The story of that’s Marines resuscitation spread quickly. The corpsman and the people in the tent began to share what happened. I talked about it as I led patrol prayer, a time of devotions before Marines went out on patrol.
My attention quickly turned to the upcoming Easter Sunday service that included baptism. Something I discovered is that the spirituality of the Marines is truly deep. They are hungry for God and his presence in their lives. As a result, I led five Bible Studies, not including Sunday service, each week. I wanted to give those who were interested an opportunity to celebrate Easter, and for some Marines and a few Iraqis to have a chance to express their new-found faith.
There was one problem. I had to figure out a way to create a baptistry in the desert. The task was not easy. I dug a deep hole, covered it with a plastic liner and poured eight hundred gallons of water into it. It took me all day.
That Easter service was amazing. The hundreds who attended, worshipped God for the resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ, and praised him for bringing the Marine back to life two days earlier. When it came time for the baptisms, I lifted the cover off the hole.
I was shocked, all the water was gone. Apparently a hole in the plastic liner had drained the water.
I explained what had happened to those attending the service.
“Let’s pray and see what God does,” I suggested.
Thirty minutes later, a water truck came out of nowhere. Here we were in the middle of war zone, and an Iraqi water truck was just passing by. We stopped it. The truck had a special pump on it that filled the hole in less than a minute. What took me eight hours the day before took this truck only seconds!
“Man, God is alive! God is working overtime,” I heard some of the Marines say. “First a man came back to life and then God provided water for baptism in the desert.”
It was a very special moment. There were no dry eyes in the audience that day as thirty were baptized. God filled our hearts with his presence in a momentous way on Easter Sunday.
God continued to use the miracle of the Marine’s resuscitation. Over one hundred accepted Christ as their savior, including some Iraqi Muslims and even some Buddhists, something I could relate to.
Thank you God meeting my each and every need. Thank you for the strength of your presence.
“Then Jesus said, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?’” (John 11:40)