Three years in a row, she pawed her lambs so much she broke their front legs and ribs.  We had to cast the lambs legs and place her in a head stanchion.  Next to her side but safe from her deadly feet, her lambs could heal from the injuries. Her last year with our flock before she was culled, she spent her entire spring in the head stanchion nursing numerous lambs.  She became our “bum lamb” milk supply.  Sadly, one of her lambs never recovered from the broken ribs.

Have you ever thought about dominance and control?  We see it displayed in sheep but I have also observed it in God’s kingdom.  All of us deal with control issues but some of us have a deep need to control others.  It is manifested in many different ways but it always causes harm.  It seems to be passed form generation to generation.  All of life is affected, but it expresses itself in marriage and family relationships most clearly.  It can creep into the workplace and is often found in church congregations and leadership circles.   After all, who doesn’t want to be in control?  But is it good or bad?

I think a person being controlled by someone else has two options.  They either stand up and push back against the control and demand respect and space.  This often leads to conflict and separation in the relationship.  If this remains over time, the relationship is severely harmed or destroyed.   The second option is to submit to the control.  Over time, the person who submits, pushes aside their will and thinking and gives up standing against the controller.  This leads to an eventual drain identity and self respect.  It is impossible to find one’s true self under the domination of a controller.  Words like whimpy, mush ball, and wet dishrag describe a person who submits until they do not know what they are anymore.  Life and identity slowly drains away one occurrence at a time.

This begs the question.  Man is imperfect and we know we are flawed by nature.  Is God a controlling God?  He sure could be and he has every right to be.  He is God and there is none like HIM!  He has the right to control our very being and existence because He created it.  He can snuff it out with a thought.  He could decide the very next word that comes from our mouth if He desired.  Does the Father God revealed in the Bible evoke control over his created people? If so, how and when?  Jesus surrendered his life’s control to the Father when he lived on this earth.  Jesus asked his followers to surrender their lives to his Lordship by invitation.  I  see so many places where God invites us to submit to His control in our lives.  But I do not see dominance and forced control. No one is forced to become a child of God or else.

God has never forced His way into my life, even though He has every right to do so.  If a holy, just, and righteous God can allow me my identity, my choices, and my will without dominating me, isn’t that what He wants me to be to others.  If God forced me into His mold, I would be a robot under the control of a divine powerful being.  Do not get me wrong, God is in control.  Hallelujah!  But I am fascinated with how such a powerful God respects and treats me as his child.  He does not paw me constantly and say “get up” for the purpose of control and dominance.  (I admit, I occasionally need some pawing for my own good!)

I think control issues invaded the human race at the fall.   One of the biggest prices of the fall and the original sin of mankind has been control and dominance.  It has invaded the DNA of all of us.  Left unchecked, this leads to abuse, violence and destroyed relationships.  (How about Cain’s story?)

What do I do with this control problem?  How do I deal with it?  Admit it, (it is sinful), let God dig into my life to show me why there is a need for control.  Then I need to get help in changing it. Control is like an addiction.  It provides for some need in our life.  Giving up control requires me to be vulnerable to God and others.  It means letting the outcome rest in the hands of others and God.  It means recognizing I have a God who loves me and gives me space to be true to myself.  It means I can ask for help but ultimately, I am responsible for my life alone.  I can have relationships where I can love deeply and care without limit without controlling.

What a beautiful picture it is when a free person willingly submits to God and others with no pretense or substance of control or dominance.  It looks like a “God” picture, I think!

Matthew 7:12 Do for others what you would like them to do for you. This is a summary of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.

John 13:14,15   And since I, the Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.

Romans 12:9,10 Don’t just pretend that you love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Stand on the side of the good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.

He reminded me of the “boss ewes”.  In every lot of sheep there were a few ewes that assume leadership.  They always get their way and lead the other ewes in any group activity.  They had the choicest feeding spot and forced their way to the front of the water fountain.  They led the way through the gates and they were found in the front of the whole flock walking down the path to the pasture.  Every so often, a new ewe felt like she wanted to take one of the coveted “boss ewe” spots and she would challenge the boss ewe.  Some head knocking took place followed by some pushing around and soon the younger ewe was put in her place.  Boss ewes constantly had to guard their place.

