“Have you found them?�
Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 11:26 pm
This last month I had two people leave the church because they were mad at me. Didn't want to talk, didn't want tell me the problem just wanted to leave. What makes it hard is that they’ve been with us for almost four years, they’ve grown up with us. I married them in her hometown out of state. I mentored their son through some struggles when no one else would. But they decided to leave.
Reading about the shepherds who’s sheep wander off seems to be quite tame compared to the feeling shepherds must have when their sheep decide to leave. That's not just getting lost - that's deciding to call it quits. How great it would be to just send a couple people by their house and say, “shape up and get back there.� How nice it would be to hear the words, “saved, both saved.�
But that’s not the way it works in the church flock. Some do wander and you pull them back. Others decide they’ve had enough and want to check out other flocks. Some walk away from friendships with weight to them and don’t come back.
To this day I still have names that come into my head of folks who’ve come and gone over the years. I understand when the shepherd says, “and that one I can never forget.� I don’t either. Instead I pray for them. I pray for them by the very names that I can’t seem to forget. And somewhere there’s a shepherd who’s found some new sheep, with some wounds and a limp to become part of his flock.
Reading about the shepherds who’s sheep wander off seems to be quite tame compared to the feeling shepherds must have when their sheep decide to leave. That's not just getting lost - that's deciding to call it quits. How great it would be to just send a couple people by their house and say, “shape up and get back there.� How nice it would be to hear the words, “saved, both saved.�
But that’s not the way it works in the church flock. Some do wander and you pull them back. Others decide they’ve had enough and want to check out other flocks. Some walk away from friendships with weight to them and don’t come back.
To this day I still have names that come into my head of folks who’ve come and gone over the years. I understand when the shepherd says, “and that one I can never forget.� I don’t either. Instead I pray for them. I pray for them by the very names that I can’t seem to forget. And somewhere there’s a shepherd who’s found some new sheep, with some wounds and a limp to become part of his flock.