(The story of Jesus told from his perspective)
I remember the dust in their hair.
I remember their questions, their sideways glances when they didn’t understand what I said.
I remember the way they argued; so confident, so sure they were right.
And I didn’t flinch.
Not once.
I chose them knowing exactly who they were.
Young.
Fiery.
Incomplete.
But I didn’t need them to be perfect.
I needed them to be present.
Peter; always the first to speak, to act, to swing the sword.
He carried more weight because he had more years, but even he didn’t know how to carry a heart yet.
His love was real, but tangled in fear.
I let it unravel at the sound of the rooster.
Not because I was angry.
Because he needed to see what I already knew; the strength I was building didn’t come from his willpower, it came from his surrender.
They all had their moments.
James and John, asking for thrones on my right and left.
Thomas, questioning again and again.
Philip, asking Me to show him the Father.
And when they fumbled, when they missed it, I didn’t shame them.
I stayed.
They didn’t have to pretend around Me.
They told Me when they didn’t understand.
They told Me when they were jealous.
They told Me when they were afraid.
That’s how I knew it was working.
Not because they never got it wrong, but because they trusted Me enough to be real.
That trust; that honesty; that was the soil I could grow something in.
I wasn’t worried about their mistakes.
I was never expecting perfection.
What I saw was the seed.
I saw the blade, the ear, the full grain in the ear.
I saw shepherds, apostles, healers, preachers; not in their current behavior, but in their future form.
And I spoke to that.
I held their feet to the fire, yes.
But I never crushed their spirit.
I told them truth wrapped in presence.
I asked questions that pulled their hearts to the surface.
I saw their weakness, and I didn’t run.
I stayed long enough for love to do its work.
Even when they misunderstood My parables… even when they fell asleep in the garden… even when they scattered at the cross; I didn’t revoke My call.
I had already factored in their process.
My covenant with them wasn’t fragile.
And what grew in that place of safety; oh, it was beautiful.
That’s what mentorship from wholeness looks like.
Not trying to fix people because you’re uncomfortable with their mess.
Not demanding harvest when they’re still in seed.
Just presence.
Just truth.
Just the quiet confidence that love, over time, transforms everything it touches