Throughout my academic career I struggled. Nothing came easily, but I determined to be the best pupil possible. The Greek culture considered a disciple a philosopher’s follower or sometimes an apprentice learning a trade. The New Testament writers used the term in different facets. Don Campbell shared the uses of the word disciple in The Theological Wordbook as:

First, describing the twelve. Radical demands were placed on these men as Jesus was always on the move. He constantly challenged, motivated, questioned, and sharpened them into men who would eventually suffer for him and, for most of them, die for him! They were men who left their occupations, parents, families, friends to follow him. They learned from him the spiritual and social lessons that led to an unfolding of the drama of t…