Getting Them All Home
Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2021 5:36 pm
Where is home when you are a Bedouin leading sheep from place to place? It is a tent which is readily put up and taken down (sometimes by a storm) and moved about as you continue your journey of finding what the flock needs.
This summer has included a journey across America for me, my wife, her mother and her mother’s best friend, another widow. Some mornings we knew where we would spend the night; other times we found it quite late in the day. Each location had to work for all in our group. We needed places to eat and places to rest. Home was wherever we spent the night. The parallels of our journey to Laniak’s stories of the Bedouins and of the journey of believers were striking. But whether we live in a tent like Abraham or a palace like David eventually did, it is still only temporary.
Laniak says, “While we need to pursue objectives, goals, and strategic plans for our communities, the idea of temporary resident needs to be imprinted on our own minds as leaders.�(p. 265). Whether we lead a small group, a family, a company, a church or a nation - it is all temporary.
This reminds me of lines from a song I first learned in a junior high youth group:
This world is not my home
I'm just passing through
My treasures are laid up
Somewhere beyond the blue.
As a shepherd, no matter how many are in our flock, as a pastor, no matter the size of the church, we are stewards only for a while. Regardless of the length of time, as Laniak says, “…the ultimate goal is to get them all home.�(p. 265). This is true for Bedouin shepherds and pastors of flocks.
May the truths in this book help pastors in this task.
This summer has included a journey across America for me, my wife, her mother and her mother’s best friend, another widow. Some mornings we knew where we would spend the night; other times we found it quite late in the day. Each location had to work for all in our group. We needed places to eat and places to rest. Home was wherever we spent the night. The parallels of our journey to Laniak’s stories of the Bedouins and of the journey of believers were striking. But whether we live in a tent like Abraham or a palace like David eventually did, it is still only temporary.
Laniak says, “While we need to pursue objectives, goals, and strategic plans for our communities, the idea of temporary resident needs to be imprinted on our own minds as leaders.�(p. 265). Whether we lead a small group, a family, a company, a church or a nation - it is all temporary.
This reminds me of lines from a song I first learned in a junior high youth group:
This world is not my home
I'm just passing through
My treasures are laid up
Somewhere beyond the blue.
As a shepherd, no matter how many are in our flock, as a pastor, no matter the size of the church, we are stewards only for a while. Regardless of the length of time, as Laniak says, “…the ultimate goal is to get them all home.�(p. 265). This is true for Bedouin shepherds and pastors of flocks.
May the truths in this book help pastors in this task.