baaa baa

Well good evening. I'm attempting to squeeze in a quick post before bible study starts in 20 minutes. My day has been fairly busy with Confirmation interviews, so I haven't had the chance until now to get a little writing time in. And with my luck, one of my students will show up early and barge into my office before I even have the chance to make a point. Not that I know what my point is going to be today. Geez, I'm a mess. Why does anyone read this again???

Tonight at bible study we are reading the Gospel of John Chapter 10 which talks about Jesus as the shepherd and his followers as the sheep. He explains that the sheep know the voice of their shepherd, so they won't follow any thieves or impostors. If only life were that easy, right? If every time we were tempted by another voice we would just automatically know - Well, that's not Jesus. Better stay put. But it's not always so easy.

But maybe that is just because we are never really listening. Or maybe we haven't allowed ourselves to know Jesus well enough to be able to recognize his voice. He is there, guiding us, protecting us, calling to us to follow Him, but sometimes we just don't listen. Or maybe, we are not being good sheep. Maybe we don't want to follow our shepherd; we want to blaze our own path. But if we go off on our own, it's likely we'll get eaten by a wolf. And nobody wants that, right?

I don't think I've allowed myself to be a very good sheep. I think sometimes I feel like the shepherd... trying to corral hundreds of teenagers and get them to recognize my voice. It's hard to follow when you spend all of your time leading. And let me tell you, leading can be very exhausting. I think that I need to put my trust in God and know what HE will lead the teens where they need to go. I can best serve them by being a good sheep, not a shepherd. If they see me following Jesus, then hopefully they will follow. I don't want to be a leader that is teaching them to blaze their own path right into the mouth of a hungry wolf.

So I'm going to work on being a really good sheep. It sounds kind of nice... grazing in a pasture, chewing on some grass, enjoying the sun, and not worrying about scary wolves. The weather right now is perfect for being a good sheep.... do you think they can hang out at the beach?? Today, remember to be thankful for our Shepherd, and enjoy your pasture. (my goodness... this is getting far too cheesy... time for me to sign off... plus, the first teen just barged into my office!)