Following

Che Guevara is known internationally as a Marxist revolutionary. As he recruited for his guerilla operations in Cuba, the Congo, and Bolivia he often encountered the half-heartedness of his volunteers.

Author John Lee Anderson quotes Che’s sarcastic evaluation of the freshly trained recruits who had just arrived to fight in the Congo:

In a ludicrous sideshow, the captain had also brought over forty new Congolese rebel ‘graduates,’ fresh from a training course in the Soviet Union. Like their Bulgarian and Chinese-trained predecessors, they immediately requested two weeks of vacation, while also complaining that they had nowhere to put their luggage. Che wrote, ‘It would be a little comic if it weren’t so sad, to see the disposition of these boys in whom the revolution had deposited its faith.’

Possible Preaching Angle:

The church also faces the same issue with those who are called to follow our Savior. We are not called to be part-time disciples looking for a life of leisure. Jesus calls for us to “take your cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). He also promises to give us immense rewards stored up in heaven for the sacrifices we make for his cause (Matt. 19:29).

Add-on fees are driving consumers crazy. From restaurants and hotels to concerts and food delivery, we are increasingly shown a low price online, only to click through and find a range of fees that yield a much higher price at checkout.

The term drip pricing was popularized by a 2012 Federal Trade Commission conference. Its spread is associated with the proliferation of airline fees after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Yet an example of the phenomenon that long predates 2001 is stores’ practice of listing goods without the sales tax, which gets added at checkout.

Why not include the sales tax with the sticker price? One study from 2019 showed consumers punish that sort of transparency. A grocery store let the authors tag some products with the familiar pretax price and some with the total price including tax. For example, a hair brush’s price tag showed $5.79 before tax, and beneath that $6.22 with the tax. Sales volume dropped for products with price tags that included the tax than a control group without the tax.

This isn’t because shoppers didn’t know the tax rate or which items were taxable. In fact, 75% of shoppers surveyed knew the sales tax within 0.5 percentage point, and most knew what goods were taxable. So, the tax-inclusive price tag didn’t give them new information; it was just that transparent reminders turned some people off.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Jesus never practiced “drip pricing.” He never hid the total costs for following him. It may turn some people off, but he always put the full cost upfront.

Sales were stagnant at the insurance company where Daniel P. Amos worked as the chief executive. So, he decided to take a huge risk with a novel ad campaign that poked fun at the company’s name. The TV commercials featured an obnoxious white duck often getting injured and then loudly quaking “Aflaaaac.” The little-known business soon became a household name. Aflac’s stagnant US sales doubled between 1999 and 2003.

Amos told The Wall Street Journal that leading a company always involves taking risks. He said, “I like to manage risks [since] everything we do is risk related. [If you avoid risks] you are really not taking a broad enough perspective for a company to succeed.”

Amos, now 70, learned to evaluate risks while studying risk management and insurance at the University of Georgia’s business school. Among his risk-taking advice he gave this nugget: Never risk a lot for a little. He added that he lives by that risk principle every day of his life.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Many things about following, serving, and leading for Jesus involve risk. We can’t avoid it. But with Jesus we never have to worry about risking a lot for a little. Our risks for him are always worth it.

Tim Challies writes:

Every now and again Aileen gets into cooking shows. Every time she does, it works out well for me. And for the kids. It could be Top Chef or Master Chef. It doesn’t really matter. She starts watching and before long she gets cooking.

Whether in narrow pursuits like cooking or wider pursuits like living, we are people who thrive on imitation and inspiration. Whether deliberately or inadvertently we are always on the lookout for people who are worthy of imitation. Aspiring chefs seek out, carefully watch, and closely imitate experienced chefs.

Cooking shows are meant to be entertaining, but they are also meant to be inspiring. They are meant to attract viewers, but also to inspire imitators. And in that way they are a little glimpse of the way we should all live our lives. For in some ways every life should be a show, a public demonstration--of virtue, a display of character, a demonstration of practical godliness. Every life should be lived in such a way that it inspires others to imitate it.

Even as we follow our Savior, we must be willing and eager to have people follow us. Like Paul we should say, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1). Just as we have all longed for an example to follow, we must provide an example for others to follow. Just as we have longed to be imitators, we must be eager and willing to be imitated.

Understanding the connection between faith and work is critical, not only for adults, but also for students. A Barna study called “Faith for Exiles” shows that 18-29-year-olds who grew up in the church and remain committed followers of Jesus are far more likely to have a rich understanding of faith and work than those who still call themselves Christian but no longer attend church.

They strongly desire to use their unique talents and gifts to honor God (94% compared to 31% of those who identify as Christian but no longer attend church), believe that the work they do is important to God (82% vs. 32%), and have a sense of calling about their career (64% vs. 15%).

The statistical evidence is clear: young people who stick with Jesus and the church are far more likely to be able to say, “I know who God has created me to be and how my purpose fits with his plans for the world.”

The following prayer has been attributed to a Muslim convert to Christ:

"O God, I am Mustafah the tailor, and I work at the shop of Muhammad. The whole day long I sit and pull the needle and the thread through the cloth. O God, you are the needle and I am the thread. I am attached to you and I follow you. When the thread tries to slip away from the needle, it becomes tangled and must be cut so it can be put back in the right place. O God, help me to follow you wherever you lead me. For I am really only Mustafah the tailor, and I work in the shop of Muhammad on the great square."

