I hope you don't mind the play on words there.  Happy Good Friday!  My youngest daughter calls it Bad Friday, but she understands why we call the day we commemorate the crucifixion and death of Christ as a good thing.

Let me tell you about why it is Fry day.  We went to a sheep shearing today!  And were out in the sun all day, hence we are fried to crisp.  Exhausted, and a bit sunburned too. 

Sheep shearing on Good Friday.  I was trying to make a spiritual connection out of that, and came  up with a few good ideas.  But when we got to the ranch we found out that "someone" left the corral gate open by accident, and all the sheep and horses decided to go on an adventure.  The horses were easily brought back, as were the more tame of the sheep, with a little coaxing.  (read:  "sheep roundup")  but there were a few sheep that eluded capture all day long.  Kids walking, Mom's on horseback (not me, but that is another story, for another time,) trying to catch the wooly critters. 

 Can you imagine, riding a horse, trying to round up some sheep escapee's AND talk on the cell phone at the same time?  This mom had a great sense of adventure today, and perseverance. 

 But alas, the errant sheep eluded capture.  There are still two sheep, somewhere out there.

You know that nursery rhyme about Little Bo Peep?  I hate to burst your bubble, but they don't find their way back home if you leave them alone.  They just don't.  You have probably heard this:  Sheep Are Dumb.

Now, they WILL follow another sheep back into the sheepfold, so the sheep rounder-uppers used caught sheep (newly shorn, I might add) to lead the errant sheep home.  It did work for a couple of them!

Do you remember the story in the Bible about the 99 sheep?  And the shepherd who left all the others and look for the lost one?  That is what I felt like happened today. Sheep know the Shepherd's voice, if they have a relationship with Him.

You see, the sheep that wouldn't be caught have never gotten close to their master.  They are pretty near wild.  And once they were out and on their own, they were too strong willed to go back---mainly because they didn't know his or her voice. 

Do you know your Master's voice? 

 Sometimes if we own animals, we just get so caught up with other things that they get the basics, food, water, occasional pat on the head, etc.  But we just don't spend time with our animals like a true shepherd would.  Our lives get in the way, animals in many cases now are just for fun, and not our livelihood.  So they don't know our voice.

But we can know our Master's voice!  He is always available to us, 24/7 as they say.  And because of that relationship, if we get out of His care because of some neglectful behaviour, then He comes searching for us and won't quit looking until He finds us. 

 And when we hear His voice, and it may take some time, but we go to Him, back into His protective sheepfold.

But what about the wild ones?  The ones that didn't get "caught" today?  Well, they may become lunch for some predator prowling around searching for something to devour.  Or they may die from thirst.  I don't hope for this outcome, but it may happen. 

Thankfully, on this Good Friday, I know whom I have believed and am safely in the sheepfold, where I belong.

If I do get out, either willfully or because of some neglectful behaviour, I know I will be sought after and brought back.  After all, one day, just like today, I was bought and paid for, in full. 

 I am His!

Nancy