Being on the World Race has allowed me to experience many random things; the introduction to new food, beverages, games, and modes of transportation seems to be a common new experience in each country. The country of Moldova has failed to disappoint on delivering interesting new experiences, many of which include eating liver, finding a chicken heart in my soup, using an out-house, learning Romanian phrases, wearing ridiculous (and I do mean ridiculous) clothes, and eating many different fruits and vegetables straight from the vine.
Many racers have things that they would love to experience while on the field, one of which is herding sheep for Juliette. While making house-visits in the village, Juliette met a man that is a shepherd (which is what I’ll affectionately refer to him as; we unfortunately couldn’t understand his name after several attempts). In his generosity, the shepherd offered to include us in the next day of herding the sheep. Initially, I thought eh, this could either be extremely boring or really cool; after a little consideration, I decided that the carrots that needed to be pulled in the garden would patiently wait until I returned, so I chose to join in on the fun.
We ate an early breakfast, then off we went to meet the shepherd and his flock. After walking down a dirt path outside of the village, we began to make our way up the mountain to the sheep pen… (I suppose that’s what you call it)? After we saw a few sheep roaming the pasture and realized that we were a few minutes late, we took off running so we weren’t left in the dust. We were greeted in Romanian by the shepherd and his fellow sheep herder; with something friendly I assume, although I have absolutely no idea. After introductions and handshakes were made, we began the journey up the mountain.
Now, I don’t know if you have ever herded sheep, but one would think it’s not a difficult task. Well, that’s just silly. It is, in fact, an art that incorporates language, kinesthetic, and geometry skills. Although I thought it would be easy to jump in and be helpful, it took a little observation to understand how to guide the sheep along their way. Sometimes the shepherd would randomly burst out in an angry sounding sentence and the sheep would correct their route, while other times he would throw a stick at them or walk to the opposite side of the herd to change their direction. While wandering up the mountain, we discovered that when we stopped, the sheep lagged behind and when we walked, they walked, which caused us to get “kindly” reminded to keep walking.
I thought we would walk an hour at most, then turn around and return the way we came; but, about 2 hours later, minutes from the top of the mountain, we were will walking. We got the bright idea to sprint the rest of the way up the mountain. After collapsing in exhaustion and realizing I should have brought my inhaler, we stopped for a rest. I sat down and took in the beautiful sight that surrounded me; rolling hills, green pastures, and blue skies were in view from horizon to horizon. In that moment, it hit me that this is my life. I was overwhelmed by the fact that God has trusted me with this venture; that he had planned my life for moments exactly like this. Simple things. Herding sheep, politely accepting the shepherd’s goat milk that he offered us, and talking about the Bible in broken Romanian.
Not surprisingly, Psalm 23 came to mind.
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
He guides me in paths of righteousness
through the valley of the shadow of death,
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
Surely goodness and love will follow me
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
How blessed I am that God prepared my life for such a time as this. Sometimes, I need be yelled at to re-adjust the direction I’m headed; God tries to regain my focus, so I realize the misdirection. Sometimes, it takes something crashing into my course to wake me out of my slumber. Sometimes, all I need is a gentle reminder to turn slightly to the left or right. And, other times, life is simply walking up the mountain, following my shepherd, and glancing around to cherish the beauty that He has placed in my life.
p.s. If you know what movie quote the title of this blog is from, then you’re the bomb.com 🙂