This leadership and hierarchy always intrigued me.  I wondered if sheep had so much leadership, why do they need a shepherd?  Why not just leave them alone and let them to themselves?  Why is a shepherd important to sheep?  Is it just because there are predators with sharp teeth and hungry stomachs as natural enemies?  Is there a deeper reason why sheep inherently need a shepherd?

29 years of raising sheep as a shepherd has brought me closer to the answer.  Let me explain.  Sheep have genetic tendencies and desires that cause them to self destruct.  I have seen a 500 ewe flock display multiple reasons why they needed me as their shepherd.  I admit, every shepherd wants to be needed but sheep have legitimate needs that only a true shepherd can meet.  Let me elaborate:

1.  They flock together.  Sheep in a group tend to follow a leader for the sole reason of following a leader.  If cornered in a pen to be worked, one of the ewes will break away and run to the other side of the pen and every other ewe in the group will break with it.  There is no practical or logical reason for the first ewe to break away and it has no real place to run but soon the entire flock finds themselves in the same place.  And not one of them knows why they are there or what to do!  Literally, if one ewe would jump over an inconspicuous cliff, the rest would be right behind.  They follow blindly.  They have a mob mentality.

2.  The “Dead Eye” ram and the boss ewes, the leaders, often make decisions based on selfish desires and motives.  They never stop to ask, what is good for the whole flock.  They always default to, what is best for me.  If it is best for me, it must be best for everyone else.  So the whole system of leadership is based on “push and shove’ and dominance and submission.

3.  No sense of direction.  The flock will follow leaders who lead by whims and wishes driven by selfish desires.  They seem to repeat past errors and circle around without a sense of direction or purpose.  Somehow, comically but tragically, it is the blind leading the blind.

4.  In this system, the weak and struggling are left out.  If a sheep is weak or ill, or has a bad leg or is smaller, it had no place of advancement.  In fact, it is reminded daily of its pathetic and proper place.  It is not uncommon for the weaklings to be left so far behind that they die.  They have no place of rest or healing.  They have no hope of a new tomorrow.  The weak and powerless die off and only the strong survive.

5.  In the sheep world, leaders see other sheep as objects.  The main flock is there to follow.  The better the leader, the more sheep it has to follow.  Then one day, a sheep leader’s strength falters and fades and a new leader takes his spot.  There is no level of care and service rendered by the leader.  No, a leader is to be followed.  Leaders are not pushed out front to lead because they have the care and interest of the flock in mind.  Leaders are there because single desires and motives matched with physical strength drive sheep leaders to take the lead spot regardless of others.

If you observe these and other tendencies of sheep played out in a flock, you will conclude like I have, sheep need a shepherd!  Not a shepherd that is like the sheep leaders.  No they need a good shepherd who is there to serve and protect and nurture.  A shepherd who can give direction and always seek the welfare of the sheep first and foremost.  Sheep need a shepherd to guard them from themselves and their own leaders.  Sheep need a shepherd so they have someone to watch out for the weak, powerless, and the struggling.  A shepherd who notices the left behind and left out.  A shepherd who steps in and brings healing and rest.  A shepherd who understands the flocking tendency and understands the dire consequences of the “blind leading the blind”.

Isaiah the prophet spoke in the Old Testament, 53:6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each has turned to his own way.  He expressed our greatest reason why we need a shepherd, each one of us has gone astray and we go our own way!  We need a shepherd to keep us from ourselves.   The human race is so much like sheep and every one of us desperately needs a good shepherd.  Isaiah also expressed how he saw his Father God as a shepherd in 40:11  He tends his flock like a shepherd:   He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart;  he gently leads those that have young.

