This past week has brought new meaning to the word “diversity.” I feel as if I have done a little bit of everything. From washing out the baptismal pool, to planting flowers, to praying with dozens of people on Maundy Thursday, Easter is a season that requires everything we have.

As a church and, specifically, as a church leader, this time of the year mandates that we are all in for the cause.  If the Resurrection of Jesus is as important as our faith would suggest, then we have no choice but to stop everything else we are doing and focus on the enormity of the event. The crazy part is how much I love it. I love the intensity of the season, I love the focus, and I love the fact that this is our peak.

The truth is that I wouldn’t want to do something that didn’t require me to be all in. I would hate to drudge through life feeling as if there were no purpose or passion. Serving in a field that I love and serving in a place that I love afford me the opportunity to do something that most only dream of: to be in love with my work.

My prayer for you this Easter season is that you have the opportunity to be “all in”— first, with the hope that comes from the Risen Lord and, second, with a mission in your life that forces you to do EVERYTHING within your power to make it work.

Don’t settle for anything less.