Jesus' last command

Arielle was baptized yesterday! What a joyous day it was! My daughter has never been so beautiful to me as she was this day.

Several weeks ago Arielle told me she decided she wanted to be baptized. I told her to contact the woman in charge of our children's ministry. I wanted this to be totally Arielle's own initiative. The believer's baptism should be a personal decision, not one made lightly, and I thought she should take the steps herself to find out how this could be accomplished.

Arielle started attending special classes at church every Monday afternoon for four weeks. She has enjoyed these classes with other children preparing for baptism. Each one had to write out a testimony about his or her decision to follow Christ. The testimonies would be read aloud in church, so they were practiced in class and edited for clarity. The children were also taught the Biblical foundation for baptism and the qualifications for a person to receive baptism. They also studied circumstances in the Bible when people were baptized.

So we finally arrived at church for the big event. It was a glorious fall day, golden sunshine and trees beginning to bronze. Arielle put on her gown and waited with four others. Three of those four were siblings adopted from Romania. One of the boys was nervous and excited. Arielle was quiet and confident, as usual, but her eyes were shining and her smile extra bright. We filed into the sanctuary and saw our dear friends and family members. How wonderful for Arielle to be so supported! Thank you, everyone.

Each person addressed the congregation and read the prepared testimony. I'm sure the Romanian children brought tears to people's eyes as they told of their harsh circumstances in the orphanage and how they had prayed for a family. When the time came for the baptisms, the parents came up to assist their child into the water and to wrap him or her with a towel afterwards. I've never had this view before. Standing right above Arielle, I saw her go under the water, her black hair swirling, and then up she came, her face wet and glowing. My precious daughter, her act symbolizing the death our bodies on this earth and our resurrection to eternal life one day because of our faith in Jesus Christ.

Everyone met back at our house for a celebration, a day to share with the people we love. Arielle, as always, finds so much pleasure in our house full of guests. We all ate and laughed and talked and the children ran around outside in the fallen leaves, carefree and joyful. Arielle has one foot on the path to womanhood, but she is still a child, my own little girl.

As parents, Fred and I have tried to obey Jesus' last command after His resurrection. "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." (Matthew 28:19, 20) Now our daughter, a member of God's family of believers, will continue her journey of personal faith to equip her to go and make disciples of her own, whether one or a multitude, and to lead them to baptism and teach them God's word.

Jesus' last words are a promise, one Arielle expressed in her testimony. "Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."