Larry Plasier

All over the hills of the Judean Wilderness you can see "paths of righteousness, sheep trails etched in the surface over hundreds of years. Shepherd girls go ahead of their flocks, leading them in safe paths. Sheep are wonderful creatures. They follow each other in a line, trusting the shepherd to lead them where it is safe.

When I think of pastures, I think of Michigan with its green grass and shade trees growing in fertile soil. In Israel, the pastures are rocky, dry, brown, and hot with very little shade and less water. In Michigan, there's not much need for a shepherd. Just fence in the flock and let them graze to their hearts? content. In Israel, shepherds are essential. The sheep depend on them to know where the water is and where they can find a mouthful of grass growing up from beneath a rock.

The shepherd girl knows each sheep by name. She knows their personalities and their problems, their likes and dislikes. When they begin to stray, she gently throws stones to one side or the other to guide the sheep back to the flock, never hitting them, always keeping them safe. She uses her voice to call them back or to follow her to water. It's a shrill and distinct sound that the sheep learn to recognize. If her flock were all sheep, her job would be fairly easy, but then there are the goats.

Goats have a mind of their own. They don't like to follow along in a line. They often stray from the "paths of righteousness" and get themselves in trouble. We stood on a hill and watched two shepherd girls tend their flock just below us. They had found an area where they could sit and watch their flock from a vantage point just up the hill. There was little time for sitting or relaxing though. The goats kept them jumping up and tossing stones and sometimes running up the hill to keep that "kid" from venturing too close to the road. Do you recognize anyone in this picture?

As Christians, we are often called to be leaders-whether it be a Sunday school class, a family, or the people we manage at work. In each of these "flocks," we will have both sheep and goats. For our sheep, we are thankful. They bring us joy with their obedient hearts and they aren't too difficult to guide back to the right path with a few stones tossed gently their way.

But those goats are a different story. They insist on doing everything the difficult way and they just don't seem to learn, even when the discipline seems harsh. We spend 90 percent of our time on 20 percent of our flock. But if we lose sight of the flock or they lose sight of the shepherd, they risk danger and possibly even death.

Remember, we all are part of God?s flock. If we lose sight of the Shepherd, we risk leading our own flocks into great danger. If you are a goat and cannot follow, can you expect anything different from your flock?

The Bible tells us, "The man who enters by the gate is the Shepherd of his sheep. 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. When he has brought them out all his sheep follow him because they know his voice "(John 10:2-4). Do you know the voice of your Shepherd? Does your flock know your voice? Do you know them each by name? Where will you lead them?