Good Shepherd | Life and Faith

Christ lifting pic

I have always believed that one of the hardest parts of being a Christian is remembering how much God loves me when the circumstances in my life make me wonder if God even cares.

In the last few weeks, we’ve been listening to some wonderful promises. We’ve pictured Christ as a “Good Shepherd” who helps us to find “still waters” when we need a safe place to get a drink, and who guides us through all sorts of scary places when it’s easy for us to get off-track. We’ve listened to Jesus talk about Heaven, and we’ve listened carefully as Jesus has told us that He’s going to take us to Heaven when we die.

But we also live in a world where life’s tough, don’t we? Even though Christ speaks to us in a way that gives us hope and peace, the world’s pretty good at taking that hope and peace away from us, isn’t it? That’s what it is to live in the “Already, but Not Yet”.

In this week’s message, “Already, but Not Yet”, we reflect upon a wonderful promise as we think about Christ’s words: “I will not leave you orphaned.” (John 14:18) Christ tells us that He will continue to speak to us and to bless us with the wisdom we need to make good decisions even as we move through incredibly difficult times. God promises to dry our tears and give us courage when we lose things in life that we never imagined we’d ever lose. God promises to send the people that we need to lift us up and encourage us when we’re struggling. And as that happens (as we recalled last week), we can discover that “All will be well – and all will be well – and all manner of things will be well,” (Julian of Norwich)

The words “I will not leave you orphaned” are words that can carry us through life. The words “I will not leave you orphaned” are the promise of a Risen Christ who has told us that He’ll continue to stand beside us in every circumstance of life to hold us, to sustain us, and to make us whole.

Blessings!

shepherd

Life changes quickly, doesn’t it?

I still remember the day when a doctor looked me straight in the eyes (at the ripe old age of 37) and said, “Wayne, I believe that your hands are shaking and your walking’s a bit shuffled because you have Parkinson’s Disease.”

I’m sure that a lot of people in America are trying to figure-out what happened in the House of Representatives last week because they’re not sure if their struggle with an addiction – or with a birth defect – or even with a mental illness is going to prevent them from being able to purchase health insurance in the United States.

Even though we’ve been raised to believe that we are “safe” in the United States of America, we can no longer ignore things like terrorism – and we live in an age where we need to spend time teaching our children about safe body boundaries.

And yet, even in the midst of a quickly-changing world, we’re reminded that God is a Great Constant in our lives. God continues to point us in the right direction. God is a Good Shepherd who continues to nourish and sustain us. God is always present when His sheep are grazing in green pastures – and even when His sheep are walking through the scary valleys of the shadow of death.

In this week’s message, “The Lord is Your Shepherd”, we’re reminded of the faithfulness of the God who continues to recognize the deepest need in our lives and who opens His hands to fill our lives with goodness. We’re reminded that the Lord is a Good Shepherd who watches over us and the people that we love, and how God has promised to be the one constant in life that never fails.

We all know that things can change quickly in our lives and in the world. We all know that the specific circumstances in our lives aren’t always easy to control. And yet, the Good Shepherd continues to journey with us – taking us by the hand and leading us through all of the crazy ups and downs that we’ll face as we journey through life.

Blessings!