Driving home from, for now we’ll call it my “day job,” I commonly get stuck behind slow drivers. It’s not their fault really. They are probably lake-people who haven’t grown up driving these rough rural roads. Lake people really are a different breed around here. Most of them make twice my yearly income, drive fancy cars, and live in Fort Wayne or South Bend, or their suburbs, and own summer cottages on one of the many lakes around my home. You know, “Lake People” kind of sounds like a bad horror flick. But that’s another subject altogether. I’m not jealous. Moving on…

Unfortunately for others, sometimes I am the slow driver. After a long day, my brain cannot focus enough to keep my foot on the gas pedal while also avoid striking all the Amish buggies and bicycles without at the same time avoid colliding with oncoming traffic. Something must give. Usually I let up on the gas. Some days I simply end up in a daydream behind a one-horse-powered buggy going 15 miles an hour. I guess that frustrates people who have somewhere to be five minutes ago.

On one such day, I found myself behind a flatbed truck with a rather large rear bumper. It just so happened that I had no particular place to be, and I was worn out after a long work day. It took me a while to realize what I was doing. Though I was in no hurry, and had no intentions to pass this vehicle, I was by all state regulations and good sense, following much too close. In my normal daydream state I kept creeping up on this fellow’s bumper till I had to put on my brakes. I then eased off the MPH until I once again was lost in my thoughts and realized my bumper would give his a rude kiss if a furry four-legged specimen attempted to prove the evolutionist theory correct! Then the entire cycle would start over, that is until I was awakened from my waking dream. When I did notice what was happening, I reseeded into another daydream that went something like this…

Isn’t this how a lot of us follow Jesus? We get excited, perhaps we’ve just been introduced to this adventure we call Christianity. We run up behind him trying to get to know him. But in our zeal to learn, we forget to stop asking so many questions long enough to listen for the answer. Jesus just keeps walking along, laughing under his breath and slowly shaking his head, like a good big brother walking his freshman sibling to the first day of school. Maybe we have a great idea. But it’s our idea and, “Jesus! Come on! Let’s pick up the pace! We’re never going to get there on (my) time!” We might walk by a beautiful garden, or (I don’t know) the best Italian restaurant in the world. It looks like an amazing place to stop for a while. We grab Jesus’ hand and urge him to go where we want. There’s little time because he continues on His slow and steady pace. In our frustration we grasp the hand of the one who sustains the universe. At our touch, he takes his eyes off the path. His fingers close around ours. His warm eyes squint with a huge smile, just happy that we are there in the same moment with him. Everything about him is warmth. We stop for a moment in wonder, then blink and shake it off. “Jesus why can’t we stop? I really want to do this. I want to do this for you. Look at the potential here.” His only response is, “I know, but it is not on the path. It is your choice.” Since we don’t understand, and we can’t see as far as he can, we make our choice, and reap the consequences.

Those of us who have been following Christ for a while, like that day behind the truck, get distracted or start dreaming and don’t even realize that we are getting so close to Christ we’re about to run right into him. Sometimes opportunities to show Christ to others are right in front of us and we don’t even realize it because we are focused on other things. Other times we are so focused on our own dreams we miss an alternative that God may be trying to show us. I have just recently experienced this with helping with both the worship team and youth group at my church. In both cases, I was busy working toward trying to figure out “how God wanted to use me” when both of these opportunities almost literally fell into my lap! The most fantastic thing is that I thoroughly enjoy serving in both of these areas! It’s fascinating to me that I enjoy it so much. I only have found this joy because I followed Jesus along this path. But sometimes we wander off the path altogether. Sometimes it’s intentional. Other times it’s unintentional or the result of trying too hard. Some try to follow a list of rules or regulations and forget that all they have to do is follow the one who is already walking the path. But they are confused, so they go a different direction and have fallen asleep in a field of wildflowers like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. These people, I pray, will wake up as Jesus walks by.

Whereever you find yourself, know that I’m not saying any of these motivations in and of themselves are bad. Passion, excitement, zeal, are all good. Those who follow Christ should have all these things. We should want to get out and serve. We should want to tell everyone we meet about how our lives have been changed and want their lives to be changed too. But (and it’s a big one) this excitement should not push us to pass the One we are commanded to follow.

Woah, wait a minute! I know, I just said “commanded.” We don’t like that word do we? I know I don’t, and I would venture to say that most Americans don’t like to be told what to do. But if you look at the scripture where Jesus says, “Come follow me.” It’s really more than a suggestion. Yes, the man has a choice. But we all know what Jesus would rather have him do. It’s a command motivated by Jesus’s deep love for us, and it’s a difficult concept to grasp. When the word command makes us shift in our seats, remember it’s never about following rules. It’s always about love. God is the definition of love. Our response should also be motivated by that same love. We follow him, obey him, return his love, because he first loved us. It’s like any other human relationship, only better. It would be better for the man in the story, and for us, to reign in passions and excitement, in fact all the virtues, and make them “captive to Christ” just as we do with our vices. Virtues usually carry with them hidden vices that can cause a person to spin out of control, in the name of Christ, just as quickly as their obvious vices. Letting our virtues rule over us can do more harm to the Church than good. This is why we need to let Christ take the lead.

In all honesty, if we followed Jesus perfectly, we wouldn’t need to follow him. Think about that for a minute. The reason we need someone to follow is because we don’t know how to do it on our own. Someone has to be in front. Shouldn’t it be the One who has been here before, who has walked through it? I would like someone to tell me, “Hey, that last step is a doozie! Woah, you don’t want to step in that!” We get a pretty good deal, really. We get the guy who designed how everything works, who put it all together. Not only has he been through it all, he aced all the courses, did all the extra credit offered. Then after graduating Magna Cum Laude, he came back and offered all current students his entire coursework, including the answers to the test. And, it’s all approved by the college president! There’s just one requirement. Each student much be his best bud, his confidant, and meet regularly with him to study. Yeah, bummer right? We still have to study so we do everything exactly like he did. He knows we will still get some answers wrong. We will absolutely miss some classes. But I’ll let you in on a little secret: he’s more concerned about the relationship that is developed over all those late-night study sessions at the 24-hour pancake house than that we get straight A’s.

So I encourage you to go for a metaphorical walk with your God-brother today. Try following if its not what you’re accustomed to, and see what happens. Don’t get frustrated. It might take some practice. Jesus is a very patient man (like thousands of years, patient). He will tutor you if that’s what you need. He’s been there, done that, and graduated with all the honors.

God Bless,

Megan