Robert E Rasmussen.com

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The story is told of two men who went hiking down into the Grand Canyon. The man in the lead was very experienced and had traversed the winding trail many times. The other man was a novice. After they had been hiking for a long time, the weather changed without warning. Suddenly a thick fog moved into the canyon, blocking out the sun’s light. The men could barely see each other. The novice began to fear that they would not be able to find their way out. In fact, he complained to his experienced friend, saying that they should have at least brought a map. To this the friend stopped walking, turned back to his nervous follower and said, “In these conditions, you don’t really need a map. What you need is a guide. And that’s what you have in me.”

As the One who commanded us to follow Him, Jesus alone can navigate any terrain we may encounter. One of the most reliable ways of staying on the way of Jesus is to allow Him to train us to recognize the four-fold pattern He set during His time on earth. As these four elements become distinct in our minds, they begin to appear as markers along the way.

Discovering these markers takes us right to the passion week. Focusing on this brief time of His ministry should not infer that the prior thirty-three years of His life can be taken lightly. The incarnation of Christ, and all of His teachings and miracles, are absolutely essential for our discipleship. However, our focus comes from the clarity gained by studying the passion of Christ. The markers on the trail exist because Jesus put them there at great expense. He fought for each marker, and etched them permanently for us to follow.

In your journey as a disciple, Jesus will meet you, through the presence of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is there to strengthen and guide you at every juncture. As we follow Christ through the years, you will progressively grow deeper in your personal relationship in which you know Him and are known by Him. “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27). Jesus accompanies you on the trail. He will meet you, and speak to you, at each place along the way.

In calling you to follow Him, Jesus offers deep rest and peace at the soul level, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matt. 11:28-30). But the yoke of Jesus can only be light if it is the only yoke you carry. You will hear His voice only if you long to hear it above all others. If your heart is divided, the way will become unclear.

That is why Jesus speaks very bluntly about the danger of giving your allegiance to anyone other than Him. “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26-27).

The Jesus way is a singular path, and a challenging one. Your loyalty to Christ must supersede all human relationships and obligations. You must deny anything or anyone who would compete with allegiance to Christ. This is not because Jesus is a cruel Master, but an acknowledgment of the reality of the human soul – you and I cannot serve two masters. Your capacity for true loyalty is limited to one affection at a time.

Not only is the Jesus way is a path of allegiance, it is a course of worship of Christ. Therefore you cannot bow your knee to another. It is a course of service for Christ. Therefore you cannot put your own needs first. And it is a course of giving all for Christ. Therefore you cannot keep or hold back anything for self.

With all of these dire warnings, why would anyone choose to follow Jesus? Why did Peter and Andrew immediately leave their fishing nets to follow the Master (Matt. 4:20)? Why did Levi the tax collector leave everything, rise and follow Christ (Luke 5:28)? It seems as if Jesus tried to scare would-be disciples away!

Toward the end of Jesus’ ministry, He unveiled a deep level of intimacy granted disciples as they follow Him. Jesus told the disciples that He would abide in them, and they would abide in Him. He prayed that we would be one with Him and with the Father (John 17: 21). He said that the glory given Him by the Father has been given to us (John 17:22). The Jesus way opens to us the opportunity to share in the experience and presence of the Son of God in the deepest conceivable intertwining of divine and human—His life on our life, journeying together. This is the reason that the sacrifice is worth it. This is why, at the end of life, you will say that there is no greater purpose in life than to follow Jesus no matter what.

Let us learn the first marker along the Jesus way

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(continued. go to first part of Introduction)

It ought to be redundant to use a phrase such as “radical disciple.” That is as sensible as describing “wet rain” or “wooden trees.” Unfortunately, we have created non-radical discipleship in which someone believes in Christ for salvation but lags behind and loses significant connection to Jesus beyond the initial days. Serious commitment to staying near Christ should be our expectation. We should not invent a category of casual follower that betrays the meaning of “disciple.” To be a disciple entails movement and action, for a disciple is a learner and follower – a person in formation. A disciple follows his rabbi or master teacher around so as to be mentored in his wisdom, to learn his methods, and to ultimately be like him.

As you follow Jesus, where will He lead you?

In the years that lie ahead, a hundred experiences will come your way and thousands of decisions large and small will present themselves. Some of the situations in your future will be exhilarating while others will be difficult. If you are a disciple of Jesus Christ, your intention is to stay on the ancient path of all disciples – “The Way.”

You have already learned that the path is not always clear, the trail not always straight. Up ahead, you may descend into a quagmire of doubt only to be baffled by what has happened and what you should do next. A fork in the path may tempt you to alter your commitment. A fog may descend and disorient your sense of direction.

Like travelers throughout history, you desire to navigate your journey so as to enjoy the adventure to the fullest. There are great vistas to enjoy and fascinating people to meet. And even more importantly, you want to fulfill God’s purpose for giving you these few years to trek with Him. Your bottom line is living for God’s glory.

When you come to those sections of the trail that require clear thinking, you do not want to hear a multitude of voices in your head. You don’t want to hear every possibility. You need to hear the right one. This trail guide provides just that: guidance. It will clarify, from Scripture, where Jesus will lead you as you follow Him.

