Have you ever had a mentor? Someone who taught you, guided you through an area or life skill? It could be a pastor, a recovery sponsor, a professional mentor, a coach, or a teacher. Their impact on our lives can be far reaching and dramatic, reshaping our values, direction, our purpose. It's why we develop such affection for mentors, and speak so highly of them, why mentor is often an affectionate term. As I was writing this sermon my thoughts were flooded with people that have mentored me. When I speak of them, my natural response is to speak passionately about them with deep gratitude, respect, and admiration. Thursday night at dinner with friends, Pastor Daryl came up and I began to speak about him from the heart. I was proud to have him as a friend and mentor, celebrating his impact on me as a pastor, a preacher, and a writer. Before I realized it, I had been talking about Daryl for 5 minutes, without notes, just sincere passion, from the heart. To me that’s very similar to the scene in today’s passage, when Jesus comes to John to be baptized.
