The Jordan River, Sunday July 7th 2013 You won't believe this

We ended our day where the Jordan River flows out of the Sea of Galilee.  It was a beautiful drive down into the valley and we stopped at one scenic overlook that actually was such a clear day that you could see Jordan.  While on our way to the Jordan River our guide told us that late in the afternoon was a good time to be there and take pictures as the sun would be behind us.  We spoke of how great it would be to come upon some people that were being Baptized just like Jesus had been by John the Baptist.  The Jordan River is about 60 miles long.  The spot where we went is a likely place where Jesus was actually Baptized but again there is no certainty.  When we got there, it made sense that it could be though.  Now, there is a small dam that controls the river flow but 2000 years ago, there of course was not and the river could have been much more wide.  Today the river is only about 75 yards across where we were and our guide told us that when we get to the Dead Sea in a few days that the Jordan River looks more like a creek as it is very very narrow.
If you are not sitting down, you might want to right now because you won't believe what happened to us.  We went into the gift shop area and looked at the white robes they rent to people that want to be Baptized.  They also have something called a Reverification of Baptism for people that have been Baptized but just want to have the same experience that Jesus did in that very river.  Just about the time we started walking out to see the river that was a Catholic priest taking a family down to the river for an actual Baptism of a person that was becoming Catholic.  The priest did not submerge the person, just sprinkled their forehead just like a newborn in the Catholic faith.  Here's where things went a little different for us.  A woman that works at the facility there approached us.  She asked us if we could do her a favor.  There was a British film crew there at the river doing a documentary on why people come to the Jordan River.  They work for the BBC and have a show called Line or Lion, something like that, I never got the correct name but we will.  What she needed were volunteers to be submerged as in Baptism so the film crew could ask a few questions about our trip as well as a few others.  Nicky went and asked the priest what he thought and he said, "sure, go ahead with it, you are already Baptized."  Nicky was not enough, I had to go with him.  Kathleen and Charles sat this one out.
A lady from Australia, a lady from Italy, a young girl from Maryland and student at Dartmouth, Nicky and me.  What did we all have in common?  We were all Catholic!  Nobody in our "film" was experiencing Baptism as a sacrament.  However, we lined up and walked into the water.  The lady from Australia was first and the preacher, who was from Tennessee, asked her if there was something she wanted to pray about before she was submerged.  That is when I got emotional, she wanted to pray to God that she get some sort of emotional peace from her husband recently dying.  That is when it was clear to me that people come there for all kinds of reasons and the thought of being in the same river as Jesus was warming.  Although the water was cold at first, as we stood there with those tiny fish nibbling our toes, it became more of a real experience than just a documentary for the BBC.  I'm actually glad we did it. Notice in the background the small boys fishing.  Also, notice the film crew. Never, ever, ever thought I would be "dunked" by a non-denominational preacher who could be the next Joel Osteen.... look at the pictures, worth more than 1,000 words.