Jesus the Shepherd

Our family has spent some very happy days at a farm owned by our friends and mentors Paul and Macon. Instead of a traditional vacation home, their family chose a home away from home where both work and very happy memories happen.

When my boys were young, Macon taught us a powerful lesson that has stuck with me. She told my boys to call the sheep that dotted the field in front of them. When they looked unsure, she said, "Just call to them. Call them to come here for some food."

The boys delightedly began giving it their all. "Here sheep! Here sheepy, sheep, sheep." They yelled, jumped up and down and tried some bleating, but the sheep continued to graze. They didn't even raise their heads to look.

When the boys' ruckus stilled to a puzzled silence, Macon began calling, "Come here sheep. Come get some food!" Immediately the sheep stopped their grazing and ran to the fence.

"See boys," Macon explained. "The sheep know their shepherd's voice. You could have called them forever, but they wouldn't have come. They don't know your voice." Macon followed by telling us how dumb sheep are, and how we're the dumb sheep. Ha!

I was once again reading this passage in John this morning, "The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice....I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me--just as the Father knows me and I know the Father--and I lay down my life for the sheep." (John 10:2-5, 14-15 NIV)

I am definitely a dumb sheep, and I'm willing to own it. But this morning I'm overwhelmingly grateful for Jesus who has trained me to know His voice and flee from other voices. He is truly my Good Shepherd.