Isn’t it time to quit being “Dead Eye” or the boss ewe and bow down at the feet of the Good Shepherd?  Isn’t it time to stop blindly following and call out to the Shepherd of heaven?

Is it time to come like a lamb and let the Good Shepherd gather us in His arms and carry us close to His heart?

My favorite sheep chapter in the Bible is Psalm 23. It is packed with sheep truths. One of the verses says, My cup runs over. (verse 5)  To most this stimulates images of a cup of drink that spills over on the table.  However, it is a more powerful portrayal of a real life sheep and shepherd.  In those times, shepherds often led their sheep over rocky terrain and high lands to get forage to eat.  Much of the climate was arid and sheep were mainly a desert animal.  Streams of water were scare and some distance apart.  Streams of water that did flow were fast and sheep were scared to drink.  Water would literally flow through the cracks in the stones and rocks.

A shepherd would take time to chisel out a drinking bowl or cup on the top of a rocky ledge or stone and direct the water flow into the man-made cup.  Once the cup was full of water, the cup would overflow.  The sheep could then drink of the water without danger or fear.  If the water supply was not dependable, then the cup would run dry at times during the year.  A good shepherd could locate and provide a cup that overflowed.

This is great picture of the Good Shepherd, Jesus.  He understood our need of water.  In John 4, he called himself the “Living Water”.  This is an image of Jesus being our source of life and health.  Daily, as we thirst for water, we come to him and he provides.  Not just a little, or with measure.  We do not come to find the cup empty and dry.  NO!  The cup runs over!

Think of it…Jesus gave his life and died to be our living water.  He saw the thirst of our souls and paid the ultimate price to fill our cup.

I am thankful for the day when I surrendered my life to follow Jesus Christ.  I become his sheep.  He poured his abundance into my life.

Now my cup runs over…

Does yours?

What makes these worms so insidious is that they are hidden and slowly rob the sheep of health and vitality.  The sheep will gradually go downhill and can eventually end up in a life threatening condition.  The sheep becomes weakened and listless.  Body systems struggle to function and the animal is left in a anemic condition.  Out of sight…but not out of business.  The reality for sheep with worms is that they are being destroyed from the inside and cannot do anything about it.  Life will never be the same…unless…

As a shepherd, I understood the sheep’s nemesis.  One dose of Tramasil or Ivomectin and within hours those nasty worms were on their way out!  This medication created an environment that was hostile to the worms and they exited out the back door asap.  Literally, within days the sheep would regain new life and energy.  They were transformed by this simple yet effective treatment.  Sadly however, there are still many flocks today that suffer from these parasites because the shepherd is unaware or non attentive to the condition of the flock.  Out of sight…..

The Good Shepherd talked about His flock and things that are out of sight.  Mark 7: 7 After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. ¹⁸ “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? ¹⁹ For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)  ²⁰ He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. ²¹ For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, ²² adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. ²³ All these evils come from inside and defile a person.” Jesus wasn’t saying that we can’t get worms!!!  He wasn’t saying that we can eat anything.  He was saying that we have a hidden parasite that lives inside of our hearts and soul.  It is a nemesis to our very existence and vitality.  No sheep are immune or resistant.

If it is not dealt with, it will lead us down the road to death.  Slowly but surely, life gets sponged from us and we find this awful nasty stuff coming out from the inside because we are contaminated.  Just like the wooly sheep, we are helpless to do anything about it.  We are doomed…unless…..

We let the Good Shepherd rescue us.  God offers a remedy of His grace and mercy and forgiveness.  We can allow God to give us a new heart and remove the defilement.  We can humbly admit that we are doomed not because of the conditions around us or the people we hang with but because we have a terminal condition.  If our hearts cry is for God to take this contaminated and dying life and make it new, He will.  We know that the sinful nature inside of us will bring us to doom and we will see life fade away and slip from our hands life sand through the fingers if we are not rescued.

