Remainers

Years ago while my Chris and I led a series of personality seminars, we led participants in an exercise called "There Ain't No Flies on Me".  As I look back now, I'm not really sure what the point of this exercise was ... oops!  Wait; I think the point was that each participant held in their hot little hand a wad of paper.  They proceeded to chant "There ain't no flies on me.  There ain't no flies on me.  There might be flies on some of you guys (pointing to the other participants) but there ain't no flies on me."  As the chanting escalated, each wad of paper would then be thrown toward another participant.  Lesson:  there will always be someone who will taunt, persecute, jeer at you because they perceive themselves as better, bigger, more than you.

Looking back, perhaps a better exercise would have been worth looking into however, each participant got the gist of the lesson.

Jesus tells his friends to remain in Him. Then, after defining what that looks like (John 15:1-16), He goes on to tell them ... to warn them actually, that they will be (it's a promise) persecuted.  That's encouraging, isn't it?  I'm pretty sure that in any level of leadership training, one is not encouraged to tell those following your leadership that in doing so, they will be harassed, scoffed at, and overall hounded.  Yet, Jesus does.

Why?

In my opinion, I think Jesus knew that remaining in Him would lead to a new level of following.  Remaining transforms how we live.  Remaining sets us apart not only from the world  - but from other Christians.

In today's world, I find it encouraging to see those brave enough to remain.  They look different.  They stand out.  Their relationships aren't defined by societies standards.  They do things a little out-of-the ordinary.  They take risks.  They aren't understood by most.  But ... these daring few are treading adventerous waters as they dare to live TRUTH and defy the norm.  They choose to live by faith ... not by sight.

Here's to those that remain ...