I received a message from a new member to let me know he received a link to the registration page for the Cup-a-Joe family. He explained that he would look into the matter when he gets back from his one-week breakaway with his wife. They were heading to Grootbrak for a week.

It is important to know that since I started my journey with the Lord, I rejected any and all forms of coincidence.

Jan could not have known that the fact that they are traveling from Gordon’s Bay to Grootbrak means that they are coming to us. We live in Outeniqua Strand, a mere 7km from Grootbrak. Grootbrak is where I spend a lot of my time. This was no coincidence.

In my reply to his message, I informed him that we will basically be neighbours for the week and suggested to have coffee when they are settled. I was very excited and adamant to find the reason why the Lord wants us to meet.

Shortly after my last message he replied with “can I ask you a big favour?”. I was all ears and thought that this request will bring me closer to the reason why we are supposed to meet. “Yes, how can I help?” I asked.

“Will you please baptise me?” Jan asked.

I nearly fell from my chair, “of course, I will baptise you”, “it will be an honour”, but if it is all the same to you, I would like to get to know you better and to spend time with you before we baptise you.

He didn’t know it but this would be our first baptism, for him to be baptised and me to facilitate a baptism.

This must be one for the books, never to be forgotten and repeated, unique in every way, I thought to myself.

I always knew the day would come when I will baptise the Lord’s children but I didn’t expect it so soon, especially since my own baptism was only a few weeks before.

“Do you know where you would like to be baptised Jan?”. I was hoping he would leave it to me as I would have loved to baptise him where I was baptised because it was so special to me.

We met for coffee and two days later, he and I walked on the beach for an hour or more, talking about our love for the Lord.

We scheduled the baptism for Sunday in the Grootbrak Rivier.

I call him Janneman, but his name is Jan. Jan is possibly the oldest and best-known name in the Afrikaans culture. The term “Jan-Alleman” is in my opinion the equivalent of “Average-Joe” therefore it was clear that Jan-Alleman and average-Joe were going to get wet for the first time for different reasons on the same Sunday afternoon.

 Jan told me earlier about his father being a retired priest and that he, Jan, was brought up religiously, but he only later in life gave his heart to the Lord and accepted Him as his Lord and Savior.

I think it was Friday afternoon when I realised that Jan and I would be the only 2 in the river during the ceremony. My concern was that although I am not a small man, Jan might be a little bigger than me, and I might need help getting him up out of the water grave. I felt the urge to ask Jan if his father who is an elderly retired man would like to help me to baptise his son.

“Is your dad still young and strong enough to help me?”, “I am sure he will be,” he claimed immediately without asking his father first. Well, then it is settled; I will, with the help of Jan’s father, Oom Jorrie, be responsible for facilitating the baptism. What an honour it will be to have a father and son part of my first baptism story.

But wait, there is more to the story.

Saturday, I spent time with some of my Christian brothers who prayed with me and talked with me about the happy day and what needs to be done. I read Romans 6 and Colossians 12 in preparation and learned again so much from the scriptures and was so thankful for the guidance of especially my friend and brother in Christ, Jaydee.

After I was done preparing, I decided to write Jan a letter which he could keep in his bible to remind him of the day he was baptised and of my bad handwriting.

I started the letter with “ I call you Janneman but you are Jan ……..” and then the Lord opened the last hidden surprise ……

Allow me to remind you that

1. The Lord has sent Jan on vacation to Grootbrak and now will be baptised,

2. The Lord has also sent Jan’s retired father (the former preacher) who loves his son dearly           to be part of his new birth in Christ

3. And when I wrote his name the Lord opened my eyes to see the obvious fact that his surname is Jordaan, because the river Jesus was baptised in was not the Grootbrak Rivier but the Jordaan Rivier.  

The Lord loves us so much that he blessed us with the symbolic repeat of the time when he was baptized. When Jesus was baptized, his father (God) was present when God spoke and said “Behold this is my beloved son…” and the holy spirit was present in the form of the dove that came down from heaven at the moment Jesus was baptised.

I know God smiled upon that day when we, clumsy is we were, got together as His Sons to confess that we love him enough:

 to lay down our lives for him in this world and

to be baptised in the death of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and

to rise out of the water grave as free men of this world who now live for Him and Him alone until death ends our time in this world and we move on to stay with him forever in worship of his glory full greatness.