It is not easy to look into the mirror of truth and see a skinny emaciated being exposed.  It is a cruel awakening to face the worms of our life.  But once we see God’s salvation applied, they leave, one at a time, as we begin to ask, “Why did I live like that for so long?”  We may even regret the wasted years of anemic living.  But now we will begin each day with a renewed sense of the cleansing and purity of God’s grace.  We will feel the power and vitality of life return.

Does God really care about my condition?  Ponder this.  Jesus looked over the city of Jerusalem from a high spot on the mountain side.  He was a Shepherd looking over His flock.  And He wept.  Why?  Rather than come to Jesus to find life, the people rejected Him and His care.  He longed to gather them up like a mother hen gathers her chicks, but they would not come.  They chose to live with their nemesis….out of sight.  He gave His life on teh cross by a very cruel and out of the ordinary death to send an invitation to them to come.  And to us.  Jesus cares.

How about you today?  The Good Shepherd is watching you.  He cares.  Have you allowed Him to take care of your condition?

Do you understand His love?  For God nothing is out of sight!  Come.

The seasons of the year provided some variety of unending care.  Summer found the ewes out on pasture so all we provided was some good drinking water.  Of course, there was always the threat of coyotes invading their space so we made sure they would return home at night to rest.  Spring brought nicer weather but it was often wet and sloppy.  The lots would get messy and filled with puddles.  Sheep have a natural fear of water so they would make winding trails around the outside of the lots just to stay out of the puddles and the muck.  Little lambs with short legs who tried to follow mom through the “deep stuff” could find themselves hung up and unable to move.  A good pair of knee high rubber boots were standard fare.  We never liked the rubber boot season very much.

Winter brought with it the challenge of snow.  Often the snow stayed all winter long and when blown by the wind would form drifts across the lots.  Some days we would spend 4-6 hours just moving snow so we could feed the sheep.  Cold temperatures and snow were big challenges.  A sheep outside in a snow storm is not a pretty site.  Snow sticks to their wool and becomes like a frozen blanket on their backs.  It takes days for their body heat to dry out the coat of wool.  If they lie down on the snow, they can literally freeze to the ground, like a frozen rug!  We always provided well bedded dry barn space for the sheep in the winter time.

Part of our daily chores was to feed the sheep whole dried corn.  Corn is called the “cadillac” of feeds because of its nutritional value and ease of feeding.  We would use plastic buckets to carry the whole corn to separate pens.  Some days we would carry as many as 25 five gallon pails of feed and often the corn bucket path covered the entire farmyard.  Carrying heavy pails of corn could be a challenge on a good day but mix that with snow drifts and knee deep snow and it is a athletic workout.

One particular day after a storm, my young son decided he wanted to help dad.  Mom bundled him up in his winter gear and he followed me outside.  He was about 3 years old and thrilled to be helping his dad.  We went across the yard to the corn bin and I filled two pails full of corn.  My son looked at me and held up a empty pail.  So I took two small hand fulls of corn and dumped them into his pail.  Just enough so he could hear the corn move around in the pail.  The five gallon bucket was too big for him to carry with one hand so he held it up in front of him with both hands.  Off we headed to the main barn.

Soon we hit a drift of snow.  I took smaller steps to break a path and forged ahead.  I stopped once to look back and make sure he was following.  He fell behind.  When I reached the main gate, arms aching from heavy pails and trudging through the snow, I looked back.  Wait…time out… God set this up.  You know, have you had one of those times when time stands still and God opens your eyes to a spiritual truth.  Look! My son was trying desperately to step in my footsteps.  Dragging his pail, he was grunting and jumping to match my every footprint in the snow……    Instead of making his own path, he was matching my bigger steps with all of his might.  His whole heart was into making it to Dad with his bucket of corn!

A voice inside of me said, “Look at him, he is following in your very steps.  He wants to please you and help you.  He will go where you go!”  I wept.  Who was I to deserve another person to follow in my footsteps?  I fail and I am imperfect.  Where was I leading my son?  If he followed me where will he end up?  God said, “Do you see the influence I have given you?  Do you understand how important your path is to others?  You can lead them to me or you can lead them astray, it is your choice.”  I was broken and humbled.  When my son made it to me, I picked him up, hugged him and told him how proud I was of him.  As I held him in my arms, I looked back and saw the evidence in the snow.

