Glub, Glub, Glub….Getting Baptized in a Full Leg Plaster Cast

The first time I was baptized I was in fifth grade. My mom picked me up from a party and took me to be baptized and then returned me to the party, all in the space of about an hour. All I remember is being sprinkled and feeling rushed because I thought I had more important things to do.

This time was different in two important ways. It was June 10, 1962 at a combined baptism for two churches. I had recently turned 17. This time I knew it signified a commitment to be a lifelong follower of Jesus. It was also different because I was wearing a full length leg cast (after yet another surgery), and was being fully immersed in front of the whole church. The cast was a heavy plaster one, like in this picture. Nowadays they have casts that are easily removed from your leg, but then the plaster was almost cemented around your leg and very heavy....and itchy. (The picture below is not me, just a picture I found online. My leg had to be straight with no bends!)

So how did this baptism happen? I got a large garbage bag and put it around my leg and tied it tightly at the top of my leg. I left my crutches on the side of the baptistery and, with help, hopped into the cool water.

All was going well. I was giving my testimony of what God had done in my life. Then the pastor joyfully immersed me. At this VERY moment the plastic bag around my leg started leaking and going “glub, glub, glub.” I could both hear it and feel it. I felt the water trickling in, down my leg, but could do nothing about it.

So I entered into the joy and mystery of the occasion and then got out as quickly as possible. But I knew I’d been washed clean and was so grateful for the new life I’d found in Christ. And the cast was only damp. We were able to get it dry using a towel and hair dryer.

Jesus made such a radical change in my life that both my mom and sister noticed. My mom wondered why I didn't get angry anymore. When I told her, she decided that maybe she and my sister would come to church with me..

Nancy recently emailed me her memory of this time: “After you came to Jesus I saw the change in your life and that's when I came to Jesus also. Seems we all have to come to the end of ourselves before we recognize our need for the Lord.”

I'm so grateful that the life journey that my mom, my sister, and I took all merged together in the bigger journey with Him. One day we will look back on all this with even greater joy.

Romans 6:4: “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”

Song: Baptized in His Name.