As I continued my journey through John this past week, I began to wonder what it is about Jesus that caused crowds to follow Him. What is it about Him that causes you and me to follow today?  Leading up to around John 12:12, Jesus had performed many miracles and crowds of people wanted to see Him. They were interested in what He had to say and the people wanted just a small piece of the power that Jesus seemed to have. Even today, people are transformed by wanting a little piece of that same power.

A little over a week ago, Farm Bureau had their monthly “Yes” rally. It’s kind of a monthly pep rally to highlight customer service. Grant Teaff came out to our facility to give a talk on teamwork and customer service. He said that in any endeavor there are four things that lead to success. Those four things are positive attitude, effort, discipline, and caring. He said that a team or organization has to focus on the simple things to be effective. After he gave the speech, the person behind me was so motivated and ready to go, he said in a low voice, “Wow, I’m fired up – ready to suit up and play some football”.

The points of the speech were not complex concepts but pretty simple and Grant Teaff had a lot of interesting stories to go along with these points; stories about certain games and players that highlighted his points. If anyone else had given the same speech, it wouldn’t have had the same muscle. No coach in recent history has been able to lead Baylor to as many Bowl games. Because the words were coming from someone that had been there, they were far more effective.

One factor that contributes to Jesus’ effectiveness and sets Christianity apart from other religions is that Jesus has been there. He’s walked the walk. There’s a video I found that goes through some of the reasons why people followed Jesus and why His name continues to dominate even today. Here’s the link: Jesus, There’s Something About that Name by The Gaithers. I hope you had a Merry Christmas and received the gifts you wanted. If not, be assured that the true gift of Christmas, the one that keeps on giving is in the form of a person; the one whose birthday we celebrated yesterday.

Sometime between now and the New Year, take a moment to think about the crowds that wanted to meet Jesus and follow; have a prayer and during that prayer, ask God how you can best follow Him in the upcoming year.

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Thanks for letting me share about my journey this past week.

Mark