The snow melted and spring removed all traces of our path.  But I shall never forget that day.  I asked God to help me leave a path of goodness and righteousness for my family.  I asked God to help me to stay on track so others who might be following will not get lost.  Over the years, I have been tempted to seed some “wild outs” but my mind and heart replays that scene.  If he follows me, where will it lead him?

I think that one characteristic of a master shepherd is that they care where they lead the sheep.  Psalm 23 says, “He lets me lie down in green pastures, ; He leads me beside still waters.  He renews my life; He leads me along the right paths for His name’s sake.. (HCSB)  If I can keep my eyes on the Great Shepherd and follow Him, then I do not have to worry about my footprints!

Where do your footprints lead?

I knew nothing about sheep.  To complicate matters, no one in our area had anything good to say about raising sheep.  I was left with one thing to do, learn.  I would become a student of the flock.  I would read, research, and pursue every avenue that led  me to understand these amazing creatures.  I began to notice scriptures in the Bible about sheep and shepherds.  I found that Jesus used many sheep illustrations and stories.  Armed with a head full of knowledge and a self inflicted degree, I dubbed myself-Master Sheepman!

Then life in the sheep pen happened.  My sheep got sick and the books couldn’t make a diagnosis.  One of the ewes didn’t breed and I needed to know what to do with a barren ewe.  I found I was missing the other half of the flock, a ram, and I didn’t have money to pay for one.  I eventually borrowed a neighbor’s ram and found out later that I had diluted my flock genetics.  Health issues, nutrition, genetics, hard work, and death were just a few of the classes I took on the road to being educated.  It seemed like one step forward and two backwards.  I avoided looking at the report card.

I thought about giving up.  I even planned on how to liquidate my flock and join the ranks of the western heroes-the cattlemen.  It would be easy to throw my hands up in the air and say, “I am through, I can go back to raising cattle like everyone else.”  I could not, but why?  I was drawn to the sheep.  In a strange way, their uniqueness and dependability on a shepherd made me want to become better.  They challenged me to overcome my inadequacy as their caretaker and find ways —or learn ways to help them thrive.  I could handle the subtle humor about sheep people from others but to face a failing flock, well that was unacceptable to me.

What changed?  I think it started when I cried out to God for help.  I had done all of this sheep raising on my own.  But now, I wanted desperately to become a master shepherd.  I never wanted to  just get by and accept a “normal” that was far short of what could be.  I asked God to help me.  “God, I can’t do this alone.  All of my best efforts have achieved….what I can get…so little.” I prayed. ” My sheep deserve the best shepherd and I come up short.  Will You help me?”

It became a passion and a burden.  Strange huh?  Somehow in God’s divine plan for my life, He inserted sheep!  When I wasn’t looking, He gave me a love and a passion for animals who are often discarded and minimized.  He showed me how to stand up for sheep when it is unpopular to do so.  I could not turn my back on these sheep.  Even if no one else valued them, I did.  Their incoherent behavior and apparent lack of intelligence drove me to frustration and anger.  But they needed a shepherd.  But even more, I needed a shepherd.

God showed me how to become a student of my sheep.  I wanted to know my sheep better than any other person.  So I invested years of my life observing and becoming a student of sheep.   God opened my eyes to see life from a sheep’s perspective and I began to understand how God wired them.  In addition, I was reminded how God sent His only Son, Jesus Christ to earth and called him the Lamb of God.  Jesus walked in my sheep boots.  He lived life not from a lofty vantage point from heaven but in the sheep pen of life with all of its smells and challenges, just like me.  He understands.  He had every reason to walk away.  He must have felt like I did so many times, frustrated with “slow” sheep.  How many times did He feel the discouragement and disappointment in me?  Why did He stay and complete the path to the cross?

