Here are all the dogs I’ve met in Romania. And a story.
Pigs! (Like dogs, but not.)
Obviously I love dogs. I have always felt like I have a special connection with them that goes beyond loving an adorable animal. It’s almost like dogs and I can feel what one another is feeling. I always thought dogs must be my spirit animals or something. It’s weird.
This month, I had 3 dreams in a row in which I had giant dogs with me as my companions. God speaks to me through my dreams fairly often, so I knew these had to have some type of meaning. I prayed and thought about it, and God brought me to an answer. Dogs aren’t my spirit animal; that isn’t a thing. They are, however, the companion of a shepherd. Shepherding is a word that many people have spoken over me as I prepared for and went on the World Race. In the terms of God’s kingdom, to shepherd is to lead others in the ways of the Lord.
In my past, I thought of myself as a wolf. Leading with a snarl and control over the pack, my way or no way. I knew best. The Lord show me I knew very little. Then I thought of myself as the sheep dog. Helping to lead from behind the herd, pushing others and nudging at them if they got off the path. Just a supplement to leadership. In fact, this is how I was leading my team at the beginning of the Race. Hands off, just course correcting with a few barks here or there.
But then I had the dreams. I was challenged to lead from the front of the herd. To be a shepherd, not a dog. A shepherd leads his herd by guiding them, going ahead and taking on the challenges, risking himself to find the right path, and overcoming the obstacles. He doesn’t have to bark at the sheep, he just walks the path and speaks gently. This is how I have been called to lead.
In God’s kingdom, this means going after the lost sheep. “What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?” Luke 15:4 As I am called to be a shepherd, I am called to go after the lost sheep. The sheep who doesn’t know Jesus, the ultimate shepherd. “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.” -John 10:11
Jesus did that for us, His sheep. I used to think we aren’t like sheep, we are smarter, and stronger, and can figure things out on our own. But each day I realize there is so much we can’t do, so much we are powerless to change, and so much we don’t know the first thing about. We are sheep. We need the good shepherd.
