A Meeting Unexpected

A Meeting Unexpected

I was brought up in a certain religion. I did what I was supposed to do and went to church. When I grew up, I stopped going to church. I still have my beliefs, but I no longer practice that religion, or any other for that matter. I also try to respect the feeling of others, as I feel that someone’s religious choice is their own personal matter.

There is part of a big lake that is in our town. The lake also extends to several surrounding towns. In that lake, people water ski, fish, swim, and pleasure boat. There is also a nice woods surrounding the lake for walking through. One day, there was another thing going on in the lake that I had never known to take place there before. It seems that there was some kind of minister that was baptizing people in the lake. This was taking place in a neighboring town, and we were listening on the district fire radio system.

Having grown up around the lake, I had explored and swam all over. All of us locals are familiar with conditions in the different areas. Where these baptisms were taking place, the water is shallow for about twenty feet out. Then, the bottom drops suddenly and it gets deep. Well, I guess no one involved in this baptism ceremony knew about this.

The minister was a bit off shore. I don’t know how many people had already gone, but when the minister laid this one person down backward in the water, it seems that he lost his grip. All of a sudden, the person was gone. That poor person had sunk like a stone and had not come up.

The call went out for help. This was not our call and our assistance was not requested, but I listened to things play out on the fire radio. Fire, Police, boats, and divers came as quickly as they could. As I remember, the person did not survive. The body was recovered shortly. I remember thinking that I hoped the ceremony had been completed before the victim had sunk. They had an unexpected meeting with the Almighty.