"The Good Shepherd"

        "For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have

          returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls."

                                        1 Peter 2:25

The picture Peter portrays for us here is not as vivid for us as it must have been for his first readers. Most of us do not live in a farming community as many of out grandparents did. And even fewer of us have ever raised sheep.

          Sheep have a terrible tendency to wander: it's not that they're so curious to find out what the rest of the world looks like. It's just they tend to become so preoccupied with what they're doing that they don't pay any attention to where they are.

If a sheep is grazing, he simply keeps his head down and goes from one good clump of grass to another. If he's not carefully watched, he will just keep walking and eating until he becomes hopeless lost. Alone and helpless he is then choices prey for any wild animal.

         That's exactly the way it is also for those who are not under the watchful eye and protecting staff of the Good Shepherd, Jesus. They simply wander around, go from one earthly pleasure to another and are unaware of any danger. They too are choice prey for the devil, who "prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8).

          We too were once in that situation, lost and helpless and in danger. But we are no longer. Through the life and death of Jesus Christ we have been brought back into the shelter of his protecting arms. Once again we have a Shepherd and overseer for our souls. Gently he leads us toward our eternal home, always aware if out helpless condition.

          In times of suffering how comforting it is to know that we're not alone. Jesus is still there to care for us and to guide everything so that it served our welfare. Every day he leads us back from wandering and another step closer to our eternal home in heaven. With a shepherd such as this we are all people truly. Blessed even in sufferings.