In our younger years, the Norwegian Artist and I bicycled through small-town America, and for housing, we often asked a local church if we could camp in their basement. Encountering everything from open-armed hospitality to outright hostility, we ultimately found ourselves attending a lot of church services.

The rock we want to follow is Jesus. If not then, you’d be better off with a real rock than a Christian rock star. The Land of Chief Joseph, original oil painting by Steve Henderson.

One that made permanent memories was a revival meeting, in a tent, complete with wood shavings (the woman in front of us jumped up with an “OH!” as if she had been stuck with a pin) in which the speaker discussed the Cedars of Lebanon.

According to the speaker, these huge trees, towering over all other life in the forest, were the pastors God ordained to lead the sheep, and when the trees fell — he didn’t particularly mention why — then dreadful things happened, because everything under the massive trunks was crushed under its weight.

Feeling out of the loop? This could be because you’re thinking for yourself, and the people in the group around you don’t like that. Paperback and digital at Amazon.com.

You do know that you’re the sheep, don’t you? But it’s our choice to follow a particular shepherd, or not, and if more Christians would think twice before they make a human being their guru, then we’d have stronger, smarter sheep.

Please follow the link to my BeliefNet article, When Mighty Church Leaders Fall, Do They Crush the People Underneath at Commonsense Christianity.