Overflow

It's not very often in my life that I do something SO DUMB that even I have to stop and shake my head.  Yet, just the other day, I found myself in that very position.

Every year on "Thanksgiving Eve" we (CrossWay Church) have a combined service with New Life Ministries of Saxonburg, PA.  The two churches have, then, opportunities to be water baptized (we believe in baptism by immersion, as evidenced in Scripture by Jesus' own baptism, among others).  This, somewhat obviously, requires our baptismal tank to be filled.

By now, you probably have a decent idea of what's coming.  So I'll cut to the chase and say it - I OVERFLOWED the baptismal tank.  To make matters worse, I LEFT THE BUILDING.  Granted, there were still people there, but I never asked anyone else to check the tank, nor did I remember to check it before I left on an errand.  As I stood in Staples looking for business cards, my phone rang.  "We have a problem" the voice on the other end said.  "You never told me I was supposed to turn the water off, and the baptismal overflowed."  Ugh.  By the time I had returned to the church to 'fix' the problem, the water was long turned off, but the damage had already been done - there was standing water in many places near the tank.

Needless to say, I had a little job ahead of me.  One great lady in the church lives nearby and fetched her wet-vac from home.  While she was doing that, I diligently sucked away water from the carpet using our church's carpet cleaner.  As I was 'cleaning' I began to imagine what the scene must have looked like when the Lead Pastor at the church found the tank overflowing, water pouring out over all four sides and spilling onto the floor.  In the midst of that, I remembered a verse from the Bible where Jesus promises us blessings, "pressed down, shaken together and overflowing."

While I pondered that thought for a moment, and it developed.  Aren't we supposed to live our lives as Christians in OVERFLOW mode?  Really, when you think about it, it's the truth.  We should be so full of Christ and so filled in our personal relationships with Him that there is no other recourse but for that to OVERFLOW into all other areas of our lives.

As a parting thought, I leave you with the words to a recently-written song entitled (of course!), "Overflow".

Open my eyes, so I can see Your glory
Open my ears, to hear Your voice more clearly
Open my heart, Lord and let it beat with Yours
Beat with Yours

Fill me up so I can be poured out
Fill me up so I can be poured out
Fill me up till I overflow with You

And overflow in me Jesus, overflow in me
Pour Your Spirit out Jesus, overflow in me

And pour Your Spirit out, oh Lord

And overflow in me.