MARKERS

In a sense, Jesus will lead you wherever He wants you to go. The Holy Spirit is the wildest member of the trinity, as predictable as the wind! Fortunately, the Bible gives us a lot of clarity to hang on to. In fact, Scripture reveals a repeated pattern that we can confidently expect to emerge as we follow the Jesus way. The value of this pattern is not in its complexity, for it is simple. But an expert trail guide is hired not because he has special eyesight but because he knows what to look for. The veteran trekker has learned to observe the obvious signs which others overlook. Where the novice sees a tree, the expert sees the home of a bobcat. Where the novice sees a trail ahead, the trail guide hears pounding hooves in the distance. Similarly, this guide book will train you to recognize the simple pattern of the Jesus way with great expertise.

The pattern we will learn to observe will then provide markers along the trail, for they unfold, generally, in a predictable order. Learning these trail markers, you will be able to discern where you are on the path, and what is expected of you there. Knowing where you are, you will be able to look back and make more sense of the trail behind you. And rest assured, you will be able to look ahead in anticipation of what lies ahead.

The most encouraging aspect of these truths is this. Jesus is the trailblazer. He is the one who originally walked this trail. He is the Master of the Jesus way, then and now and in all that is to come. He owns the trail. And because He is who He is, Jesus is able to accomplish something unimaginable – He will accompany you along every section of the trail, and He will stay with you at each marker along the way. He will linger with you as long as He needs you to linger there. He will give you His insight and endurance to succeed. After all, He called you to follow Him – to stay near Him. He will surely stay near to you as you follow Him.

This leads to the second question to be answered in this trail guide: In what situations will these markers be useful?

TERRAIN

To be prepared for the trail ahead, we need to look at the likely situations, or “terrain,” which we will encounter over the coming years. Realistically, you may have come across this guide right in the middle of a situation for which you need guidance.

One approach would be to think of the major life situations that Jesus followers find themselves in and write a chapter about each of those. That would be valuable. But we are not going to begin with ourselves and our needs. Instead we are going to point out passages where God has specifically revealed how the trail markers guide us in specific areas of life and spirituality.

This will be the main section of the trail guide because there are many Scripture passages that speak to the various kinds of terrain. In preparing this book for you, I imagined that at times you may find yourself in a remote area, whether geographically or spiritually. And so I have elected to type out for you the relevant passages under each topic. Even though this takes more space, I want to be sure that you visually see the markers in the text, in hopes that you will gain skill in observing them on the trail of life.

The final question we will seek to answer is: What can I carry with me so that I will finish well?

PROVISIONS

Trekkers plan ahead. If the journey is long – like the one you are on – you need to plan wisely and pack lightly. I do not want you to find yourself out in rough terrain lacking the provisions you need.

Since you are traversing the Jesus way, He is your main provision, and truly the only One you need. The Holy Spirit, the comforter, comes along side (Greek, paraclete) you to encourage and remind you of all that Jesus taught. So the “provisions” offered in the final section are supplemental tools to assist you in depending on God. You will be able to draw from these resources:

• Prayers – As you learn of the markers and terrain, you will see prayer running through every experience you encounter. In the final section I will provide some written prayers for you to use in various life experiences.
• Disciplines – The word itself makes it clear that a disciple must be disciplined. Your further progress in the disciplines of fasting, solitude, silence, Sabbath and study will greatly help you follow the Jesus way.
• Meditations – You will carry with you original and traditional reflections on journeying with Christ. You will also be encouraged to create original meditations in various forms which the Holy Spirit gives to you personally.
• Retreats – Jesus set the example of getting away by Himself. The guide will provide suggestions for individual and group retreats of various lengths, all of which relate directly to living out the teachings of Scripture presented in the guide.
• Studies – I will suggest passages of scripture which yield further insight for the disciple to self-discover. These can be for individual or group usage.
• Conversations – Contemporary issues in church and society should be discussed in light of what is presented in the trail guide. I will suggest some topics such as: economic inequality, racism, welfare, immigration, church systems, hospitality, and missions.

Not all of the provisions will be equally helpful to you. They are not assignments but, as the name suggests, tools that may prove useful on your trek.

I hope you are ready.

Robert E. Rasmussen

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What will this trail guide contribute to readers?

Jesus told his disciples something that he intended them to tell the next generation, “Follow Me.” This invitation was to be offered from generation to generation until Jesus would return. We find ourselves in that interim period, waiting for His return. What were His instructions to the disciples? To follow Him. As common as this thought is, we would be wise to reflect on it.

Did Jesus mean to follow Him at a great distance, where we could barely see Him before He went over a rise or rounded a bend? That’s not the picture we get from the gospel accounts. Jesus kept His disciples near Him. They ate together, walked and talked together. They sailed together, endured storms together, and fed multitudes together. So close did they follow Jesus that when His mother and siblings came looking for Him Jesus said that these men and women – His “disciples” – were his mother and brothers.

