As a follower of Jesus, I...

I had lunch with an old friend last week. He is perhaps the only person from my former life as an evangelist that I've kept in contact with. He does struggle with many of the things that I once did and I definitely feel his pain, ...and his love for the people that he ministers to and deals with on a regular basis.

At some point during our conversation I responded to something he said with, "As a follower of Jesus, I..."
I don't remember what we were talking about at the time. I do remember his response to that beginning of my response.
He said, "10 years ago, did you ever think that you would have to come up with something other than Christian to describe yourself and your beliefs?"

In truth, it was probably about 10 years ago that I did start to refer to myself as a follower of Jesus rather than a Christian. It's likely true that many of my former evangelical friends wouldn't even refer to me as a Christian today. I suppose that's okay.

It is a little weird that I've had a couple of recent contacts about preaching or doing gospel magic shows. I went ahead and declined the opportunities after thanking the people for thinking of me. They obviously haven't heard of my heresy and I wouldn't want to get them in trouble or put them in the position of having to find a last minute replacement for their day/event.
This place of self growth and self learning is a better fit for me. 

Part of that self growth is in allowing others to be where I was and hoping that they will see some of the inconsistencies of what they say they believe and what Jesus actually teaches. So many New Testament preachers/teachers also rely heavily on the teachings of Paul, except for that part about bearing one another's burdens. If we are truly bearing the burdens of our brothers and sisters, we cannot sit by while they are suffering injustices. We have to be compelled to fight against the oppressors of other followers of Jesus.
I'm not sure I'm doing a very good job of that; certainly not good enough to judge somebody else over what they are or aren't doing.

Just sharing some of the thoughts in my head today.
Have a grand day and be kind.

John