“这是水” | 2022年夏天 George Fox Journal-ob欧宝体育

A professor 和 three students chose to answer God’s call, turning an engineering class into an impromptu baptism 金伯利·费尔顿著

M数学教授皮特·鲁索还记得那个八月的早晨窗户上结了霜. The water would be chilly, 和 he didn’t know if anyone would accept his invitation to step, 穿着衣服的, into a metal trough to be baptized.

在他的工程统计课上，学生们没有想到教授会发出这样的邀请. 而不是, 作为班级项目的一部分，他们准备在水槽中驾驶他们新设计的混凝土独木舟.

鲁索不知道会发生什么，但他知道他必须忠于职守. 出门时，他从衣橱里拿了一条毛巾，心想可能是多拿了一条.

所以,当, 三小时后, 一个清晰的, confident voice responded to his invitation with, “我想。,“Rusaw, 有点吓了一跳, searched to identify the source.

An Unlikely Volunteer

The response was immediate. Usually reserved 和 quiet in class, the voice belonged to Emma.

“She stepped forward 和 I was like, ‘Whoa, OK,’“Rusaw recalls. “I said, ‘Why do you want to do this?’ And she said, ‘My life’s been hard 和 it’s time.’”

这就是鲁索的忠诚值得付出的一切——尽管他会说忠诚不需要结果.

这位曾经的牧师和现在的教授并没有在那天早上的课程表上安排洗礼. 回顾, 他耸了耸肩，说也许是前一天晚上就有了把工程独木舟比赛变成洗礼仪式的想法, 在三个小时的时间里，两个软管ob欧宝体育到大学工程制造中心的水龙头，填满了150加仑的水槽.

这个六英尺长的金属水箱是鲁索从当地一家教堂借来的，教堂将其用作洗礼池. 当他要求把它借给独木舟项目时，牧师也提供了加热元件. Rusaw turned him down. After all, canoes don’t need warm water.

But then something happened the morning of the competition. 鲁索起得很早, 像往常一样, listening to the coffee drip 和 inhaling the aroma, taking time to be with God with no agenda. That’s when Acts 8 came to mind, 腓力就像一个古实人坐在车里，想知道圣经上关于基督的经文是什么意思. 腓利从圣经中指出耶稣基督是神的儿子, the Ethiopian looked up, 看到水, 并说, “看, 这是水. What can st和 in the way of my being baptized?(使徒行传8:36).

鲁索喝着咖啡，沉思着:“这里有水——有什么能挡道呢??” He wasn’t sure anyone would do it, but the idea of baptisms pressed on his heart 和 mind, 和 he was sure he needed to offer the opportunity.

“看, 这是水.
What can st和 in the way of my being baptized?” ——使徒行传8:36

Faithfulness Matters

早上8点.m. Rusaw welcomed his first class gathered outside the Maker Hub, wearing jackets 和 sweatshirts to stay warm. 每个队都带来了一个一英尺长的独木舟，主要由混凝土建造. They waited to see which of their designs, propelled by a powerful fan at the end of the trough, 会漂浮并承载重物，哪些会坍塌并沉没.

路索打开圣经，翻到使徒行传第8章，读到腓力和古实人的故事. 他告诉学生们，比赛结束后，他们可以选择接受洗礼. 然后比赛开始了，欢呼声和呻吟声，成功和失败.

At the conclusion of the class, Rusaw said again, “Here is water. Does anyone want to be baptized?”

没有人接受.

“And it was like, ‘Hey, it’s OK; nothing wrong with that,’他说. “这可能是头等舱里某些人信念链上的一个环节，但他们还没有准备好. 它提醒我，对圣灵声音的忠诚不能为上帝的回答设定条件.”

鲁索说，第一堂课没有反应是一个中性的结果，既不好也不坏. “但即使结果很糟糕，也不一定意味着我们没有顺从和信心.”

尽管如此，他还是考虑过在下一堂课不参加洗礼邀请. “我很想说，‘反正没人会回应的. 你有点晚了，你真的不需要这么做。”他说.

But faithfulness matters.

Opening the next statistics class, Rusaw again read Acts 8, telling his class that they, 比如埃塞俄比亚人, had the opportunity to use this water. 他们再次举行比赛，鲁索再次发出邀请.

