Disciple or Pretender?

It has been about a week since my last writing. It has been hectic, confusing, frustrating, but still in all, I am a child of God and I always have to remember that He is in charge! (Sometimes, very difficult to do).
I have been working with my fellow co-worker that I had mentioned in my last rendering. We have continued our discussion on being a Disciple.
We talked about how Jesus and how He healed the sick, raised the dead and taught about these miracles. As briefly as possible, I will put down in words what was said.
Unusual events always draw crowds like a magnet. Jesus saw superficial curiosity in His ministry. When word spread about His teaching and miracles, crowds gathered to hear Him speak and see Him perform miraculous healing (Matthew 4:24-25). Modern day consultants might have advised Jesus to exploit His popularity and develop the broadest following possible by avoiding controversy.
Jesus was not concerned with breaking attendance records. When the crowds reached their peak, He preached a confrontational message with such offensive content that the multitude melted away, leaving only a few devoted disciples behind (John 6:66-71). The crowd's superficial attraction to an unusual teacher did not last long. They did not like His teaching. So they rejected the miracles and returned to their former ways of living.
A few persisted. Why did they stay? Peter spoke first for them when he said, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life" (John 6:68). Peter followed the Lord even when Jesus lost His popularity because he knew that Christ was the exclusive source of teaching that leads to forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Peter valued those precious words more than being a part of the crowd.
I then asked some thought provoking questions of my co-worker:
Do the prevailing opinions of those around you affect your enthusiasm for the Christian life? Or do you hunger and thirst after Christ regardless of what the next guy thinks? I told him that a "TRUE" Christian will follow even when the pretenders start to fall away.

More to come on this.
On the other front, I would ask for prayers as my work situation continues to get bleaker as the months go on. We were informed Friday that we are going to 40 hours per week and that instead of working our "normal" night shift, that we are to come in at 2:30pm and work until 11:00pm. This has made many of my co-workers upset and wondering if we will really have a job next year. I know that there will be some who will search and find other work. But there are those of us, who will stick it out and see if things really do turn around. I am believing that this will be the case and would ask for prayers regarding this situation.