‘Follow me’ - some of the first words spoken by Jesus that are recorded in the gospels. I imagine a set of footprints leading into the distance.

A few weeks ago I went Polar Exploring in Endmoor. This probably needs a brief explanation. It was a children’s holiday club in St Patrick’s School which became the home of huskies, polar bears, penguins and explorers. We thought about footprints: ‘Carbon footprints’ (the impact we have upon the environment) and ‘Kingdom footprints’ (the impact of some of the first followers of Jesus).

There is a true story about someone who read his own obituary in a newspaper one morning. The newspaper had made a mistake and reported the death of the wrong man, but it meant that this person was able to read what people would say about him after he died. Things that perhaps they would never say to his face!

The headline read ‘Dynamite King Dies’ and the obituary described the man as a ‘merchant of death’. He was the inventor of dynamite and he had amassed a great fortune from the manufacture of weapons. The man was very shocked and decided that was not how he wanted to be remembered; not the ‘footprint’ he wanted to leave. He began to devote his energy and money to things that would benefit mankind and especially to works of peace. The man was Alfred Nobel. It is interesting that that we remember him today not as ‘merchant of death’ but as founder of the Nobel Peace Prize.

At the end of our holiday club, we thought about the sort of ‘footprints’ that we would like to leave. ‘Follow me’ said Jesus. Look at the ‘footprints’ you leave, and then look at mine. If you want, they can become the same.

Richard Snow, Kirkby Lonsdale Team Ministry