The Good Shepherd

Imagine you have one hundred fluffy sheep. You count them every single morning and every single night to make sure they are all safe and together.

One day, you count: one… two… three… all the way to ninety-nine. But where is number one hundred?

A good shepherd doesn’t shrug and say, “Oh well, I still have ninety-nine.” A good shepherd leaves the ninety-nine safe in the meadow and goes out searching — through the tall grass, over the rocky hills, through the dark woods — calling and calling until he finds the one that is lost.

When he finally finds the little sheep, tangled in a thornbush and bleating with fear, he doesn’t scold it. He lifts it up, lays it gently across his shoulders, and carries it all the way home. Then he calls to all his friends and neighbors: “Come and celebrate with me! I found my lost sheep!”

Jesus told this story to help people understand something beautiful: God is like that shepherd, and we are like the sheep.

Every single person matters to God. Not just the brave ones, or the strong ones, or the ones who never get lost. Every one of us — even when we wander away, even when we make mistakes — is precious to him.

Jesus called himself the Good Shepherd. He knows each of his sheep by name. He watches over them through the night. He goes looking for them when they are lost. And nothing — not darkness, not danger, not distance — can stop him from finding the ones he loves.

You are one of his sheep. And you are never forgotten.