Baptism: U-Turn or Signpost

My daughter Jordan is planning to be baptized in a few weeks at church camp.  Though this is the result of a life-long discussion I’ve had with her (and will continue to have with her), we’ve focused intensely on the discussion recently.  As she and I read through yesterday every verse in the New Testament regarding baptismI was struck at the difference between her experience and my experience. 

For example, before I was baptized I had engaged in vandalism and property destruction (I especially remember one night when a group of us rode around tossing rocks at people’s widows).  I had also engaged in sexually immoral behavior.  The worst Jordan’s ever done is fail to make her bed or get grumpy at her little brother.

Before I was baptized I had only attended church services for about a year.  I had not read a single entire book of the Bible.  I did not know anything about the Old Testament and very little about the New Testament.  Jordan, however, has attended church services and classes her entire life.  She’s read multiple books of the Bible.  She’s covered vast sections of the Old and New Testaments.

Our difference is, I think, well illustrated by John Mark Hicks and Greg Taylor in their book “Down to the River to Pray.”  They suggest that for some, like me, baptism is a U-Turn.  It represents a radical change in life-direction.  But for others, like Jordan, baptism is a Signpost.  It represents a significant life-moment when a person affirms their desire to continue moving in a certain direction: toward God.

I’ve had people in Jordan’s circumstance tell me they wish they had a U-Turn experience in baptism.  I, however, am grateful to God that Jordan does not have that experience but has instead been nurtured in faith each of her twelve young years and comes to baptism with so much more than I ever did. 

What’s your experience: u-turn or signpost?