"If You Would Hear His Voice...."

The only standing water within three miles of Thomassique--where 14 people were baptized

Candidates gratefully embrace their baptism

When the people of Israel were being led by the Lord through the wilderness after their escape from Egypt, they came to a point where they were too thirsty to go on.  They grumbled against the Lord and against Moses' leadership.  God heard the people's complaints and gave them water to drink from a rock.  The place was called Meribah, which meant "grumbling."  The Psalmist (95:7-8) reflects on this experience, "Today, only if you would hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah..."  The people of Thomassique probably could grumble.  Saturday, the 18th of January, had been set aside for baptizing fourteen people from the Thomassique Church.  The only problem--no water.  It has been bone dry since the end of October in much of Haiti.  All the streams have dried up and people are digging deep holes in the stream-beds for water.  Zach was in Thomassique for a graduation ceremony of nineteen students from the theological training center at the church.  The entire congregation (young and old) had to walk at least three miles to find any standing water.  What we found (in the deepest corner of a canyon) could not, in the opinion of Pastor Bellizaire (the pastor of the Thomassique Church), justifiably be called "water."  He was right.  In fact, the "water" was bright blue from laundry soap, with a green scum floating on top, and producing a distinctively rancid smell.  No doubt Zach would have demurred had he been asked to baptize (noting that sprinkling versus full immersion would have been perfectly fine under these circumstances).  Fortunately, Pastor Bellizaire assured him not to worry because he would not be called upon to enter the "water."  Without complaint and with a smile on their faces, Pastors Bellizaire and Henry took their respective positions in the "water."  One after the other, the candidates were baptized by immersion, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  What a testimony of faith--God's grace made manifest in the midst of rancid "water."  Instead of complaining about the lack of water (and in lieu of a real baptistery), the faithful of Thomassique embraced grace through the element of "water," if it could be called that.  On that day, January 18, the Lord's voice was heard, and hearts were not hard as they were at Meribah so long ago.