On this race, I’ve gotten very close to some of the girls that I’ve been living with. After living in community with someone 24/7, literally every single moment of every single day, you start to get to know their personality. You know when someone has a new pair of underwear and you start to pick up their little idiosyncrasies. Yet we are vastly different people. In this world of 7 billion people there is enough variety in personality types, love languages, genetic coding, dispositions, etc. to make everyone unique.
That being said, I started thinking about the disciples of Jesus. I think it’s really easy to think of them as being pretty chill. Relaxing on cushions around Jesus, lying in the grass as he preached the Sermon on the Mount. But then I remember how Peter literally got so fired up he cut off someone’s ear. I remember how they almost all jumped ship during the storm. It made me think that just as my team has different personality types, Jesus’ 12 person team had vastly different characters as well.
There’s so much in the stories that we don’t get to see. His ministry of 3 years can’t fit into a couple chapters. These guys did life together! Just like I’m doing life with these girls. I picture when that boat was sinking, James, John, Peter and Andrew start issuing orders. They were fishermen so I’m sure they had dealt with a sinking boat before. I think of a dialogue between a Type A Bartholomew and a Type B Simon “Simon come on! Jesus said we were supposed to meet him at the palm tree at 12:30. It’s 12:15 we need to go now!” “Exactly…Relax Bartholomew we still have like 20 more minutes…hmm is that a sandal store? I need new shoes.”
Obviously I don’t know what they were like. It just reminds me that we’re all different. We all have different things that bring us joy and make us tick. Sometimes it’s easy to get frustrated when people don’t think the same way as you do. But we need to remember as Atticus Finch says, “You never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them”. This week try to see another’s point of view.
Katie
