Agriculture Buff
In Nepal, as well as India, Cambodia, and Vietnam, there is a ton of agriculture. You should all know it makes me happy to the core to learn about it, talk about it, and experience it! The most common things are cattle, sheep, goats, and rice.
While watching a futbol (soccer) game in the middle of a Nepalese field the other day, I stopped to take a look around me. The weather was Ohio-like fall with barren trees, dying weeds, and a lot of sun. There were no fences, but roaming cows, calves, water buffalo, a hog and goats were everywhere. At one point, they made a line right through the middle of the futbol field during warmup to get to the other side of the grazing field. I’m sure they were mad that people were taking over part of their field that they could be grazing on! Haha
As I thought about how cool it is that I get to experience these kinds of things, my mind went to the shepherd of the animals. Seldom do you see him, but when you look closely, you will always find someone spending their entire day devoted to watching where the herd is and leading them from one perfect place to another when they don’t realize the grazing is sparse where they are, but better somewhere else. The man typically looks undernourished and overworked. Although most of the herds know the routine, one might wonder away out of curiosity or boredom, but the shepherd always seeks that one out because it is so valuable to him and his family, whether it is for income or food.
I saw God in that moment as my literal shepherd. We have all heard it before, but now I get it. I have seen how it works without fences or barriers. He doesn’t have me fenced in or have a halter and lead on me taking me physically to each place, but he does lead and he does direct when we don’t see what is best. He has called us to live out our faith. God promised to be my shepherd, so now I think I’ll be a trusting sheep. I will live as I think I ought to, trusting that Christ is always with me. I now expect that when I am off kilter, God will lead me on the right path. He doesn’t give up on me, or you. So, for me, I’ll press in and accept it. How about you?
