Where He Leads, I Will Follow

One of my dear friends from Tulsa called me on Saturday night. She wanted to know about my move to Austin. I detailed my story and then she understood. This is three moves in the ten years since my sweetheart “moved” to heaven. Obviously, I’m not a “squatter” — staying put for very long. But, that’s not new. My husband and I enjoyed the thrills of changing life up. It was divine orchestration and my children seemed to have picked up on that adventuring spirit too. As a result, we are all outgoing and we meet new people and establish new friendships everywhere we go. These days many of my friends and family ask me “Where are you now, Donna?” Well, hopefully, tomorrow, if the weather agrees, I’ll be home in Austin. I love this life. I don’t mind the “here today, gone tomorrow” way of living. And, though I’m going from here to there, you can count on one thing — I’m following God’s lead.

I love and often sing Chris Tomlin’s song “I Will Follow!”
“Where You go, I’ll go; Where You stay, I’ll stay.
When You move, I’ll move; I will follow You.
Who You love, I’ll love; How You serve, I’ll serve.
If this life I lose, I will follow You.”

Those are bold claims, aren’t they? When I hear those words coming out of my mouth, it’s a little sobering. Do I really consider the implications of what I’m saying and singing? Or am I just speaking with bravado the way the Apostle Peter did in his early days of following Jesus? After all, he was the impulsive one who was always making those sorts of big, bold statements. He told Jesus things like “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” But when Jesus was arrested, those claims fell apart. Peter ran and hid and even renounced Jesus. Thankfully, that failure wasn’t the end of Peter’s story. In time, God’s grace and power would transform him into a man whose boldness was based on God’s strength rather than his own. In time Peter did respond in the only way a disciple can, by laying down his own ambitions and embracing what it meant to truly follow. At the end, he even willingly gave his life for Christ.

As a follower of Jesus Christ, isn’t that the desire of our hearts — to follow Him to the nth degree — laying down our own agendas and faithfully show up to go or stay, move, love, and serve as He did. We played a game when I was a kid called “Follow the Leader”. It was a game we played where the leader moved around and we had to mimic the leader’s actions. What if we made “follow the leader” our mode of operation because I know where He goes….I sure want to go, be and do as He does! Stay tuned! I’ll soon give you a visual of my new “digs”. I’m not just following my Leader. He is holding my hand. I know already that He’s got me — here, there AND everywhere!