Earlier this week I spent an afternoon in San Luis, Mexico. It was great. I had the opportunity to meet the family of a pastor of a mission congregation that was persevering nearly 10 months after the pastor had died. They don't have much. About 10 people including 5 children live in the confines of a 1000 sq. ft. apartment with a small backyard area. They don't have much of anything other than their God.

We spent about an hour at their apartment. I got to meet all of the sons and daughters and all of the grandchildren. It was interesting to share about our lives and I had a chance to work on my Spanish...I'm trying to learn it.

Then the son, Job, took us to the church building that they had and he told us how God had allowed them to be a blessing to the people of the surrounding community for nearly 20 years. He shared some of his favorite memories from his childhood and cast a vision for the church for the future there.

I've heard church leaders talk about vision for the future before, but this was different. In the middle of his speaking I had to remind myself that this son was 17 years old. He was 17, about to graduate high school, and at the same time was leading a church of 50 people and preaching twice a month. He wasn't just surviving, he was thriving.

He was where most American men are at 25. The most impressive thing about this experience is that he didn't have a strategy or elaborate plan, but he was fully relying on God to carry the church. I think that sometimes we forget this. We get so caught up in our great programs and creative messages and what we can do that we forget what God has done and what he has promised and asked of us.

Do you ever forget what God has done? Do you ever try to compartmentalize Jesus? In my humanness, there is the temptation to exalt and expose what I have done rather than what Christ has done. And it's not because I think I do things apart from Christ. It's because sometimes I think that others have already heard it. They know what Jesus has done, but not necessarily what I have done. Do you ever assume so much about the faith of others that you shy away from talking about it?

Job didn't do this. He constantly reminds others of God's great love. He saw his weaknesses as evidence of God's strength, not a source of meaninglessness of himself. Job is simply following Christ and not being derailed by fear. After all that's what Jesus desires for us. Jesus simply told his disciples "Follow me."

So how do the words "Follow me" penetrate your heart, mind, and soul? Is an accepted command or just a nice answer for Sunday school questions? It's not just about your knowledge or actions...it's about the condition of your heart. The condition that drives you in whatever you do.