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I don't think people who lived in the Bible times had it easy, but at least when Jesus said, "Follow me" they could see the guy. You knew whether you were following him or not because … "Whoa, there goes Jesus!" He'd be off somewhere and you'd still be eating your cheese fries (because chili cheese fries hadn't been invented yet—man, they had it rough) and you'd realize, "Whoops, I guess I didn't follow." I think in many ways those of us who live today have it easier, but following an invisible guy can be tricky. . . . . I decided to look at the original followers of Jesus in the Bible. I was still a little annoyed with them, because they had the advantage of getting the non-invisible Jesus, but I hoped maybe I could learn something. What did it look like for them to follow Jesus? Did following Jesus lead them to obedience and morality? Yes. But was it more than that? Way more. It's wacky. People follow Jesus into a storm your momma would have made you come in from. People give up everything and leave their jobs to follow Jesus. . . . Jesus says that to follow is to serve. . . . People stop following Jesus in droves because it's too weird, or too scary. . . . Everywhere I looked, it seemed like following Jesus led people to be astonished and afraid. . . . Jesus was constantly on the move. He had an agenda. And following him meant you would be going where he was going and doing what he was doing. Following Jesus is a long obedience in all different directions.
