Baptism
Before Jesus departed to go to heaven, He left behind physical acts which are symbols or pictures of important teachings that He wanted us to practice. These practical truths were and are so important that He commanded us to repeat these acts over and over until He returns.
I believe Christ instituted and commanded His followers to continue to practice two symbolic acts which remind us of great spiritual truths. Our church celebrates the baptism of believers and the communion service. We practice the baptism of believers by immersing the person three times and we practice the threefold communion service, which includes the washing of another Christ followers feet, the Lord's Supper (or Love Feast), and the Eucharist (the bread and the cup).
This past Sunday night I read the testimonies of students who wanted to show others in a public manner that they love Christ by getting baptized. There is no greater pleasure than witnessing Christ followers taking the next step of making their faith their own by obeying the Bible's teaching (read Matthew 28:19-20). I want to list the names of these believers who wanted to make public their love for Christ:

Ashley Marie Conley; Elijah Geist; Clara Gingrich; Kristen Gunter; Katyauna Morrow; Kendra Morrow; Sean Morrow; Robert Ng; Sadie Wiegert.

The Empty Tomb
As I complete the life of Christ readings, I am amazed at what I did not notice before in previous readings. I forget that those who went to take care of Jesus' body upon burial were worried about not finding his body. They were looking for his body when the angel told them that Jesus rose from the dead. Even when the disciples, Peter and John, went to the tomb, they looked for the body of Jesus. They wondered where someone placed Jesus' body--they did not yet know that Jesus had risen again (read John 20:9). The followers of Jesus may have felt more than grief that Jesus had died. They may have experienced greater loss and intense grief because now his body was gone. Their emotions set the stage for Jesus to appear to them--alive from the dead! How cool! I can allow my emotions to linger and to engage my feelings in this life because they set the stage for Jesus to appear in my life--how cool! May God help you draw closer to Him by waiting for Jesus to come to you in the midst of your feelings whether high or low, happy or sad, mad or glad. God will come to you in your pain and happiness--wait for Him to come.