"Follow me"

 

Follow me

Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.” (John 1:43)

Well, where are we going?

Oh, I never tell people that,

It’s all a surprise:

The beauty and danger of the ravines and crevasses

The glory of the mountain tops

The valley of the shadow of death

The still waters, the spacious places.

You will just have to come and see.

You mean you want me to follow you,

But refuse to tell where we are going?

Yes.

                                 * * *

Hmm. I kind of like him.

No, well, I really like him

He has kind eyes.

I want to be with him.

What gets me is this: he is just so kind.

And that sense of barely suppressed joy:

He’s alive, really alive.

He seems to be standing on tiptoes,

ready to take flight

into some adventure.

I want to follow him.

And my old life,

well, it’s no great shakes.

Nets, fish, stink.

Even if I became a partner,

bought everyone else out,

and retired to a mansion in Galilee,

Well, so what?

So what?

I would be an old rich man,

sitting under my wine and fig trees,

remembering him who called me into adventure

and whom I refused.

He looks like a man who knows what he is doing.

And when he looks at me,

I can tell he cares for me.

Do I trust him?

How can anyone look at him and

NOT trust him.

I think of the options:

Let this man, who is all life, all flame, all light,

his eyes full of merriment,

go on his way without me?

I cannot do it.

The thought makes me too sad.

And then, the other option:

Following him,

though I do not know where he is going?

Oh, that’s the exciting option.

                             * * *

Come follow me, you say

But where are you going? What are we going to do?

Shouldn’t I know that before I set out to follow you?

I ask, once again. No harm in asking, as they say.

I am enough.

I will satisfy your soul’s needs as in a sun-scorched land.

You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring which never fails.

Those who pass up the chance to follow me

For their stuff, their status, their old identity

For safety or security,

are simply not worthy of me.

You do not know where I am going,

but that is okay.

All you need to do is to put one foot in front of the other,

and follow me step by step.

My yoke is easy.

There will be glad times,

and sad times,

but this will never change:

Following me will always be

simply putting one step in front of the other.