Five years ago on April 5, I was baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Following Jesus has not been an easy thing, but I've found that the best things in life usually aren't easy. The best things in life are actually often hard, and develop your character. They make you think and reconsider what you believe. They challenge you to be better than what you are. Some of the best things in my own life - martial arts, writing, community, service - are the best only because they are means that God is using to make me more like Christ. All that we love in life is ultimately meant to point us back to the One who loves us.
When I really think about it though, the best things in life aren't even things at all - they're people. The people who love you enough to gently tell you the truth, even when it's hard to hear. The people who are there for you no matter what. The people who love you enough to make personal sacrifices for your benefit because they care about you more than themselves. People who love like Jesus loves.
Following Jesus is not easy because He is a real person with whom I have a real relationship, and quite frankly, real relationships are difficult. They take work, commitment, and trust that builds over time. Jesus is no different. He's not an idea, a dogma, a list of rules or things to do. He is a person, a man who wants to know you and love you for the person that you are, and unless you've honestly met him, you really have no idea what he's about.
So five years later, what can I say? Am I perfect? That's a big fat No. Am I better than other people? Definitely not. Am I a 'better person' from what I was? Maybe. But honestly, I don't think those are the right questions to ask anyway. What I do know is this: I am not afraid of what I once feared, for perfect love has cast out that fear. I have never been left truly alone, because He has never left me or forsaken me. And I have found Someone who is perfectly good, honest, gracious, powerful, and loving. And I can and will proclaim again that this man - this God - is worthy of following.
My entire life will be spent seeking understanding of these two verses:
"Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law? And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets." - Matthew 26:36-40
'And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me."' - Matthew 28:18
