Who to follow

Catherine writes
My Children are at an age where they are coming out with some fantastic things.

On a walk in the Lake District we were working out which way to go, and Becky said 'There's a sheep, lets follow it' Then a few days later Josh commanded my mum & a friend: 'Follow me, I'm a man'

Made us think - who are we following? Something that seems to know the area, that has confidence - but is actually a sheep? Or the charismatic leader who has lots of confidence, but not necessarily well founded!  Who are we following? It's kind of like that bit in acts where they are fighting over who to follow.. Paul or Apollos.

Truth is even those who think they are following their own instincts turn out to be following someone else....

As Dylan puts it 'You're gonna have to serve sombody'




David Writes
Jesus said 'follow me'... sounds pretty simple, but this following business isn't as straightforward as it seems... I guess most of us like following when the destination is known, the course plotted and the journey secure. We really like the idea of being led by green pastures, still waters etc - but what's all this talk about shadowy valleys? And then Jesus went on to say that if we want to follow him we have to pick up a cross and that by comparison with our devotion to him our love for others must seem like hate...

Catherine writes
So who are we going to follow? The sheep? ' Guess it looked at home in the hills! Problem with following the sheep is you don't know where it is going.. It meanders, it wanders, it just goes where the grass is. It doesn't have a direction, it just moves round the fields and hills. So funny as it would have been to see the crowd of us (Becky, Josh, me, Gareth,  David and Janet) all following the sheep, we would have ended up wherever the rambling sheep wanted to go, not at the destination of our car. Worse, sheep following is tiring! Round and round, up and down - the illusion of progress, but no real purpose - end up exhausted and disillusioned... and no nearer our real destination.

Or maybe we follow the confident sounding voice, the charismatic figure. The big-name church leader, the celebrity, the one who promises much....

David writes
Or perhaps we don't trust others enough to follow them at all. Instead we trust ourselves, our instincts, our cleverness.'I did it my way' is our theme..

Seems to us that if we look around and ask 'how's it going so far' we'd have to say 'not well!'

All we like sheep have definitely wandered off. The strong leaders end up being another Pol Pot, another Gadaffi. The self-made men turn to dust along with their 'achievements'.

So, maybe it's time to respond like Peter. 'who else shall we follow? You have the words of eternal life'

Catherine writes
So maybe it's time to stop trying to sweeten the pill, soften the message. The cross doesn't come with padding. The nails don't include anaesthetic. The road is narrow, it does pass through shadowy valleys. But it leads to life, it is life - and the joy and peace of having Jesus with us outweighs it all. Nothing we give up compares to what we gain.

In these days, lets be praying for our brothers and sisters who are walking this road. Lets be praying for courage to walk with them.

Follow me he said. Then he picked up a cross, gave up his life and saved the world.