I guess Jesus had a burden and a passion too.  He climbed into the muck and mire of life and took on the pitiful condition of mankind and provided a way out.  He was left stained and crushed for me, for us. Having conquered sin and death, He desires to shepherd me down the path of life.  I am overwhelmed when I think of how undeserving I am to be HIS sheep. John 10:14-18  “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.  I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.  The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again.  No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”

For me, when the door to the sheep barn was opened and 1000 eyes are fixed on the you, you step up.  You stay with it and you become the very best student of the flock under your care.  You ask God everyday to open your eyes and heart to understand the sheep in your sheep pen.  You submit yourself to the Holy Spirit’s guidance and you become a student of the flock…….you put down the beating stick and pick up the notepad and pencil.

Four scared ewes in the corner of a cattle barn.. God has His ways…God has His plans……  I can hear Jesus saying, “I am going to make a shepherd out of you even if it kills me.”

It did.

Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.   But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it–he will be blessed in what he does. James 1:23-25  God has provided a mirror for us.  It is His word.  Most people think that the law was given to bind and restrict but God’s word sets us free if we apply it’s truth to our lives.

One man put it this way, it is good for a man to get downwind of himself every once in a while.  What do you see when you look into the mirror of God’s perfect law?  Do you bolt away like feedlot lamb?  Does it scare you?  If you could get downwind from yourself, what would you smell?  What kind of a person heads to work in the morning and looks in the mirror and sees tussled hair, an unshaved face, food stains on the cheek, and yellow teeth and walks away and acts as though he never saw the mirror?

The world has many distorted mirrors.   The world constantly stacks you up and measures you and seeks to conform you to its own image.  But where does a true Christ follower go to see his true self?  Where does a sincere believer go to find true reality and reflection?  In the mirror!

IN the mirror, freedom and blessing are offered.  If I look into the mirror and deal with the reality of my life, I am set free and blessed.  Wow!  Or I can walk around life looking like I just got ejected from a garbage truck.  I can let God put His mirror in front of my face and I can deal with the image.  I can ask God to do a makeover.

Or I can walk away scared.

What do you smell?

I must confess, I used this bit of knowledge to my advantage.  My wife would feed a group of sheep (we called that a sheep lot…as opposed to “those sure are a lot of sheep”) and there was a sheep buck that would be mean to her.  When she went to cuts the twine off of the hay bale, he would come up behind her and try to hit her with his head.  (maybe that is why they also call them rams!)  They can do serious injury to someone who is not careful.  I would then feed that sheep lot the next day and wait for this ornery fellow to show up and try to “ram” me.  I would set him up by showing him the target…a hem..my rear end..and catch him when he tried to pummel me.  Then it was my turn to have fun.  I would flip him over on his back and settle him down on the bedding so he could not turn over.  With his feet sticking straight in the air, I would leave him stranded.  I would go and do other chores and come back in about a half hour.  By that time he was beginning to get bigger!!!  I would turn him over and help him up.  He would wobble like a drunk man and cough and snort.  His eyes would sink back into their sockets and he would slowly move away from me.  Ta da! The next day, he had a completely different attitude.  (It was good for about 30 days and then he needed a reminder again.)

Sheep that have fallen or been bumped on their backs have died.  If you ever see a flock of sheep and one of them has its feet in the air, don’t take pictures first, flip it over.  You will save a life.

Makes me wonder…. how do I treat other sheep?  Am I guilty of knocking them over?  Do I find enjoyment in turning them upside down?  Or am I the kind of person who loves to rescue and flip them back upright.  If we will look around, we will see people who have their world turned upside down.  They are struggling to make it and some are in great danger.  Though they kick and flail, they are unable to right themselves.  They will surely become filled with self and perish.

I realize that Jesus found me in that condition.  I was young and strong and ready to live life, upside down.  I was filling my life with me and it was leading to destruction.  Then the Good Shepherd reached down and turned me over and saved me.  When I was helpless to help myself, He came to my rescue.

