Aside from being a great vacation it was a great reminder of God’s love. We were in such beautiful creation, Alyssa and I enjoyed one another, and we came back to find home…sweet, glorious home!

My First Baptisms

Stainedglass from Sun Creek United Methodists in Allen, Texas

I had the amazing blessing of baptizing an awesome couple on Easter Sunday. I borrowed a watering trough from Del’s in Othello, and I got one that was a little small. The small tub required Brian, the man I baptized to become a contortionist, and I still hit his head on the side of the tub on the way down. I tried to get the water a little warm, but when Daphane got in it instantly took her breath away. I had to ask her two questions, and she could barely speak she was so cold! When I dunked her she came up gasping, I felt bad that I nearly froze her to death.

Gotta get your rookie mistakes out of the way sometime.

I’m happy I decided to baptize them on Easter. It meant that a lot of people who don’t always come to our church got to see the excitement of baptism. Brian and Daphane gave their testimonies during the worship, so we got to hear stories of the transformation available in Christ. It was an awesome display of the power of the Easter events. They were buried with Christ and came bursting out to new life.

Doing baptism on Easter meant that it wasn’t a service completely about baptism, which may have been good. I don’t think I adequately shared with the congregation the significance of baptism. It also meant that the service wasn’t all about the candidates for baptism, which is a good thing. It was a day for reflecting on the resurrection, and I think we kept the focus there. All-in-all, a pretty great thing to keep focused on.