Talk about obedience

Part of my job is looking at other articles about Baptists and the work God has called them to around the world. The other day when I was looking at some Baptist newspapers online and came across this photograph.

The caption said: If new believers wish to be baptized before Spring, Siberian Baptist church members carve a hole in the ice of a local lake with axes for the ordinance. The Siberian pastor who conducted this baptism last winter gave this photo to members of a mission team from Hillcrest Baptist Church in Pensacola who worked with an International Mission Board strategist to send pastors and wives to Siberia.

WOW! I remember when I was baptized. I was 15. It was February, and the church had just built a new sanctuary in a new location. I was among the first baptized there. The day I was baptized the water heater went out so the water was pretty cold. But I will say it was Alabama cold, not Siberia cold!
To this day tears form in my eyes each time I see a baptism. It is such a public demonstration of complete submission to God and His complete cleansing of our sins. Being raised to a new life takes on a whole new meaning.
PRAISE GOD from whom all blessings flow!