For God so loved the world (me) that He gave His only (begotten) Son that whoever believes in Him should not PERISH but have everlasting life. John 3:16

No wonder sheep need a shepherd!

A little down time can be good, upside down time is a killer.

Later, what seemed delicious and innocent begins to turn deadly. Sheep cannot gorge themselves on grain and escape without consequences. Their body begins to suffer from “Overeating Disease.” The digestive track literally begins to produce toxins from the overload of grain and poisons the system. Depending on the amount of grain eaten, a full grown ewe can die within hours. Their dream opportunity and appetite has turned into a nightmare. They bloat and become so internally toxic that they die in a coma like condition.

They think they can handle it.  Over the years I have buried too many sheep that thought they could handle it. Unfettered desire plus freedom to indulge equals four legs sticking up in the air!

But what about the human flock? Is this any different from life in the human sheep pen?   How many times have you heard someone who is in a mess say, “I thought I could handle it.” It is the famous last words of an alcoholic, a drug addict, a sex addict, or an over-eater. Maybe it comes from a person who is into pornography and cannot stop. Or someone who gets angry and violent and abuses someone? Or maybe it is the person who loves the abuser and tolerates abuse?  Have you heard this from an stealer or a cheat?  How about a little fooling around with gambling?

Jesus warned his followers about an enemy who would try to steal, kill and destroy the sheep. He is like a wolf and he preys on sheep. The thief comes only to steal, slaughter, and destroy. I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly. John 10:10  The enemy’s greatest weapon however is unseen and sly.  He tells lies.  Big lies.  He is the best liar of all time and he is the father of lies.  He has destroyed many a sheep with his lies and deception.  And it works.

You can handle it!  (Can you hear him?)

Time out!  Huddle up.  Here is the truth!  We cannot handle it.  We are born with a defect.  We are powerless withing ourselves to get rid of this bent to do things wrong.  We gravitate towards sin and indulgence.  We cannot hold back our desire for evil by ourselves.  We can try all our best but at some time and at some place in our lives, we will let loose and indulge in a behavior that is destructive.  Hopefully, in our sheep pen,  the gate is shut and we are barred from destroying ourselves, but sooner or later the gate is left open.  In today’s world, it is not politically correct to have gates.  The world and our enemy screams: Go for it!  Grab all the gusto you can because you only go around once in life.  You can handle it.  Eat, eat eat!

And it sours in our gut.  It produces toxins that suck the very life from us.  And it holds us captive.  Why do we keep coming back for more?  Why can’t we stop? No amount of effort or grief can tear us free from this prison of self inflicted agony.  If we sink low enough, we become honest and admit we cannot handle it anymore.  We need help.  God we need your help!

Jesus knows we cannot handle it.  He died on a cross to break the grip of our fatal flaw, a sinful nature.  He purchased our souls so we could be set free.  He paid the price for our failure and loved us and offered us abundant life.  He offers new life and new hope.

But it all starts when I realize that I cannot handle my sin and my defect.  If I try on my own, I will end up bloated and poisoned.  I will never be able to handle it without God in me, the Holy Spirit.

The next time the Holy Spirit tells you to stop and you say to yourself, “I can handle it,” beware, you are on the edge of a slippery slope of no return.

The natives of Alaska have perfected a technique to catch wolves.  They take a very sharp knife and cover it with blood and freeze it.  They repeat this process several times so that it results in several layers of blood added to the sharp knife.  They anchor the knife in the snow.  The wolf is attracted to the blood guided by his keen smell and extreme desire for blood.  He begins to lick the blood.  Layer by layer, the wolf indulges in the tasty sample.  He becomes incensed with the flavor as he eventually licks the blade clean.  But he does not stop!  He cannot.  He continues to lick the sharp blade and consumes his own blood from the cuts on his mouth.

The next day, the hunter will find a dead wolf next to a clean knife.

He can handle it!  Right.