扎克, another student in class that morning, was debating his own response when Emma accepted the invitation. “She generally is a quiet 和 reserved person, 所以她是第一个做志愿者的这个事实让我有点惊讶,他说. “It was also a little bit motivating. 她把我拉了过来，就像“是的，我一定要这么做。.’”

As Emma h和ed off her jacket, phone 和 shoes to a classmate, 鲁索还记得那些散落在食槽底部的混凝土独木舟. It would hurt to step on that in the midst of a baptism.

扎克和 others helped pull out the canoe remains. 他清楚地记得把袖子弄湿了，但过不了多久，湿袖子就不重要了.

Emma emerges from the tub smiling after baptism

With Emma ready to be baptized, 鲁索问她, “How do you think this might give you a place to st和 that’s new?”

“对我自己来说，”她说，“我认为我不再拖延了.”

在冰冷的水中浸泡得很快，她咧嘴笑着出来了.

鲁索把他的一条毛巾递给艾玛，看着外面的同学，说:“这是水. Would anyone else like to be baptized?”

“I would,” 扎克 said.

“As soon as he mentioned baptism, I felt like God put it on my heart that I should do this,扎克回忆道. “It had been in the back of my mind. I knew it was something I wanted to do. At some point I was going to. 但直到那一刻，这一刻才出现.”

扎克 was in his dress clothes, ready for work later that day. “我最初的想法是，‘从逻辑上讲，这听起来是个坏主意，’”他说. “But that voice did not win out. I’m glad it didn’t, because it was a very good experience. I’m very glad I did it.”

当扎克听说那天早上他本可以踏进热水里时，他笑了. “水很冷，但我没怎么注意到，”他说. “I had a little bit of adrenaline going.”

扎克用艾玛递给他的湿毛巾擦着他湿漉漉的皮肤, 又一个学生, 帕特里克, separated from the crowd 和 walked forward. “我在婴儿时期就受洗了，我真的只是在等待合适的时机，”他告诉Rusaw. One more set of soaking wet clothes. One more grin emerging from the water.

Not even a corner of the towel was dry.

1 of 4 photos of 帕特里克 being baptized in the tub

The Courage to be First

Rusaw grinned, seeing puddles form under the dripping students. “This is kind of where you live, right?” he asked the class, motioning to the Maker Hub behind him, 在那里，工程专业的学生花几个小时做项目，和同学互动. “So this is kind of your home? And this is kind of your family, right? I think that in this world, 有这么多的机会，但因为很难有勇气, 有时有人想做上帝要他们做的事, but they need somebody else to step first.”

对扎克来说，洗礼标志着上帝开始带领他走向更大的勇气.

“I’d come to the realization that, in certain areas of my life, I’d been letting fear drive me instead of letting God guide me,他说. “I hadn’t seen that for what it was until last semester. I realized that is not how I want to live, nor is it healthy.

“Before the semester started, 我一直在祈祷, “上帝, if there’s anything, any development I need to have in my life, if you could have that happen sooner than later, that would be great.“洗礼是其中的一部分，我完全没有预见到，但它肯定是其中的一部分。.”

Seeming to forget the courage he himself chose to exercise, Rusaw, 个月后, still expresses wonder that in a class full of confident, 直言不讳的本科生, it was the quiet one who stepped forward first. The lion, he says, who looks like a lamb.

“她是那种从事工程的人，因为她有决心. 她所做的比另外两个人所做的更需要勇气. 她就是那种会说‘我必须做我必须做的事’的学生.’”

Courage breeds courage, Rusaw says. “Some people are given a measure of faith to go first, 这鼓励了那些可能想要服从但没有足够勇气站出来的人. Few are willing to step up first, 但许多人想要这样做，并在等待狮子施展它们的天赋.”

Rusaw holds with some reverence the trust the students put in him, allowing him to dunk them in the tank that morning, to be a significant part of their faith story.

他说:“这意味着‘为人所知’开始发生——必须如此。. “Otherwise, they wouldn’t put forth that kind of trust. More important, they’re saying, ‘Jesus is worth trusting. I need to follow him into what he’s calling me.’”

Much like Rusaw did that chilly August morning.