OUR SHEPHERD

A lot of stuff has happened lately that has caused me to share this with various people so I wanted to share it with everyone who may read this.

In the Bible, a parable is told about a shepherd who has 100 sheep (see Luke 15:1-7 & Matthew 18:12-14). The parable says that if one out of !00 sheep wonders off, the shepherd will leave the 99 others on the hillside and search for it. And if he finds it, he is happier over that one single sheep than over the 99 others that didn't wander off (see Luke 15:5-7 & Matthew 12:13). The sheherd will HOOP & HOLLAR and have a real SHINDIG because he found his sheep. That parable may sound familiar.

man w/ lost sheep=Jesus, the S0n of God, "THE GOOD SHEPHERD"!

We are all His sheep. Some of us like the wandering sheep wander off and try to run from The Shepherd. He still earnestly seeks a relationship with us and uses Himself as well as others to bring us back into an intimate relationship with Him. If you are already in relationship with Christ then you are the instruments He uses to bring people to Him! So, we should love because we know the author of love, and that IS Jesus Christ!!!(ain't that a pretty name)! We serve an awesome God who is the Creator of everything yet He l0oks at each of us as His prize creation. HE THINKS WE'RE SPECIAL!!!!

Matthew 12:14, the last part of the parable in Matthew, says, " In the same way, it is not my Heavenly FATHERS will that even one of these little ones should perish." He is your Heavenly Father. He IS your daddy! My parents divorced when I was real young so I have never had much of an earthly father. Some of you may be in my boat and not have much of a dad or you may not even know your earthly father. We ALWAYS have a Heavenly Father! No father, Heavenly Father! A t the end of the day we can ALWAYS crawl up in His lap (figuratively speaking) and say, "Daddy, to day I'm hurting and it's been awful", or "Daddy, today has been full of joy!" He will always listen and He's replying, "That's Awesome, I'm here with you!"

I hope this blesses all of you who read this. I LOVE YOU ALL! BE REAL, SERVE THE KING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

craig <><