On our way to a baptismal service a few weeks ago, our church elder called and asked us to bring Sister Joana, one of his Bible study students, to also be baptized. When we arrived at Sister Joana’s house, we discovered she was paralyzed from the waist down and lived alone. She moves around by scooting on her bottom. We had difficulty getting her into the back seat of our SUV, where she sat on the floor with her limp legs angled to one side.

When we arrived, Sister Joana joined the revival service and sat on a mat under a cashew nut tree. Two hundred people were gathered together from most of the area churches for the group baptism. There was much singing, and a sermon was preached. But then I was puzzled when a group of young men busily banged on one of the coconut wood pews with a hammer. By removing the legs from the pew, they made a perfect carrier to haul Sister Joana.

As the time came for her baptism, the sun shone brightly, coconut trees on the beach waved their palm leaves, and sailboats dotted the deeper ocean waters. The setting was beautiful. Eight strong men lifted Sister Joana on the modified church pew and walked her a quarter of a mile into the ocean to where the pastor was waiting waist-deep among the waves. Sister Joana was then lowered into the water and baptized, sitting comfortably on the church pew. I can imagine the smile on Jesus’ face stretched wide as He watched His precious daughter baptized in the pristine Indian Ocean.

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