Apparently many people don't know how to count the cost for their building projects. That's why cost overruns, which stem from "an underestimation of the actual cost during budgeting," are notoriously common. Here are some famous cost overruns:

• The Suez Canal cost 20 times as much as the earliest estimates.
• The Sydney Opera House cost 15 times more than was originally projected.
• The Concorde supersonic airplane cost 12 times more than predicted.
• When Boston's "Big Dig" tunnel construction project was completed, the project was 275 percent ($11 billion) over budget.
• The Channel Tunnel between the UK and France had a construction cost overrun of 80 percent, and a 140-percent financing cost overrun.

A study of cost overruns published in the Journal of the American Planning Association found that 9 out of ten construction projects had underestimated costs. Overruns of 50 to one hundred percent were also common. Another group studied IT projects and also found that the average cost overrun was 43 percent. This study also found that 70 percent of the projects were over budget, exceeded time estimates, and had estimated too narrow a scope.

Long before the "dog whisperer," Cesar Milan, there was the "horse whisperer."

Monty Roberts was raised in the horse business. He learned there was one way to train horses: by "breaking" them. Through domination and force, which at times included striking the horse with whips or even tying and suspending the horse's feet and legs, a trainer would impose his will upon the animal until it reached the conclusion that total submission was the only way to survive.

In his early teen years Roberts began to study the behavior and communication patterns of wild mustangs in the badlands of Nevada. He took note of the nonverbal communication among the horses …. Drawing on this observation and his firsthand experience with horses, Roberts developed a breakthrough training technique he first called "hooking on" as opposed to "breaking down" the horse's will. This new training method was based on a cornerstone concept he eventually trademarked called JoinUp®. Join-Up not only stopped the "breaking" norms of traditional horse training, it showcased how to cooperate with the horse's own spirit, innate ways, and means of communicating as a member of the herd.

The personality and full potential of the horse emerge through loving freedom and desire rather than domination …. The Join-Up technique invites an untamed horse that has never been ridden to willingly accept the saddle, bridle, and rider. It is a thing of beauty to watch. Monty Roberts enters a round pen with a wild horse. In as little as half an hour, he'll be riding the horse.

Roberts creates an atmosphere of mutual respect that communicates, "I'm not going to hurt you, and you don't have to follow me if you don't want to." After a brief period of introducing himself and interacting with the horse … Roberts turns his back to the animal and walks away.

At this point the horse trains her eyes on Monty with all-out intensity and attention. She is asking herself, "Where is he going?" and "Do I want to stay by myself?" The horse must choose: "I want to be with you. I want to join up and follow you on the way." She quickly decides, "My safe place is with you." Dropping her head (equine language for "I submit to you") and trotting to Roberts's side, the horse says, "I choose to follow. I want to be with you."

Possible Preaching Angles: (1) God's Love for Us—God doesn't beat us into submission and surrender. Instead, he has demonstrated his love (especially at the cross) so we want to say, "I choose to follow. I want to be with you." (2) Leadership—Christian leaders don't browbeat or manipulate people into following them. They serve others so people want to follow them.

In his book Up with Authority, Victor Lee Austin uses the analogy of an orchestra to explain why we need human authority. Orchestras need conductors because the musicians don't have a single right answer to questions like, "What should we play at the concert?" or "What should we practice today?" or "How should we interpret this passage?" Each musician might have a perfectly reasonable opinion, but their opinions will inevitably be different and will almost always be incompatible with one another. And it's no good for each musician to do what is right in his or her own ears. It won't do for the brass section to insist on playing a one musical piece if the strings have chosen to play a completely different piece. If the orchestra is to perform coherently, if the musicians want to perform music rather than just make noise, somebody has to have authority to decide.

By submitting to the authority of a conductor, individual musicians attain musical expression they could never realize individually or even as a collection of free-wheeling players. Authority is necessary for classical musicians to bring musical fulfillment to others. In the words of Victor Lee Austin, the conductor's authority yields "a greater degree of human flourishing than we would have from the musicians separately or individually." What is true for orchestras is true for human life in general.

According to theologian Steven R. Guthrie, John Coltrane is one of a handful of musicians (including other greats like Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, and Miles Davis) who defined jazz music. But Coltrane's musical creativity and excellence didn't just happen; he became an outstanding musician only by submitting himself to a long process of practice and apprenticeship. In Guthrie's words:

From the time he was a young teenager Coltrane maintained an intense practice regime, playing for hours each day and, when neighbors complained, silently fingering the keys of his saxophone late into the night. His first wife, Naima, referred to Coltrane as "ninety-percent saxophone" …. Coltrane took classes at various music institutes and conservatories and pored over practice books such as Slominsky's Thesaurus of Scales and Patterns.

Guthrie also notes that, although Coltrane was one of the most original voices in jazz,

For decades [he] dedicated himself to learning and internalizing the styles of older and established jazz musicians. For nine years, from 1946 to 1955, Coltrane was "an anonymous journeyman," working as a supporting musician in the bands of more established musicians. An older generation of sax players [such as Thelonious Monk] served as instructors. In an interview Coltrane described how his time in Monk's band became an opportunity for one-on-one tutorials:

"I'd get my horn and start trying to find what he was playing … he'd tend to play it over and over and over … he would stop and show me some parts that were pretty difficult, and if I had a lot of trouble, well, he'd get out his portfolio and show me the music … when I almost had the tune down, then he would leave me to practice it."

Steven Guthrie comments:

Coltrane developed his voice by surrendering to another. Before he could speak on his own, he first gave himself to repeating again and again the things Monk had said …. The paradox of artistry is that the loss of self is the prerequisite for self-expression. And, conversely, the object of mastering another's voice is finding one's own.