SOLD: Marks of a true disciple

“Confusion of goals and perfection of means seems, in my opinion, to characterize our age.”

– Albert Einstein

          Growing up in the Pacific Northwest had amazing perks. Unlike the common misconception, there are times when the sun shines in the beautiful state of Washington. I grew up swimming, skiing, mountaineering, wakeboarding, kayaking, and all other sorts of outdoor activities. As a kid, I loved visiting my Grandpa who lived in a beautiful house on Lake Joy.

            The lake is rather small for Washington lakes. In the summers, my friends and I would swim out to a high dive platform in the middle and have various sorts of competitions. Besides flawlessly executing a can opener off the high dive, one of my favorite things about Lake Joy was the morning. If you wake up before the sunrise, there is a mystic layer of fog that covers the top of the lake. I loved pulling up a chair and reading my bible amidst the sounds of woodpeckers and reflections of evergreens. In the morning, the lake looked like a mirror, perfectly frozen except for the occasional ripples caused by a bass catching its morning fly for breakfast.

Near the dock my Grandpa had moved all the stones from the shoreline to a neatly lined pile. Whenever the lake was at its finest reflection, I would toss a stone in to break it up. I don’t know why I did it. Perhaps, it was just teenage destruction syndrome. But watching one stone enter the motionless reflection of fog and evergreens was enchanting. I could see every perfect ripple as they extended further and further out into the lake. Occasionally, I would grab an entire handful and throw them all in at once. What was the result? Chaos. Trying to identify a specific ripple from one stone is next to impossible.

I believe the same is true concerning the definition of a disciple. With so many voices splashing, with their ever so slightly different perspectives it is hard to come back to the source of the individual ripples. But that is exactly what is needed to cure the chaos. It is essential to come back to the source and recover the nature of a disciple.