One of the critical points I learned about discipleship is when I realized I am off course. Jesus told his disciples to make disciples but did not tell them how. This is something that bothered me over the years. Most of the time I could put it out of my head because it seemed no one else, by my estimation, knew what it meant either. I thought I knew what a disciple was but I had no idea how to make disciples or how to disciple them. I figured I could not just walk up to some guy fishing as he was casting a line and say, “Come, follow me,"… "and I will send you out to fish for people" (Matthew 4:19, NIV). I know Jesus did that, but let’s be honest, the son of God can do things I cannot. I was certainly never taught to make disciples that way.

The closest I got to learning about making disciples was the occasional sermon I sat through. The message was often centered around how we did not do enough to make disciples and the proof text was “Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did” (1 John 2:6, NIV). How do you feel after hearing this? If that is not enough what about when Jesus said, “whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing” (John 14:12, NIV). Why didn’t I have 24 disciples, feed 14,000 people, and walk on a tsunami? Guilt only motivated me to do one of two things; give it enough time so I forget the sermon until I fall into what everyone else was doing, or I could pretend I was already making disciples. The latter seemed too much of a stretch, so I just ignored it, but I was haunted by it nonetheless.

I grew up in an interesting time when I knew a life before everything being online and the interconnected life on screens we have today. My wife and I have been together since we were teenagers and we have been on trips before GPS. People often talk about the good old days when we did not always have to have a screen in front of our faces. When it comes to driving, I am not that guy fawning over times past. I have been asked by people younger than me about how it was before GPS on your phone. My answer is always short, “I got lost a lot.” My wife, Laura, has helped me so much navigating using an atlas to drive from state to state. If know what I am talking about, you are old. If you do not know what an atlas is, well, it is like a giant book with major interstates and most highways on a map. There was no pinching the screen to zoom in or out. There were different pages allowing for more detailed maps. With an atlas, we had to figure out where we were on the map and determine which direction to go. This may shock you, but if you miss the turn no one told you. This was terrible and very frustrating to say the least.

Imagine thinking you were going one way and expecting to be in a certain place after a few hours, only to find out you are not there. You are somewhere, but not where you need to be, so you needed to figure out where you are now. Then you have to backtrack to the last place you were lost. I did not have to imagine this, it happened to me often. I believe people find themselves in this scenario spiritually too. You are in a place you never intended, and you may have even thought you were going the right direction. You do not even know where you are, but you just get the feeling you are lost. Maybe you keep thinking of Jesus’ command to make disciples, but left with the fact he never said how to accomplish it (Matthew 28:19-20). The good news is God is not trying to trick you and there is a way.

Jesus did not give us a way, he said he is the way (John 14:6). Jesus is the fulfillment, he did not give a template. While in the Marine Corps, I was an intelligence analyst, so I was used to looking at maps. Maps make sense in the comfort of the office, but the physical terrain becomes confusing to the guy dropped off in the valley, while hungry, getting eaten by bugs, and with an enemy lurking trying to kill him. For years I did not have the perspective of the guy on the ground until I went through Officer training after transferring from the enlisted side.

Land navigation was the next task in training. I will be honest; I did not pay attention to the instruction as much as I needed before being dropped us off in the middle of the woods. Let me further set the stage for you. Officer training is in Quantico Virginia with hilly terrain. The terrain is densely covered with trees and brush. When I went through training it was the coldest part of the year, my favorited. I hope you can hear my sarcasm, because I strongly desire to be anywhere but outside in the cold.

This was something that took me out of my comfort zone. Even when I am driving, I like the comfort of having the GPS going because it lets me know if there is traffic ahead and it will reroute me beforehand. I also love seeing how long it will take me to get where I am going. Well, in training, we were not allowed to use our GPS. Instead we had to use an old map that did not exactly fit the current terrain.

There is no way to navigate with all the trees, going around streams, and through the terrain by simply knowing the final destination and go for it. I learned it is about finding known points along the way and make them like waypoints. Known points on a map are those areas that will not change no matter when the map was made. Maybe there is a significant terrain feature like a valley near or a unique bend in a stream. Once you get to those points you can regroup and then move to the next waypoint. The promises of God are the waypoints on the journey. Notice what the Apostle Peter wrote, “…he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires” (2 Peter 1:4, NIV)