Did you know Jesus is a "cowboy?" At least he was today.
My home is wrapped by pastureland, owned by others, and this morning I walked out on the back porch to find my farmer neighbor walking in my back yard. It's unusual, but such an occurrence typically means a cow has escaped, and he's trying to round her up. Greeting my neighbor, I got the story. Sure enough, a two-day old calf had gotten out and was separated from its mother. He explained that when they get scared, calves will just lay down and remain deathly still, making them hard to find. I told him I'd get dressed and join him in the search.
After a brief walk through the wooded parts of my property, I remembered how Jesus had helped me find things that I had lost. (I have many such testimonies.) My typical prayer is, "Jesus, you know where (such and such) is. Please show me!" Once, I experienced my eyes immediately shift to an obscure location, finding in a moment what I'd been looking for, on my own, for hours.
So, as I walked, I talked. "Jesus, you know where this calf is. I'd love to find it and help my neighbor. Where is it?" I felt my attention shift to another neighbor's pasture, surrounded by the electric fence that my children love to toy with. The pasture is typically populated, but today there were no cows in sight. All I could see was 20 or so acres of tall, ready to cut hay, wet with dew. After ignoring the pull for a moment and walking a little more through the woods, I took a dead branch, laid it across the bottom wire and pushed down while I stepped across into the pasture.
Still aware I had invited Jesus into this situation, I began to walk, feeling my jeans and shoes quickly becoming drenched from the dew. Looking back at my tracks, it may not have been a beeline, but within two minutes I had walked directly to the little black calf, curled up and asleep among the tall grass.
I was a hero! I had saved the day, not to mention the thousand dollars that the calf will eventually bring my neighbor! Right? No, Jesus is the hero of this story. He had become a cowboy, using my body to restore the calf to its mother. It sure brought me a lot of joy being a part of it, though.
As His disciple I wanted to learn something. From my heart, came the question, "What are you wanting to teach me, Master?" In response to my earlier prayer, Jesus had not, in this situation, pointed to the spot in the field, saying, "The calf is here." No neon lights. No flashing arrows. There was just praying and walking, seeking and...finding. Jesus reminded me, again that He is concerned about the little things that I am concerned about, and that He is delighted to be invited into every situation. And He showed me that, having invited Him in, what felt like my thoughts ("I should walk this way...I should look here") were actually His directives. Without knowing where I was going, I arrived at my destination.
Joy. Life. Adventure. I love walking with God and expecting to hear His voice...every time I choose to do so.
"The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice." - Jesus, John 10:2-4
