It wasn’t an accident that God chose the analogy of the shepherd to describe His role with his children, but also the job of the under-shepherds of the body of Christ. These are things I’ve observed, I’ll probably add to it through the year as I catch more truth. I wont really explain how they tie into pastoral care, but they’re interesting, nonetheless.
- A few days back, a bull ran down the street our house is on. Bizarre, but I guess I’ve gotten used to weird things. What made this intriguing to me wasn’t the bull, it was what followed. A boy, less than eight, held a rope connected to the neck of the bull. The bull dragged him along as his cries and pleads for the bull to stop went ignored. Why would an eight-year-old boy ever think he had any strength or authority to stop a bull?
Within moments, a man, who I assume was his father came up alongside of him and commanded the bull to stop. Without a moment of hesitation, the bull stopped dead in its tracks. The father never left the side of his child, but allowed that child to do the talking from then on. Because of the Father’s presence, the little whimpers of commands were obeyed.
- As we prayed at a ridge overlooking the slum of Guacupita, three boys ran a herd of cattle out to a pasture to feed. The cattle were wandering off into a rocky and desert area, but the boys knew they needed to remedy the direction. Instead of trying to herd them from inside the flock, they ran along the outside and pushed the herd in the direction it needed to go.
- I ran into one of those boys on that ridge later one afternoon. I had an opportunity to pray for him, and honestly, I didn’t recognize him as one of the shepherds I had watched earlier. But I did smell him. He smelled like the cows. And that was the profound truth, that this shepherd boy smelled like the ones he was called to watch.
- One cow was being stubborn the other day. As the rest of the group continued to move away from her, she stood firm, content with where she was. The shepherd boy took out a whip and motivated that cow to get going. It took some discipline. It took some pain and some force, but it was necessary, and the cow was reunited with the group.
