Tag Archives: follow

Pace Keepers

pace keeper

When I ran a half marathon in 2009, I remember that there were pace runners who were stationed at different points in the mass of participants. Their job was to maintain a certain pace for a particular group of runners who knew in general how fast (or slow) they normally run. My pace runner I watched for was the 13-minute mile runner, for instance. I was not the quickest runner, needless to say. But there were many runners who were pacing along with me and following the 13-minute pace runner as well.

The idea of pace runners and the runners that follow them came to mind for me recently when I was thinking about how each of us moves forward in faith at different rates and no rate is better or worse than another. There is no need to judge where anyone is on their faith journey. Some people like to read large sections of Scripture daily, for example, while others find it more beneficial to their souls to sit with a single verse of Scripture for awhile. Both are good ways to stay in the Word.

So find your pace of faith, look for those who are at your same pace, embrace that pace and keep at it as you “press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14).

A Row of Geese

row of geese

I was stopped in traffic on my way to work by a row of geese that was walking slowly yet deliberately across a major thoroughfare to a pool of water that had collected in a ditch on the other side of the street after a heavy rain. At first I was annoyed by the inconvenience to my commute, but then I became fascinated by the fact that each of the geese in the gaggle directly followed the one before it, and they would not be deterred until they reached their desired destination.

The instinct of a goose is to follow. Our instinct as disciples of Christ should be to follow, as well—follow the disciples before us, and follow the leading of Jesus. I think of the first disciples who dropped everything they were doing when Jesus said to each of them, “Follow me.” They followed right behind the Lord and went where he went, spreading the message of the Gospel. My prayer is that we recapture that same willingness and determination to follow Jesus faithfully and invite others to follow behind us to our final destination—life together in heaven with him through his death and resurrection.

Follow Close

follow close

We say in Lent that we follow in the footsteps of Jesus on his way to the cross. But what does that mean exactly? In a sermon I heard a few weeks ago, the preacher talked about how disciples in Jesus’ day walked so close behind their masters that dust from their masters’ footsteps fell onto them. That’s how close we should follow Jesus this Lent. We should let his words, his life, his ways fall on us and become a part of us and who we are.

What is more, many disciples in the time of Jesus were spokespeople for their masters. They knew what he would say. They knew what he would do. They knew how he would respond. We who have read the gospels and know the trajectory of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection can speak with certainty that Jesus would say, “I love you.” We know that he would do the job of a servant to show his care. We know that he would respond with mercy to every confession of sin.

Our lives should be in lockstep with our Savior. Our walk should always mirror his. As St. Paul tells us, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but when it comes to our imitation of Christ, it is the sincerest form of faith. Be a faithful follower of Christ today.