Follow or Wallow...

Okay, I joined twitter recently after convincing myself that it may be a good avenue to learn and my experience so far has been quite interesting. The popular vocabulary in Twitter is “Follow”; following and followers. To follow means “to go, walk; drive etc behind or after someone else:” I found it intriguing when I signed up for the first time on Twitter and on opening the page, I saw the “following” and “followers” caption.Basically, you follow people you think you can learn from and in the same way; people who follow you believe they can learn from you.

The Twitter Statistics as at today 7^th of March, 2013, shows that Bill Gates has a total of 10,082,082 followers and Joyce Meyer has a total of 1,821,675 followers. The list grows by the day. Joel Osteen, Bishop TD Jakes, Pastor Adeboye, Bishop Oyedepo, and Pastor Sam Adeyemi amongst many other men of influence both in the secular and spiritual fields all have an impressive number of people “following” them. These are people who have paid the price in their fields and are making a mark hence; people want to hear what they have to say. You follow who you respect with an intention of gaining from their wealth of experience. Hence it’s a platform where Mentors and Mentees are connected. I have concluded that founders of Twitter have done a good thing and the idea behind this as far as I am concerned is just a practical expression of what the bible teaches. Jesus , our Master Himself in the bible told His disciples “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men”( Matthew 4:9). 

Mentoring and being mentored is not a modern day viewpoint. You hear about sons of the prophets in the bible. In 2nd kings 4, the widow of one of them had a dire need; her children were going to be taken away from her as slaves but because of her husband’s relationship with Elijah the prophet before he died, her issue was sorted out. The sons of the prophet needed to make room for a bigger space for themselves in 2nd kings 6 and because of Elisha’s presence, they were not put to shame; a lost axe head was found. Elisha followed Elijah and got a double portion of his anointing, Joshua followed Moses and got an impartation of the spirit of wisdom, David followed Samuel and He got direction for his future. Timothy was a staunch follower of Paul. The list is endless. 

Gboyega Adegbite said, “Four other giants were killed in the Bible besides Goliath and they were killed by men who followed David. If you want to kill giants, follow a giant killer”. Read 2 Samuel 21:15-22. In addition to that, in 1st Samuel 22, Four hundred (400) discontented, discouraged, debt-ridden and distressed men followed David and their lives were transformed for good. Someone asked Mike Murdock a question recently. She said "Pastor Murdock what advice do u have for young preachers just starting out”? He said “Identify the Opportunity...To Be Assistant To A Man of God”.

A mentor is someone, a ‘critical friend’ who has gone ahead of you ,who can listen carefully to you, ask you genuine and blunt  questions and help you on your journey in life. They help you discover things you don’t know, let you into their lives to see areas you can learn from to avoid their mistakes, sometimes offer suggestions but let you decide what to do. Someone has succeeded  in your chosen field, its wisdom to see how they have gotten there.

On a final note, please learn wisdom and tact, None is an island. Jesus in  Matthew 10:24 says “Students are not greater than their teacher....".  Who do you listen to, who do watch, who mentors you? And in Twitter’s language WHO ARE YOU FOLLOWING IN LIFE?

Enjoy God’s blessings now and always.

The Pen……………………

PS: I am not a twitter marketer or advocate, I have just taken a cue from the practicality of the idea behind twitter…lol