Unless…. something goes wrong.  A few lambs get rejected.  It may be for various reasons.  Mastitis (infection of the udder) can cause swelling and pain and the ewe pushes the lamb away from nursing.  The lamb may get separated from mom during the birth process and the lamb dries off and loses its initial smell that identifies it to its mother.  She thinks it is another ewes lamb and she rejects it.  There are a few ewes that are “bad” mothers.  They give birth and walk away.  No matter the cause, the end result is a brutal reality.

Lambs that have been rejected will go from ewe to ewe and try to steal milk, usually by nursing from behind.  Typically a ewe lets her lambs nurse by her side.  She smells to make sure the lambs attempting to nurse are her offspring and any intruder gets a swift bunt from her head.  The rejected lamb, or “bum or orphan” lamb is on its own to survive.  Often you can pick them out because of their dirty heads.  They resort to stealing milk while the ewe is relieving herself and the lamb ends up getting marked.  The lamb either steals milk or dies so this seems like a small price to pay to get a quick lunch.  The lamb spends its existence in the early years, craving nutrition as it stomach is never full.  It can never rest for a moment and lives with the reminder of rejection every time hunger calls.  The lamb is marked and rejected by the flock.

In life’s sheep pen, there are people who feel like a “bum” lamb.   They know the sting of rejection.  They live with the constant reminder that they do not fit in and they are not welcome.  If you could crawl under their skin, you could feel the unfulfilled longing and the unmet hunger for acceptance.  They sense the “mark” on their lives and so desperately want to be like everyone else.  They grow up tough and learn how to fend for themselves and learn how to survive on the streets of life.  Each day brings with it a brutal reminder that they are the ones who get bunted away.  This unmet soul hunger and the excruciating pain of rejection drives them to do crazy things.  They either curl up and die inside or they fight for life.  This is not the way life was intended.

Some of these “bum” lambs live in our neighborhoods.  Some of them go to our church and live in our own families.  They try so hard to blend in but if you look closely, you can see the mark.  They are all around us and even some of us have been one of them at one time or another.  Orphans looking for a home.  Wounded souls seeking love and acceptance.  There is a “bum” inside all of us.

Religion doesn’t help.  Religion is man seeking God and it just adds another layer to the rejection list of life.  How does the rules and regulations of religion help to heal a rejected spirit?  It is an empty box of hope that turns into a casket. Religion only brings constraints to an orphan who needs a savior.

What a “bum” lambs needs more than anything is adoption.  He  needs to find someone who is willing to accept and love and nurture a famished soul.  Someone who understands rejection and being pushed away.  Someone who can do something about restoring and healing a broken spirit.  An orphan needs someone to take them in their arms and give them what they have never been able to find and can never get on their own.  Sure a orphan can learn to survive and become tough on their own, but they cannot make someone else give them unconditional love and acceptance.

Jesus, the Good Shepherd understands.  He suffered unspeakable rejection and cruelty without a word of retaliation.  He walked his final path of agony alone.  There was no one to his right or left at his crucial moments.  He hung on a cross by himself and felt for the only time in eternity, his Father turn aside because of the sin he carried.  He was a marked man.  Every lash of the whip, every pound of the hammer reminded him that he was rejected.  Even the men for whom he died mocked him and said,  “If you are God, why don’t you come down from there and save yourself!”

No Jesus, I am so glad you didn’t come down from there.  If you had, I would forever live as an orphan.  I would never know what it is like to have you shepherd me and accept me with unconditional love.  If you had backed out, I am doomed to be a “bum” forever.  If you had failed,  I would forever roam around life seeking to find what I cannot have.  I would be in hell.

But you took my mark.   You carried my shame and hopelessness.  Now I belong to You!  You are my God and I am your child.  His unchanging plan has been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ.  And this gave Him great pleasure. Ephesians 1:5

I have heard it said, “Being a Christ follower is like one beggar telling another beggar where to get bread.”  I think it is one “orphan” telling another “orphan” where to find our Father.

We have a Savior who understands. He calls today, “Follow me!”