In her book The Preaching Life, Barbara Brown Taylor tells of a conversation she had with a friend of hers who grew up on a sheep farm in the Midwest.
According to her friend, sheep are not dumb at all. He said: “It is the cattle ranchers who are responsible for spreading that ugly rumor, and all because sheep do not behave like cows. Cows are herded from the rear by hooting cowboys with cracking whips, but that will not work with sheep at all.“
He continued: “Stand behind the sheep making loud noises and all they will do is run around behind you, because they prefer to be led. You push cows, her friend said, but you lead sheep, and they will not go anywhere that someone else does not go first. Their shepherd must go ahead of them to show them that everything is all right.”
Sheep know their shepherd and their shepherd knows them. As Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep and they know me.” (John 10:14)
The friend went on to say that “it never ceased to amaze him, growing up, that he could walk right through a sleeping flock of sheep without disturbing a single one of them, while a stranger could not step foot in the fold without causing pandemonium.” Sheep and shepherds develop a language all their own.
As Jesus says, “Anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber.The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper 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.” (John 10:1-5)
The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything. — Albert Einstein
Are YOU following the voice of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, or are YOU following the media voice of an opinionated Wolf?
THE CLOSER YOU ARE TO JESUS THE GOOD SHEPHERD, THE SAFER YOU ARE FROM ALL THE WOLVES!
