Burn the Ships

"And Jesus Said, 'Come, Follow ME.'"

The voice is clear. He looks deeply into our eyes and commands attention.

"Come."

The word implies action. It implies a going, a moving, a change toward a different goal, a different "meta."

"Follow ME."

I am an expert of following my self, my passions, my flesh, my distractions. When Jesus says, "Follow ME," He is speaking an exhortation. "Stop in your tracks. Come toward ME...Stop following what you were pursuing BEFORE and LOOK at MY FACE. Come. Follow ME. I am your Shepherd. I am your Hope. I am your Morning Star. Come. Follow ME."

And there is nothing I can possibly do but obey.

And arm myself with a shield and a sword. Because the battle is on the horizon. The lances of the enemy-- the vision eaters in my life-- are coming soon. With this shield and this sword I must determine to fight. Fight against the vision eaters, fight against those who would distract me from the eyes of the One who calls forth the Dead to Life.

These are the last days. I am about to get on another plane, fly to another city in another country. And I am preparing for battle. The words have been clear. In fact, I have never heard the voice of the Shepherd so clearly. I have a direction. I have a vision. And I must be willing to sacrifice for that vision. I must be willing to give up many things for that vision, even when those things include the ships that brought me to the place where I am today. It is time to burn the ships, like Cortez did when he landed in México. The purpose for the ship burning: he had a vision, he had a plan, and he would not let anything come between him and his objective. So he burned the ships.

No turning back--old habits: Burned. Old ideas: burned. Old ideological battles: Burned. Old ties with vision eaters: burned. Old baggage: Burned. Traces of the old life: Burned. "Remember Lot´s wife," Jesus said. Lot´s wife made the mistake of looking back at the burning city and was vaporized. She looked back because of fear, because of the pain of loss, because of curiosity, and she lost her life. What an exhortation. In this journey toward the Face of Christ, I have looked back many times, and had something to look at, because I had not burned my ships that brought me to the road I was on. This time, in this place, the word is so explicit I cannot do anything but obey with my whole being. Burn the ships.I am being remade. I am a new creation. I am being transformed day by day into the image of the Christ that ACTED in time, in History; the Christ that did not leave a name, but a fingerprint of LIFE in the dust of suffering humanity that covers all of us. Burning the ships: less talking, a lot more acting. May Christ be made known through my life.Burning the ships: burning my own voice, that His might be heard. Burning my own name, that His might be known. Burning my own actions, that His hands and His feet would move with freedom as I follow Him. He looked into the eyes of humble fishermen and said, "Come." He makes the same call to me:

"Come. Come outside the camp. Come, come to the cross where I forgave completely, to the garden where I suffered in prayer, to the city barrios where I walk among the prostitutes and the drug addicted youth, to the indigenous villages where I eat and love and heal. Come, Follow ME."

Yes, Lord.

Ven, Señor Jesús.