Andrea Muirhead
In my family we love a good story! I’ve been told many times the story of my birth, of how my father drove my mum two hundred kilometers through a Saskatchewan blizzard so that my arrival would be safe in the big hospital in Regina. The neighbours got stuck coming one kilometer to pick up the big kids but my dad, the hero, and his super-Volkswagen, safely transported Mum and me to the hospital.
Jesus tells a great story of an unlikely hero, a simple shepherd, a man who had 100 sheep. This story is not about the wealth of the shepherd, that he had 100 sheep, but that he cared enough for the single life of one lost sheep. He cared so much for the one, that he risked the 99 to rescue the one.
It almost seems foolish to leave the 99 to save the one. In fact, if I was one of the 99, I might feel hurt that the Shepherd left me to take care of a silly sheep that had gotten himself lost. But truly, the 99 should feel safer knowing that their Shepherd will always go and find any of them when they, inevitably, get lost too.
I love this story because it shows us the heart of the Shepherd. The Shepherd, our Heavenly Father, loves each of us and greatly desires each of us to be in His family, no matter where we have been! We are never too lost for Him to want us and for Him to seek us!
Today as we celebrate Father’s Day, let’s rejoice in our Heavenly Father’s love and honour our earthly Father’s role in creating our individual stories!
May God bless each of you on your journey!
Luke 15:4-7
“Suppose one of you had a hundred sheep and lost one. Wouldn’t you leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until you found it? When found, you can be sure you would put it across your shoulders, rejoicing, and when you got home call in your friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Celebrate with me! I’ve found my lost sheep!’ Count on it—there’s more joy in heaven over one sinner’s rescued life than over ninety-nine good people in no need of rescue.