As a Follower of Jesus

As a follower of Jesus … I hear that so often… I say it.. you probably say it too. What does it mean… to you and what are you trying to explain when you say it?

As a follower.. I do this? or Maybe that? As a follower I don’t do this, go there, say that? How do you know that you are actually following the one and only ” Jesus”? Honestly, lots of the time I’m not sure those are his footsteps up ahead. I was raised on the steps of the church, might have been born there. I know most of the bible stories, I heard a gazillion sermons. Still… do I know how to follow Jesus? My parents and grandparents prayed over me at least 3 times a day, out loud. I knew exactly where I was not hitting the mark. I have heard it all, sat still enough to please my Mom during long sermons and boring stories. I should know how to follow. But… do I?

I woke up one day and realized I only knew what someone else had told me. My belief was founded on someone else’s interpretation. In that moment I realized that I did NOT know Jesus. It was all secondhand information. I had watched people’s lives and come to the conclusion we were not all following Jesus. I was born saying “why?” so now I have opened a big can of worms in myself. I HAD to know what was what!

I spent the next 20 odd years searching, digging, questioning, verifying as many ways as I could that what was really was. It WAS NOT. Sometimes it was close, sometimes so far off the mark even I could see the issues.

Lots of words to tell you this truth I found. Don’t trust your belief to someone else’s ideas and interpretations. It’s to important to the end results. When Jesus said “Seek and you will find.” That’s what he meant.

I now recognize Jesus’s every step. I KNOW know him. I still get sidetracked, lose my way, fall in the ditch quite often. But I know it and I can quickly find his footsteps and get back on the journey.

There’s that old saying, “Trust but verify.” for me it’s backwards. I’ll vertify and then trust, everytime.

Don’t believe me? I’d rather you didn’t. Go find out for yourself. Then come tell me about it.

Love, Pam