“(1) I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. (2) The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. (3) The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. (4) When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. (5) 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; NIV)
On the 3rd or 4th day of training camp, I found myself in an unexplored area with 2 of my squadmates (Erica and Rebekah) and some members of the other squads. We were separated and unable to see one another and honestly didn’t know one another’s exact locations, but we were chatting and just kinda sharing experiences and trying to help each other.
I started talking to a girl from another squad who really didn’t know me. It was a good conversation. And then she realized that she didn’t know who I was and she asked “Who is that?”
Immediately Erica and Rebekah chimed in “Oh, that’s Sabrina.”
I found it remarkable.
They knew me by my voice.
We had barely met a few days prior and yet we had already spent so much time together that we knew each other by our voices. And I realized in that moment I would know every single member of my squad, all 9 of them, by their voices if they were there with us. And I also wouldn’t know very many members of the other squads because I didn’t spend time with them and didn’t nurture those relationships.
You can bet I talked about it with my squadmates, but I’m not sure if they were as impacted by the revelation as I was. But I realized that knowing them so well that I knew their voices would be a powerful asset for safety. These are the people I will be living in community with and relying on for my life and sustenance and safety for 11 months. Because when we’re in Nicaragua, I can’t be deceived by someone pretending to be my good friend Erica. I can’t be deceived by the enemy telling me that Rebekah would say a lie that I know she would never say. I can protect myself physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually by knowing who these people I live with are, what their character is, how they sound, what they would say, and what they would believe. I can recognize and forgive their off days when things are just kinda yucky and bad.
That’s powerful to me in a way I never realized before.
And I thought about Jesus’s parable of the sheep knowing their master’s voice and the metaphor of Jesus as the gate we walk through to safety. The more I spend time in relationship with Jesus, by prayer and reading scripture and hanging out with other believers and examining Christian traditions and examining my own experiences, the more I will know His voice. His voice is the voice of truth that will guide me in the right direction, protecting me from those enemies that would wish me harm.
If I didn’t spend time with my squadmates before we left the country in January, my first month would probably be a bit more messy. I’d be getting to know them, learning to identify them, and learning to recognize their character while also trying to learn how to do ministry and adapt to unfamiliar cultures and places. That would be really overwhelming. Instead, I feel like I’m a step ahead of the game because I can focus on building partnership and community with them instead of focusing on a foundation of appearance, character, and identity.
In the same way, if I tried to go and spread God’s Kingdom to the world without taking the time to build a relationship with Him first, then I wouldn’t know what I was doing and I’d have to start with building the foundation before I could even begin.
Let me tell you guys, the foundation matters and the foundation is worth it. Take time to plant yourself in relationship with Christ, starting small and building up so that you can learn to recognize His voice for yourself. I guarantee that if you do then you’ll find His truth, and, once you have that, I guarantee you’ll find so much more than you ever dreamed.
