After spending two years as a pastor and spending four years on a traveling ministry team before that, I found myself mopping floors. This was definitely not what I planned in my life, but it was what I had.

I spent years traveling all around the United States and had the chance to speak at conventions, seminars, and youth groups. I got to do something that I was really good at; speaking in front of people and pointing them to a deeper version of themselves as well as pointing them closer to God. After doing this for a few years, I had the chance to pastor at a small church and though there were challenges, overall I enjoyed my time there. 

We spend so much of our lives comparing ourselves to other people. Who’s got more talent, the bigger house, or the nicer car. If our lives are a blank page where we get to write whatever we want, we constantly are looking at other people wondering what they are writing. Imagine being in fourth grade and being asked by your teacher to write a one-page essay about what you did this summer and you start copying what Jimmy did instead. 

In my own faith tradition, there are two ordinances. That’s a fancy way of saying special, sacred acts. Those are baptism and communion. Being a pastor for almost ten years, I have taught a fair share of baptism classes. I shared about the importance of baptism, how we declare our faith in Jesus when we get baptized, and how we are baptized in the name of the Father, and the Son…