The Shepherd Never Gives Up

This Shepherd never gives up on her sheep. I literally was walking into the hospital to visit a young couple that just gave birth to triplets. As I walked onto the third floor, I met the new dad pushing the wheelchair with his beloved spouse when he started to cry on my shoulder. We silently washed our hands and made our way into the unit. It was there that I met the Good Shepherd.

The Shepherd doesn’t give up on her sheep. She was the doctor who gently explained what was going on and that their tiny little son was in serious condition. She drew his heart and showed what was wrong. But, then she told the parents, “your boy’s a fighter” and I will not give up for I have a few tricks up my sleeve. In the next moment, this shepherd asked me to baptize the baby and with the parents blessing we prayed and asked that this “little one’s” angels come to guard over and protect him.

The next twenty-four hours proved to be difficult for his oxygen levels began to drop, but once again the shepherd stood guard over her sheep and administered new medicines to bring the sheep back to life. We are at day seven and at this moment, our little lamb continues to survive and thrive at a miraculous pace. I have never witnessed such faith and tenacity in a pediatric doctor but she truly imitates what Jesus said: "I am the good shepherd. As the Father knows me and I know the Father, in the same way I know my sheep and they know me" (John 10:14).

Yes, there are many times in which we feel stretched and at the breaking point. These parents no doubt felt that Jesus is a million miles away. But we prayed as a family in these times of sickness and fear to guide us through some difficult decisions and believe these words: "My sheep know my voice, and I know them. They follow me, and I give them eternal life, so that they will never be lost. No one can snatch them out of my hand." (John 10:27-30).

As an artist, I love the theme of Jesus being pictured holding a lamb, or carrying a lamb across his shoulders, or watching over sheep. Jesus is the one who cares, the one who saves the lost, and rescues from trouble. He is the one who is intimately and individually concerned about each one of his sheep like our little infant. He provides his sheep with everything they need. The shepherd is the one whose staff and rod defend the sheep if any danger should come their way. Like the shepherd who doesn’t give up, our pediatric doctor refuses to give up and will not let anything harm her sheep in her care.

God prays for these parents and their baby boy as we reflect: “The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing else I need. I will not be afraid for you are close beside me.” (Psalm 23.)

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends and our triplets, their mom and dad and young babies who needs our prayers and a shepherd’s watchful care. Help us to be shepherds to one another for goodness and love will follow us all our lives and we will live in the house of the Lord forever.

On My Knees

Recently, I have been down on my knees praying for lots of good people. The professor in severe pain after his recent apartment fire. He faces a second skin graph and a long recovery. Then there’s the pregnant mom with triplets who would prefer her babies were not too anxious to arrive. We need them to stay put until July and grow stronger. Then there’s a young man whose leg was amputated and his spouse stands at the side of his bed to offer reassurance and comfort. Once again, a young innocent man waits in prison for his appeal so that he can return home to his parents and friends. And let's not forget all our furry creatures like Tucker who needs prayers that his lame leg will get better.

On my knees I pray that God would take good care of these people. But what happens when it seems that God does not answer our prayers?

I am glad that God does not answer all my prayers the way I pray. Not only does logic and faith enter in but the story I wish to share with you a story that will convince you of its truth.

Somewhere and many years ago, I read of a young girl by the name of Amy. It seems that she often prayed to God that her brown eyes would be blue. Well, the next morning she rushed to the mirror and found that her eyes were still brown. She was really crushed. In trying to console her daughter the mother said that God did answer her prayer. It was with a "no". Many years passed and God called Amy into missionary service. She responded to the call and became a missionary to the country of India.

In the course of her ministry she was grateful that God had not answered her prayer the way she prayed. Now, dressed in the garb of the natives, her skin tanned brown, she could pass among the people and be extremely effective in her ministry. There were several times when she actually rescued some children. In from the danger of the temples of India. You see blue eyes would have given her away.

God prays for us as we reflect: “We do not know what we ought to pray for…: (Romans 8:26)

It is so important to always add, "Not my will, but yours be done, Lord" to our prayers. So, the bottom line is to pray, yes pray without ceasing, and to know that God will answer your prayer. It will be either with a "yes", a "no" or a "wait".

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that You do all things right. Amid difficulties and disappointments and the prayers that seemingly are not answered, may my friends be encouraged that You are there with them.

Sweetness of the Spirit

The Parkside Neighborhood Watch is a volunteer group of residents paroling the streets to keep people safe. Their latest bulletin featured stories about a dozen cars being broken into because they were not locked. The message was simple, lock your doors, observe and report anything suspicious.

