I give up!

I’ve tried to fight it for a really long time. A friend convinced me yesterday that I’m only deluding myself and that I might as well call a spade a spade. I never did want to assume what the title implied, but he pointed out that I already have assumed everything but the title. “Shucks,” he drawled, “you even have the certificates and diplomas to prove it!”

Don’t you just hate it when you’ve become the very thing you didn’t want to be? I remember as a child being told that I looked like my father and thinking, “No, I look like me” (I didn’t get the whole process of how I came into being at that age). I remember seeing my dad do things, say things and even discipline me and thinking, “I’ll never be like that!”

Then one day I wake up and find out that I am EXACTLY like that.

What is interesting is that becoming that which you didn’t want to be isn’t necessarily bad. In fact, it can be quite good. In the case of my dad, being more like him than I ever imagined has paid off in ways I could have never dreamed of. My whole life has more purpose because of his influence on me and if I am the “second reincarnation” of him (yes, I know that is redundant) then another entire generation of people are being blessed by having my dad’s qualities shine through me.

So what is it that I am but didn’t want to be?

“Hi, my name is Joe and I’m a pastor.”