i know the dog-days of the summer

have you ten-to-one out-numbered

 

Let's have astory, shall we?

It's an interesting thing, there were only 12 of us, well 13 actually.

Anyway, with just 13 of us, you'd be tempted to think we'd all be famous. It is always Pete, Tom, Matt, and that poor guy Judas, that are best remembered, though.

 

Oh well...

Even though we all might not be remembered particularly well; we were all there. The questions we asked, the silly stuff we blurted out, it was was all a part of the beginning of that Jesus-followers group, 'The Way.'

 

So when Josh, that's what we all called him, Josh or Joshua -not Jesus like you Gentiles;

anyway, so when Josh said 'drop your nets and follow me,' to my brother Simon and I, that's what we did,

right then and there.

We didn't even know much of this guy; maybe watched him pass by a few times, maybe heard parts of some sermons.

But when Joshua came by and said follow me, it felt like there wasn't really any other choice.

So that's just what we did; we followed.

In that moment my whole life changed.

I put away those old nets of the past, and started following...

I didn't fully realize it then, even. But when I followed Josh, I said goodbye, I died, to that past life and began a new one following Joshua.

And you know, you'd think that would be the hardest part, leaving everything to follow this person you knew little about.

I wish...

That wasn't even close to the hardest part; or the hardest parts...

That was just the beginning.

Just the beginning...

In fact, I remember one day particularly well, when all that was being asked of us was really weighing upon me.

I mean, who did Josh think we were?

It was during those days before Jerusalem, before that terrible cross, before Joshua's return.

It was before any of us really knew what it was going to mean to follow that one, that Joshua...

In fact, I think if I knew what was going to happen once we got to Jerusalem, what would happen on the third day after Josh's death, I might have been a little more sincere when I made that request...

Well, we were going to Jerusalem and Josh was talking about what he imagined our community, what he was trying to start would look like.

• He said we'd forgive one another, not seven times, or even seven times seven times, but seventy-seven times seven times!
• He said we'd give away all we thought we owned, and we'd share it with each other or give it to the poor.
• He said if we were going to following him, we'd end up losing our lives, but somehow in that losing, we'd find our true lives.

He was saying all this; and then finally it all just built up.

He was asking way too much!

Who did he think we were anyway?

Jeez, I had just been a fisher, never a saint or anything...

So when he kept on about life following him, I couldn't take it anymore and I just blurted it out,

"C'mon Josh! How can we do all this? It's too much. We're not enough. Jeez, Josh, at least give us more faith!"

 

And you know, Josh did something interesting just then.

I figured he'd wave me off,

tell me to stop complaining,

chastise me for doubting,

or something like that.

But that isn't what he did...

Instead Josh just looked back, caught my eyes and said, "you know, even with your puny mustard seed's worth of faith, you can say to a deep-rooted tree, be uprooted and planted in the sea.

And you know what Andy, that tree, it would obey you."

Here I was thinking that Josh was going to refute me, but that isn't what he did...

Instead he said, 'you know, you can do miracles with just a little, with what you already have. You might not think so, but you've already got enough.'

"Wow," I thought.

But before I could respond Josh went on.

He looked at everyone and said,

"Imagine you've got a servant;

Now when that servant comes in from working the field, you're not going to say, 'here, have a seat and eat,' are you?

No.

Instead, you're going to say, 'better get started on the meal, it's nearly dinner time.'

After all, that servant is merely doing their job, nothing less and nothing more. Of course the servant doesn't ask for more or special treatment, they're just doing the job.

Well, it's the same with you Andy, with all of you.

 

You're just doing the job, I'm just calling you to do what what you're made to do.

I'm not asking for anything more or less, it's just the job. It's doable.

Don't think you're doing more or less, that you need anything special, anything more.

You're just doing what you ought to.

You can do that..."

And Josh's parable sort of hung in the air for a while after that...

It got me to thinking, though...

You know, I'd been going along that whole time thinking it was too much, thinking it was too hard.

Thinking I couldn't do it, be one of Josh's real disciples...

I'd been going along thinking eventually I'd come to my limit and have to quit; that it was simply a matter of time.

I'd been going along thinking it was only a matter of time before I'd come up short and be kicked out of Josh's inner-circle.

And here's Josh saying, "You can do this. You've got it. You have enough already."

See, here's the thing:

I'd been going along worrying it was too much, it was too hard;

really I was worrying I didn't have enough,

worrying I wasn't enough...

And you know, that was terrible, really.

I mean, I could go for a while and ignore my worry, my doubt. In fact, I could go for long stretches without ever saying the fear aloud.

But it was always there, you know...

My fear was what was behind that odd demand I made that day...

See, when I blurted that out to Josh, 'give us more faith than what we have to work with,' I never said I was afraid, but it was what I was trying to say, in one way or another...

 

And Josh didn't argue,

he didn't magically open me and jam more faith inside.

Instead he speaks to my fear, he says; 'that little amount you have, well guess what, it is enough to do miracles.

Josh didn't chastise or embarrass me, instead he describes following him in incredibly ordinary terms of a servant doing their everyday job.

 

Now, I've never planted a tree in the sea, I guess I've never wanted to, what's the point...

But you know, I've seen how a little is really enough to do miracles.

And you know, I was never one of the popular disciples, I'll never have a hired servant, but I've seen how so much of this following is just putting one foot in front of the other, trying, in our own broken way to follow.

 

Can I tell you the wonderfully obvious genius of Josh's mission?

You'd think if you wanted to change the world you'd get the best and brightest, the famous and the rich.

That's what I'd think, that's what I thought...

That's why I figured I caught the luckiest break of my life when Josh said follow me, it's why I dropped my nets. I figured Josh's invitation was an invitation to join the ranks of the powerful and popular.

That isn't what Josh offered, though.

No, he offered something much more incredible, miraculous.

No, Josh just went along day after day getting the folks who were able to hear his words, who were able to see his vision, his mission.

Josh didn't care if the followers were rich or poor, famous or outcast, insider or outsider.

Day in and day out Josh gathered everyone, anyone; even the ignored or the folks you might call 'ordinary;' if you were feeling generous, anyway.

It was with those people, though, that Josh did change the world.

It was with what you'd worry wasn't enough, it was with what and who that seemed too small to do anything, but that's how Josh did it...

In the end of the day, a mustard seed is enough, in the end of the day a regular servant is enough,

it's more than enough, really.

 

You know, finally, what Josh drove home to me that day was that anyone could be a disciple, even a person like me;

even people like us...

All too often we like to go along thinking it's too hard, thinking we can't do it;

and really it's incredible that the one God raised, is the one who believes in us, often he believes in us more than we're able too...

But that's the miracle of Josh's mission,

that's the miracle of being loved by God,

that's the miracle of being trusted by God,

it's enough to turn ordinary folks like us into people who pray, into stewards of God's miracles and mysteries, into disciples...

Amen