As we rumbled over the cattle guard at the ranch entrance, the sheep looked up from grazing and came toward us.  More sheep appeared from the mesquite thickets and the ravines.  Granddaddy scattered feed on the ground.  The sheep milled around him, stirring dust.  "Johnny is looking stronger," he would say. "Old Nellie is missing--she's probably down by the creek having her lamb.  I'll have to go check on her." 

Granddaddy rubbed the wooly heads of the sheep and talked to them.  When I tried, they shied away and scattered.  But they knew and trusted Granddaddy.  Jesus said, "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me...they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him..."

Those sheep had never received anything bad from Granddaddy, only good.  They had felt his rough but gentle hands doctoring their wounds and showing affection.  I see him down on one knee, pocket knife in hand, dislodging a pebble from a sheep's hoof, or burning off thorns during drought so the sheep could eat prickly pears.

The Good Shepherd cares for the needs of the sheep.  He loves them so much that he laid down his life to save them.  "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”  When we lose our way, as we often do, Jesus comes and finds us and rejoices that we are found.

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Copyright 2006 by G.B. Shelburne, III.  May be freely reproduced or forwarded for non-commercial purposes provided content is unchanged and this copyright notice is included.  These shepherding messages are sent to members and friends of New Beginnings Church (www.nbchurch.com), to students and alumni of South Houston Bible Institute (www.shbi.org), and to other interested persons. 

Any scripture quotes, unless otherwise indicated, are from the HOLY BIBLE:  NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION © 1978 and 1984 by the New York International Bible Society, used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.

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