2017 and a Spilled Mop Bucket

December 30, 2016.

I was in the midst of enjoying a few days off at the end of the year. My kids were on Christmas Break. We had gathered with family during this week to celebrate Christmas and early January birthdays. We were counting the days down to 2017 and a new year.

Our family had just finished a very busy season of life. The holidays are always busy for people, but this year felt especially busy. Our oldest daughter participated in our church’s annual Christmas presentation. This show is a big deal every year and involved hundreds of people in our church to pull off 12 shows in 3 weekends. In addition to that, as a Student Ministry Pastor, we were having our Middle School and High School Christmas parties and we had lots of gifts, cards, notes, etc. that we wanted to give to students in our Small Groups and our volunteer leaders. Students were finishing up midterms and were slightly anxious about making it to Christmas Break. Also, the New Year was knocking on the door and there was much planning and work to be done to successfully launch the ministry into 2017.

December 30, 2017.

I stood over the mop bucket, watching in horror and disbelief, as the dirty mop water dumped out into the middle of the cafe floor. It was an hour until close and customers were still in the store, enjoying their coffee and conversations before they had to head back out into the sub-zero weather. It was my third week as a partner at Starbucks and those first few weeks left my head spinning. There was so much to learn and I knew next to nothing about how to do any of the things the job required when I first started. I was a 40-year-old former Student Ministry Pastor who had no idea where his life was headed.

In an effort to do a good, efficient job of mopping the store floors before we closed, I inadvertently tipped over the mop bucket and watched a gallon or so of dirty water rush over the floor I had just cleaned. It went everywhere. It was gross. I tried my best to contain it with my tiny mop head, but the mess just spread. I had the brief thought that I should just lay the mop down, take off my green apron, and walk out to my car and never return, but I knew that’s not how a grown up deals with something like this. Instead, I put my humiliated head down, went to the biggest puddle of dirty water, and began to slowly, one mop stroke at a time, try to clean up the mess that lay at my feet.

In the midst of the tedious task of mopping up a big, dumped-out bucket of dirty water, I stumbled across an amazing irony. The dumping of the water, and my frustration that what was happening was out of my control, was the perfect metaphor for my 2017. 2017 started with careful plans for a nice, clean, well-done job. It finished with what felt like a mess that was out of my control. Have you ever been there?

Part way through 2017, it became clear that my time working as the Student Ministry Pastor at my church was coming to an end. I had experienced some health issues as well as some bouts of depression and burnout over the previous 2 years. As I worked hard to hold the ministry together, grow it, and see it thrive, the toll it was taking on me began to add up. It was finally decided that it might be best for me to transition out of that role and look for something new.

The trouble was, I had no idea what that “new” was supposed to be. I prayed like crazy. I met with many people. I updated my resume and received some helpful tips on how to make it more appealing since I last updated it in 2009. I started applying for jobs in the community because our family had deep roots here and I hadn’t felt called to leave to a new location. I spent a month doing construction, which I had next to no experience doing beforehand. After dozens of applications submitted with no responses, I finally was offered a job at a Starbucks store.

And that brought me to my mop bucket moment. I had only been at Starbucks for 3 weeks and my head was swimming with all I needed to learn and know to do the job well. The last half of the year was filled with doubts, waiting, disappointment, frustration and anxiety. How did the water of my life end up all over the floor? How could I get it all corralled and back where it belongs? How do I figure out what I’m supposed to do next? Have you ever been there?

Being in Student Ministry is not easy. From the outside it looks like a dream job. “Wait, you get paid to hang out with teenagers, eat pizza and go to water parks?” But beneath the surface, anyone who has invested themselves deeply in the lives of students knows that it’s not all junk food and amusement parks. It’s also really hard work.

After 17 years of full-time ministry with students, I get it. If you can relate, then I’m right there with you. In fact, I want to be your biggest champion. I want to walk with you as you do the hard work of walking with students. Spiritual growth is hard and messy. Teenagers are hard and messy. It’s easy to feel all alone or that your ministry isn’t the clean, well-mopped floor you had worked for. Sometimes it’s a tipped over bucket of dirty water running everywhere.

My desire is that when your ministry, or personal life, looks like the messy mop water, you don’t give into the temptation to lay your mop handle down, take off your apron, and walk out defeated. You’re not a failure and you’re not alone and I want to help you understand that and feel that in your own life and ministry.

So, if you’ll allow me, I’d like to walk with you as you walk with students.

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