The Good Shepherd.6

"He calls them each by name, and leads them out to green pastures.

When he leads the sheep out to graze, he goes before them.

They follow him, comforted by the words that he speaks.

They will not follow a stranger; instead, they run from the sound of an unfamiliar voice."

--Jesus

Jesus goes before us.

But where is He leading us? In a very real sense it doesn't matter. To be with Jesus wherever He goes, to be content to munch away on the pasture He gives us at any moment is Life. To Trust Him is the essence of our relationship with Him.

Speaking of trust...

Our friend Kate is an avid trail horse rider and has had many adventures

while on horseback. One of her stories is about a young gelding she took across the state of Michigan on the famed "Shore to Shore" trail ride. During the course of the two week ride there had been considerable rain which made the trail muddy and often nearly impassable. She and her young ride came to a place where the water had formed a pond deep enough to reach his belly. She stopped for a moment to consider a rider in front of her's difficulty in getting up out of the water and looking for a better place to take her steed. Suddenly, a duck and her ducklings came swimming nearby her horse! The four-year old panicked and began flailing to try to run away! After finally getting him settled, he decided that he was NOT GOING TO MOVE! For fifteen minutes she coaxed and coaxed...to no avail. Finally she had to

dismount and lead the wild-eyed, panic-stricken horse through chest deep muck onto dry land! Fortunately, Kate survived this ordeal to be able to tell the story that night at the campfire. She concluded by saying "He just wouldn't trust me! I can take my older horses anywhere at anytime, but he is not there yet!"

The truth is, often times the only way

to build that trust is to go through the swamps together!

If there is a better way of describing our relationship with our Good Shepherd I don't know of one. He goes before us. In fact you could say that in giving up His part in the Godhead and clothing himself in the frailty of humanity he also learned the difficulties we experience in trusting our Master in those fearful places.

Like having your hands and feet nailed to a wooden post after being humiliated and beaten to a bloody pulp. Makes shrinking from a duck seem, well, silly...

Yet, how many ducks swimming nearby in our own swampy, scary places will it take to get us to remain calm and trusting until he can lead us to a better place: our own cross - the place of ultimate trust and devotion to the Father's Perfect Will - wherein we learn to die to our self-will and immerse ourselves in God's Goodness and New Life!

Quack, quack! See you on the other shore!