Friday, June 3, 2011

"Follow Me..."

Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him." 
                        -Matthew 9:9

I can't imagine.  The Savior of the world, the Messiah, the fulfillment of of the prophecy of the Old Testament is standing in front of me saying "follow me".  Drop everything, forget it all and follow.  We know from reading other stories that Jesus stood in front of a few men and challenged them to follow Him.  Unlike Matthew they asked Jesus to say goodbye to their families, and to bury their dead father and Jesus said no.  

On one level that is where I see Stacia and me...

Yesterday culminated the last of the "big things" to take off of our list of things to do before moving to HK.  Last week we sold the car and were able to pay out of the loan.  Goodbye Car.




After the car was sold, we decided to sell our desks, printer (still available), book shelf (still available), LCD Tv, sound system, and whatever else we could find.  All of those things were just things.  Even the car, it was easy to sell, we don't have a need for the car, or the loan, any more.  But it seemed that the realization of our move became real yesterday.  Yesterday, we took our Boxer, Nooma, to her new home.  The family that we have given her to is great.  She is going to have a great yard, kids to play with (ages 13, 16, 18), and overall a home full of love.  Though we had the love, the yard was much more than we could offer her with a 600 sq. ft. apartment on the 7th floor of a tall building.  She would have been miserable with us.  But the challenge of leaving became real yesterday.  Are we doing the right thing?  Is this what we are supposed to do?

As Stacia and I discussed it, I thought about Jesus' call on his disciples.  "Follow me."  Simple.  When we started this journey, applying, getting our documents together, figuring out which schools to apply, which to skip, we had a prayer (which I think I described in a former post) that we would both have jobs, that it would be in a school that would be welcoming, challenging and the easiest possible transition into a foreign culture.  Enter ICS-HK.  The email comes, we have jobs.
  
Follow me...

When Jesus calls us into anything, something is being sacrificed.  But is it a sacrifice or preparation?  While I was sitting with a great friend last night, he said, "I believe that everything that happens prepares us for something more." God constantly puts us into situations where He is challenging us, forming us into a new self.  

Look back at Matthew.  He said yes.  Left his tax collecting (which was a HATED profession, he probably saw following Jesus as a way to be better liked), left his wealth, left his friends, sacrificed his reputation, to follow Jesus.  

Even though we are roughly 2000 years after that event, I believe that Jesus is telling Stacia and me to follow him to HK.  We don't know what's in store, we don't know how life is going to be, but we have each other and we have Jesus.  Anything else that comes up, will only be gifts from God, forming us into the disciples that he wants us to be.

All for now,
T.