We are Disciples!

Our second week of school our speaker was Danny Lehmann. He's in charge of all the YWAM bases in Hawaii. He spoke about Spiritual Disciplines such as solitude, bible readings, prayer, and things like that. It was a great week! I wanted to share something that he brought to light on Monday.
We watched a video and it was talking about what a disciple is. Disciple means learner in Greek. And we all know that Rabbi is teacher. So they gave a little insight into what it meant to become a Rabbi. Back in the day the boys would go to school till they were about 10 or 11 and had to memorize the Torah (Genesis through Deuteronomy), then they would go on to learn the family trade and start working. But, if they wanted to further themselves and become the best of the best they would go on until they were about 14 and finish the memorization to Malachi. Then they would go off and learn the family trade and start working. But, if they wanted to further themselves and become the best of the best of the best, they would then go up to their most revered Rabbi and ask if they could follow after them to learn their ways and become their disciple. The Rabbi would then ask them a bunch of biblical questions to see if this kid had what it took to be a Rabbi. To see if they really loved God. To see if the kid knew all the answers to the Rabbi's questions. The Rabbi might say "Ok, he knows his stuff, he loves God, but, I just don't see that he has what it takes follow me. Go home and learn your family trade." Or the Rabbi might say, "He knows his stuff, he loves God, he might have what it takes. You can follow after me, be my discisple, and learn what it means to be a Rabbi."
This boy would then leave his home, family, friends, and life immediatly go and follow after his Rabbi. When the family and friends would send off the young boy they would say to him, "May you be covered in the dust of your Rabbi." Which basically meant that they were always following after the Rabbi, learning all there is to learn from him, so they could become like him.
When Jesus came he was called Rabbi. He was God's Son, the greatest Rabbi ever! He came to regular, poor men, who had no education and were doing the family trade, and called out to them to be his disciples! Could you imagine growing up in this culture, knowing what it took to be a disciple of the Rabbi's, and here is the greatest Rabbi ever to come and he's calling out to you to be his disciple? They were no longer studying, probably illiterate, and in the family trade, and Jesus comes to them and says, "I choose you, I believe in you, and I think you're good enough to follow me and learn from me, and be my disciple." Heck ya I'd drop my nets immediatly and follow Him!
The speaker later talked about Peter walking on water. Yeah, we all know this story, especially if you've grown up in the church. We say, "Peter, so little faith, doubting that Jesus is with him and he'll be ok." But, I had never looked at it in this way. Jesus called out to Peter, and chose him to come . Jesus believed in Peter. Peter knew Jesus would protect him, that's why he jumped out right away. But then, Peter doubted himself. I can just imagine him saying, "Wait a minute, what in the world am I doing? I'm Peter, I can't do this. Yeah, I know Jesus can help me, but I'm just Peter."
What's so amazing to me is that God chose us! He believes in us! He is the creator of the universe and he believes in us just as we are. We don't have to be educated and know all there is to know. He believes in us! He's called out to us! He trusts us! So many times I say, yeah I know God can do anything through everyone, I don't have faith that He can't pull through. But, I always lose faith in myself. I could never do this or that, I could never do a DTS, I could never finish college, I could never walk up to a stranger and ask them if they need prayer. But God believes in me in the big things and the little. And that blows me away!

May we all be covered in the dust of our Rabbi, Jesus Christ!