Following

Over the past twenty or thirty years, there have been a lot of gerund books about God: Loving God, Obeying God, Experiencing God, Believing God (a la Beth Moore). There are probably books on this--a check shows variation--Following God. 

Jesus told his disciples, "Follow me." As much believe me, love me, obey me.  The concept demands our attention, if he said it so much, for example, nine times in the book of Matthew.  

 (You will find love me, believe me, and obey me in the gospels, but not "experience me." I'm still not sure what that means, since God is the Supreme Being, not an experience, but I digress.)

To follow requires sight, sound, and activity. Vision, hearing, and movement. Eyes, ears, and feet. 

When the disciples followed, they left nets and taxation tables, their ways of making a living; illness and deformity; security and wealth; degradation and demon-possession. 

They started by stopping.  They took another path. They had to see to follow and even more, listen. And they had to step, do, handle, touch. We cannot follow what we do not know. If asked to follow someone through a forest, one must cross the creek and get muddy boots and climb trails. It is continuous and continual.

I think we would do well to be mindful of this word, follow. Christianity is obsessed with leadership now, and the more we obsess, the more we seem not to understand leadership. Leaders are heroes, followers are sheep, the culture says. I question that.