Preface ~
Jesus said “follow me”, it was his way of introducing to would-be disciples the life they must be willing to give up back when he walked the earth. As it turns out these two words have become one of the most difficult but most rewarding undertakings any person could imagine, and still today, more than two-thousand years later. Only some of those who were ever in the presence of Jesus actually believed him to be the Messiah. The same Messiah who had been prophesied hundreds, even thousands of years earlier in the Old Testament. I’m thinking it must have been frustrating for Jesus to have to deal with mere mortals like us. I probably would have responded with something like “just shut up stupid, and follow me okay?!” However, Jesus being the only perfect person to ever walk this earth would never have been that curt [with anyone]. He was too humble to address anyone in that manner. Jesus was also quoted as saying, “I am the way, the truth and the life… no one can come to the Father except through me”, [the Book of John 14:6]. To me, that is about as specific as a “man god” has to be. Note: Jesus followers became known as “the Way”, a term used to describe the early days of this movement. “The Way” served as a precursor to words such as “Christianity”, or being a “Christian” [in faith], terms which came along much later in history.

“I Am Who I Am” ~~
The sovereignty of God is not negotiable, cannot be traded in for something shiny or something else to suit your fancy. God’s sovereignty will remain for all time and all existence. So there will never be a time that God does not have sovereignty over our entire existence. How does that make you feel? Frightened maybe to think that you’re not in control? Relax, what you’re about to read is my whole premise which revolves around that you and I never were in control! 🙂 I feel pretty good about all this because I’m capable of making some bad decisions on my own when given the free will to do so. Furthermore, I have ample evidence that God has interceded for me [from time to time]. The fact of the matter is sometimes we can be our own worst enemy.

On a Leash ~~~~~
I want to introduce you to my metaphor for this life, that being we’re all on a leash. If you’ve never thought of your life in this way think back to instances [in your life] where you ended up in a place or circumstance that was largely unplanned. In fact, maybe your actual plans fell through and now that several years have gone by you realize that where you are now is a whole universe better off than you could have ever imagined your life would be. But how did you get there? Was your path straight to this destination? You’re in luck if it was. In my case my life has taken many twists and turns as I navigated over numerous peaks and valleys.

It’s this leash I’m on that’s been difficult to detect. I’ve hardly noticed it because it’s anything but short. In my mind I had always felt like I had autonomy to exercise that thing known as “free will”, and I have, I did. When I used to take my dog on walks we had one of those leashes with an expander which allowed him to have a good bit of freedom, freedom to sprint out in front, or go this way or that way while I stayed pretty steady on the path. My dog really enjoyed these walks because he got to exercise a bit of freedom to explore some smells [of things] I wouldn’t be that interested in smelling. I contracted his leash back every now and then but it was just to keep him safe, or return him to the right track. Do you see your life different now? Our leash tends to be quite long, allowing us the freedom to veer off course from God’s will for our lives. Then sometimes our leash gets contracted back in order to keep us safe and/or return us to the right path. I’m thinking maybe it’s God’s way of returning us to the path he truly wants us on?

Shortening My Leash ~~
These days I attempt to give God more of the reins of this life. At least now I’m putting in the effort to understand and follow his desire for me, as well as his delays for those things I might be wishing or praying for. In other words, I try to live and find contentment in his shorter leash [for me]. What’s counterintuitive is the fact that living under God’s will does not limit a person’s effectiveness or happiness. However, in the short run it can certainly appear that way. What we cannot see [until significant time has passed] is what we don’t know now, the still unknown. It takes time for our future to unfold, a future which none of us can see clearly, none but God anyway. Think of how much better off you are today because some past desire of yours was left unfulfilled? Start there… it’s really quite amazing to ponder.