I remember as a kid playing follow the leader and really enjoying the game. It was fun because the leader always made you do stupid stuff as you marched around the playground. I used to love to try to become the leader. I wanted my turn to make everyone jump when I jumped, make everyone run when I ran, crawl when I crawled. We never really stop playing the game though. In High School we follow the leader, rather it is the star athlete or the musician playing to sold out arenas we chase the leader. As adults we look for the "successful" business person or the best dressed soccer mom to lead us. We even tend to do this in "church-life". We look to the mega church and try to follow their lead. We tend to find a model we like and copy it expecting the same results as the leader was getting. Why do we play these games as children? We look back on them and realize just how ridiculous they are. I remember one time in particular playing follow the leader and being the leader with about 15 people and getting quite and unexpected result. I remember walking through the parking and balancing on the curb. I had reached the end and took two long jumps on the flat ground. The entire line jumped as I jumped. I was able to do this with ease since i was on flat ground. Problem was they weren't. There were bodies everywhere. People fell to the right, left and everywhere. The drama queen of the group just knew she broke her ankle and was going to be paralyzed. Thankfully there were no permanent injuries, in fact no injuries that persuaded us from playing the same game the next day.
Those jocks we looked up to in High School now play armchair quarterback, the musicians that played to sold out arena's are now playing Bar Mitzvah's and karaoke bars. The "successful" business man no longer is "successful" and the soccer mom is still wearing the same sweats that are no longer in style. The mega church has changed their model 3 times and we are still on the original. They are on the flat ground and we are still trying to balance and walk on the curb as the jump off. We jump anyways. The result is the same as it was back when we played in school. Some come away unharmed but we leave a trail of injured, bleeding, scared people trying to figure out how they lost the game.
When we played follow the leader we were unaware of the world around us focusing on the individual rather than the the inventor of the game. God started this game and has played the game throughout history. Moses followed the cloud of fire, Jacob across the dessert, Abraham, to name a few.. Jesus assumed the responsibility when He told the disciples "follow me". First we need to be looking to Jesus to fill the spot of line leader. Not some plan, some person, some model, the American Dream, or even our comfort. Sometimes following the Line Leader is hard but when we follow, He wins.
