Let's play a quick game of follow the leader. Everybody stand. This is going to be one of the strictest games of follow the leader you have ever played. What the leader says goes, no matter what. You have to follow in every way. You have to do exactly what I do and look exactly like I look. If I say you're out, you have to sit down immediately. Here we go.
(Put a hand on your head, or stand on one foot, and as quickly as possible make up a silly excuse to disqualify every single child. For example, "You're moving too slow. You're moving too fast. You're shorter than I am. You don't weigh as much as I do. You aren't wearing glasses. You don't have a tie. You have the wrong color shoes. You're not married. You have no children. You don't talk as fast as I do.")
It is much easier to say you want to follow the leader than it is to follow. That's not just true for the game. It is true in following Jesus. Lots of people say they want to follow Jesus, but then they find out it is hard. Following Jesus means caring for your friends, neighbors, teachers, parents, brothers and sisters. That's not easy. That's why if we are going to follow Jesus we need God's help. (Brett Younger, College Heights Baptist Church, Manhattan, KS)
