Apprentice 2 Jesus

I have not done justice to this blog. I have not done justice to the name I put on this blog. It has been too random. It has been disconnected. It has been too much about my own random thoughts and too little about being apprenticed to Jesus.

I want to invite you to a journey. It is wonderful. It is crazy. Too few want to take this journey, espcially in the evangelical world. We do not understand spiritual formation. I certainly don’t, AND I HAVE TAUGHT IT!

Join me on a wonderful journey. It twists and winds for each of us, but Jesus is on the journey, and that is the most important thing.

One place I like to begin is Thomas Merton. Seven Storey Mountain is his classic autobiography. I have read it at least twice and find myself going through it yet again. His story is so powerful. There will be some who do not put much stock in Merton because his conversion led to the Catholic Church and that is problematic for some people Others might be put off because Merton at the end of his life was exploring some things in meditation that seemed to be drawing him to an open conversation with Buddhism.

The story in itself is powerful. This was a man hungry for God and who realized God was apprehending him throughout his early life. The writing is wonderful. If you get a copy of the book and read it, please work your way through it. This book and story is well worth it.

Merton’s conversion is powerful. Being apprenticed to Jesus means you have considered Christ. Merton considered Christ! He wanted to know the claims of Christ and was thoroughly convinced of the claims of Christ.

The conversion for Merton into the Catholic Church is a powerful ceremony. There is confession, there is baptism, there is renouncing Satan, and more. It is a powerful service. I don’t know if that is what the Catholic Church still does, but that ceremony Merton described is stunning. It hits the depths of the human soul.

Merton began to realize he was called to the priesthood and pursued it. He thought he had failed, so he was going to try to be a monk without “being” a monk. He just would not give up pursuing Christ.

I have gone on long enough for one blog. (What does it matter? I have no idea! This is more for me, anyway.)

One quote to finish:

“There could be no more question of living just like everybody else in the world. There could be no more compromise with the life that tried at every turn, to feed me poison. I had to turn my back on those things.”

Be apprenticed to Jesus is knowing Jesus is the Greatest Teacher. He is the Savior. He is the Master. He is worth following!

That means change. Apprentices cannot live like everybody else in the world.