Aaron Mensah-Afoakwah

I have always been exposed to the word of God and his message, whether that be through attending church or praying as a family at home. Baptism had been discussed and on my mind, but I never truly took that step by myself to commit to God. I do not know whether this is because I felt scared and intimidated in some way by the significance of what baptism means to Christians or whether I thought it would just happen gradually when I got older, but this almost cautious approach resulted in me constantly making excuses as to why I shouldn’t get baptised or involved in the church. First it was because I was too young, then when I got older it was because I had football, then when I stopped football it was because I had school work, and these excuses just went on and on.

It was at Soul Survivor in 2015 when I final took a step forward towards baptism. Every day in the evening there would be a period of worship and in these you would be able to come forward and decide to commit your life to Jesus. I felt like it was the right time to do this, and I was more comfortable being around people my age who I could relate to better. Nevertheless, it still took me till the second or third day to actually go forward and be prayed for. From then on I thought about baptism more seriously, but once Soul Survivor ended it slowly drifted from my main focus and I was again distracted by other insignificant things in my life.

It was only until quite recently last month during exams when I knew I definitely wanted to be baptised. I thought I was quite prepared having revised thoroughly, and was used to exams, having done them throughout my school years both in secondary school and even getting into secondary school with the 11+. I tried to be independent, doing things on my own and in my own way, both academically and just generally in life, but with that I probably neglected God and tried to rely on myself too much. This showed after my second Maths exam which didn’t go as well as I had hoped, and brought a lot of unnecessary stress and anxiety for my coming exams. It was only through praying with my family throughout the week that I was even able to sit my third maths exam, let alone get the grade that I needed. It was from this I knew that despite all the preparation and planning you do, there is truly nothing you can do on Earth without God.

Next year as I go to university I will face a lot more challenges, but with God I know I will be able to overcome them while furthering my own knowledge and experience for the future. I also strive to strengthen my relationship with God, through reading the Bible, praying regularly and getting to know fellow Christians both here at KBC and whichever church I find at university.

I realise now that there’s no excuse great enough to take yourself away from God. All other things in life seem trivial when I think about my baptism, being reborn as a Christian and be an ambassador for Christ and the church.