Apparently, I have arrived. In the past week or so, I have had TWO different people refer to me as “Brother Josh.” I don’t know what I did to garner the recognition, but I must have finally made it to the magical threshold of respect that causes someone to call me “brother.”

Now…let’s be clear, there are many different uses of “brother,” some of which I had received plenty of times before. For instance, some use it as a way of expressing a greeting between friends (e.g. “What’s up my brother?). Quite often, it’s used in church as a kind of shorthand for “brothers in Christ.” But the way it was used in the past couple of weeks was different. Let me explain.

I once served at a church where I was reprimanded for not referring to the pastor as “Brother Hezekiah” (Names have been changed to protect those in question). I simply referred to him by his first name while speaking which OBVIOUSLY meant that I didn’t respect him. When I asked if that meant that I should be called “Brother Josh” they told me “No…that’s different.” Hmmm.

So…I must have made it to the this new level of Brotherdom. I’ve arrived to a certain level of ministerial respect. I don’t think I did anything in particular Maybe it’s just that I am coming close to creeping out of my twenties and losing some hair. That obviously means I’m getting wiser.

Now if only I could take the next step and move up to a cooler title like “Bishop Brickey,” “The Right Reverend Josh,” or maybe even “Pope Joshua I.” Maybe I can get one of those cool cars, too.