Well the disciples were acting a little suspicious. News comes to them that Jesus is alive and instead of everyone bolting with glee to the tomb we find our faithful paralyzed in their sandals. Locked behind closed doors. Why didn't they go looking for him?

Sometimes we tend to lock ourselves in. We refuse to go out because we're too ashamed, too blue, or too afraid we will run into someone and, frankly, we can't stand the thought. Sometimes we stay away from even church for the same reason.

Shame and fear are cousins. First cousins. If you are ashamed of something that is known already, you are afraid of being seen by people in whose eyes you will catch flickers of disapproval. If you are ashamed of something people do not yet know about, you are afraid that just by being out and about in public, someone will discover it, and it scares you half to death. For every last one of us, there are things we have done whose discovery we fear.

All of us have closets in our hearts, little chambers into which we toss the shameful things we've done and the shameful things we think we are that make us feel unworthy. We toss them all in the closet and lock the door so that what people can see is just the neat and tidy and orderly living rooms of our lives. But like the disciples, we fear that someone might inadvertently open the wrong door, and out our shame will tumble for all to see.

The disciples were ashamed of what they had done, they were ashamed of what their cowardice revealed about who they simply were as men. So they locked the door, telling them they were keeping the Jews out when really they were maybe keeping themselves locked in. But then Jesus did what he always does for anyone locked up in his own shame: he comes in anyway. He enters the room, he enters the heart, and he breaks into the shame.

Jesus says "Shalom." He speaks a word that is the opposite of fear and so squelches shame, puts away and banishes any thoughts the disciples may have had about Jesus' bearing a grudge. He was not out to settle any old scores but to create a whole new situation.

Jesus breathes the sweetness of the Holy Spirit upon us as we pray and reflect:

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock." (John 20:19).

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who are too afraid, too ashamed or too paralyzed by this or that feature of their life, the lock won't stop Jesus. He will appear right in the middle of our locked-up heart and before you even have the chance to say or do a blessed thing, he will say "Peace to you!"

Easter Begins in Nonsense

The disciples heard the women’s words and heard the angel’s words but found them all to be nonsense. No one was anticipating or even hoping for a resurrection. They knew, as we do, that things like that don’t happen in this world, that the world is more or less predictable: dead people stay dead, and death is where it ends for all of us. After all is said and done they all believed this: Easter begins in nonsense.

Wit is the title of a remarkable made for television movie. It’s about a woman, Vivian Bearing, who is an English professor, whose specialty is John Donne, the sixteenth-century poet and clergyman. Vivian is dying of cancer and she is virtually alone, dealing with doctors and nurses and hospitals and researchers who convince her to submit to a particularly powerful and painful experimental regimen of chemotherapy. She loses her hair, loses weight, is dreadfully sick, and the chemotherapy doesn’t work. Her tumor shrinks but the cancer spreads. She is going to die. Throughout the story, John Donne’s "Holy Sonnets," keeps coming up in memory, Donne wrote:

“Death be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so . . .

Why swell’st thou then?

One short sleep past, we wake eternally,

And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.”

John Donne’s words keep emerging in her subconscious. But then, as death nears, someone finally speaks her name. Her professor and mentor, now an elderly woman, seeks her, finds her, alone in her hospital bed and says, "Vivian–is that you?”--and then does the most remarkable thing–removes her shoes and gets in bed and holds Vivian, cradling her head to her breast. She reads Vivian the book she has brought. It’s not John Donne; it’s a simple child’s book about love that will not let us go. It is about what John Donne wrote about. It is about love more powerful than death.

“Once there was a little bunny, who wanted to run away.

So he said to his mother, "I am running away."

"If you run away," said his mother, "I will run after you, for you are my little bunny."

"If you run after me," said the little bunny, "I will become a fish in a trout stream and I will swim away from you."

"If you become a fish in a trout stream," said his mother, "I will become a fisherman and I will fish for you."

"I will be come a rock,"

"If you become a rock, I will become a mountain climber and I will climb to where you are."

"I will become a bird and fly away from you."

"If you become a bird and fly away from me," said his mother, "I will be a tree that you come home to." (The Runaway Bunny, Margaret Wise Brown)

God prays for us as we reflect: “ “He asked you for life, and you gave it to him—length of days, for ever and ever. (Psalm 21:4).

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends on this Easter who celebrate your life giving words. In the quiet of your heart, imagine Jesus crawling into bed with you, holding you close to his chest and speaking the words of everlasting life. "And death shall be no more, Death, thou shalt die." Death no longer rules. Jesus Christ is risen today.