We can conclude that when Jesus wants His disciples to follow Him, He means that they – we—are to stay near. Near enough that He would say of us: these are my brothers and sisters. Following Jesus Christ, nearly 2,000 years after His death, likely sounds like a crazy concept to some. But our belief that He rose from the dead and lives today means that, in the mystery of spiritual things, Jesus can be in heaven with the Father while living inside and alongside His followers. That being our conviction, we are able to follow His teachings and emulate His character. We can believe in Him for miracles as we employ His name which carries supreme weight in the heavenly power structure. We can stay so close to Jesus as to hear His whisperings into our heart.

No wonder, in the months after Jesus ascended into heaven, the cluster of followers started to describe their new lifestyle as “the way.” Jesus Christ created a new way of living, a new way of being, a new way of thinking. The next generation of believers, in another culture and country, continued living in this new way. The people of that city, Antioch, searched for a label for the people living this “way” and rightly identified the source of their uniqueness. They called them “Christians.” Christ-folk, that’s what they were.

This trail guide shows disciples today how to regain and retain our bearings along the Jesus way. In these pages we remember how to follow Him, to stay close to Him. In fact, the journey described in this guide takes us further into spirituality because it takes us further into Jesus Himself. This is as it should be, for Jesus was bold to say, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6a). The path for following Jesus is the path into Jesus Himself. This is the mystery we will attempt to explore in this guide.

To be continued…

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THE PITCH

Here is the brief description of the core of this book:

Jesus said to follow Him, but where is He leading us?  TRAIL GUIDE FOR THE JESUS WAY will equip you to recognize markers on the trail, to navigate any terrain, and to pack the necessary provisions.

Or again,

Q: “What is your book called?”
A: TRAIL GUIDE FOR THE JESUS WAY

Q: “What’s it about?”
A: “It’s about what to expect when you follow Jesus, and what to do at each stage of the journey.”

SUBTITLE (options)

Trail Guide For the Jesus Way
…Survival skills for the intrepid disciple

OR

Trail Guide For the Jesus Way
…If I follow Jesus, where will He take me?

(Please vote or add your thoughts)

STRUCTURE

The TRAIL GUIDE will have three parts:

1. THE MARKERS ON THE JESUS WAY
This will be an overview of the pattern I have discovered in the Bible that helps us as disciples to know where we have been, where we are, and where we are headed.

2. THE TERRAIN OF THE JESUS WAY
There are ten life experiences which every believer will encounter on the trail in one way or another. “Terrain” seems to describe the kind of conditions in which we will need the guidance of the trail guide. These will be very substantive chapters, rather like quality trail mix — a lot of scripture to chew on.

3. PROVISIONS FOR THE JESUS WAY
This section will include a hefty section with different ways to implement the markers on the Jesus way in its variegated terrain. So “Provisions” will include: Prayers (written), Disciplines, Meditations, Retreat ideas, Studies to do, Conversations (to have with others), and Online tools.

AUDIENCE

TRAIL GUIDE deals with the essence of following Jesus. As such, it relates to a large swath of people in North America and around the world who are doing their best to align their lives with Jesus’ teachings.

This involves huge segments of today’s population. The number of evangelicals in America in 2014 was 62 million (according to Pew Research Center, cited in Christianity today, 5/11/2015). The World Christian Database estimates the number of Evangelicals globally is 300 million (wikipedia “Evangelicalism” accessed 1/24/16).

One cannot determine how many believers, whether Protestant or Catholic,  currently feel the need to better understand how Jesus is leading in their everyday lives, but we can surmise that it would include tens of millions.

Experience suggests that one of the recurring questions in the life of believers has to do with knowing God’s will. Many desire to understand the purpose of the difficulties they are going through. Most believers long to draw closer to Christ and grow in maturity as His disciples.

TRAIL GUIDE is written with these millions in mind. More importantly, the book draws out and connects scripture passages which are given by God to bring clarity to the lives of those who love Christ and long to follow Him more ardently.

Working title:  TRAIL GUIDE FOR THE JESUS WAY

Concept:

TRAIL GUIDE FOR THE JESUS WAY is emerging out of my prayer in college to live radically for Jesus. God took that prayer seriously and brought me deeper in faith through some amazing years as a pastor and missionary in Africa, and through some severe testing of my faith particularly through my wife’s two battles with cancer.

I can trace the beginning of my TRAIL GUIDE journey back to the time when, in deep anguish, I wrote in my journal, “This seems like a death.” During that season, God took me back to the cross and re-introduced me to the Jesus who said that anyone wanting to really be His disciple needs to deny self, take up his cross and follow Him.

The seed had been planted in my mind and soul. For 15 years now I have been exploring in my own life this question “where does Jesus lead the serious disciple?” I’ve found the answer is quite predictable. And glorious.

Why does this subject deserve a book? Because there is a Biblical theme which is crucial for disciples yet hidden in plain sight.

I’m using a “trail guide” approach because this is a journey on which one can get disoriented. You and I need a reliable compass for direction no matter where our path has taken us. You need to know where you’ve been, where you’re stuck, and what’s next.

A trail guide sticks to the facts and skips a lot of fluff. So this book will be a handy reference guide that quickly delivers insight.

That’s where I’m headed.

You coming?