I Knew I was a Shepherd When...

Lately, I have been thinking back over my journey. I find it extremely beneficial to remember the process and moments that have helped me become who I am today. Not that I am anything in and of my own power, but I can see God’s hand through the years. Now that I am a pastor of a church, my thoughts have been running through my past wondering when I knew that I was someone who would be a spiritual shepherd.

I guess, if I asked others, they would reference the bible study I started and led in high school. Someone else may assume that it was during college when I started and led a campus ministry. Or even when I became a college pastor. But the moment was much smaller and earthshaking than that; actually there was only one other person present at the time.

Early on in my tenure as a college ministry leader, I took a collection of student to an event called ONEDAY. This was a solemn worship gathering of tens of thousands of students from around the world all to glorify God. I led several students that were a part of the main stage activities. They were leading worship through spoken word (performed poems), and we had arrived early to get them acclimated. While most of the students were arriving to the campground, the sky opened in a way I had never seen before.

Now, imagine thousands of college students trying to put up tents in torrential rain, thunder, and lighting. I got word that the bulk of the students from our group arrived right at the moment the rain started. There was no solid word on their condition, but the reports were not good. I sent the ladies to the hotel with my wife, grabbed a young man named, Kenny, and headed out to check on the condition of these young people that I had convinced to come to this gathering.

Most of the traditional routes to the campgrounds were impassable, so we went through some fences and into the restricted area to get to these precious ones, for whom I was responsible. We found ourselves in the middle of empty fields with nothing, but lightning to illuminate our way. It may have been smart to taken an umbrella, or some good sense for that matter, but we were equipped with windbreakers and a drive in my heart to find those who were lost.

I must say that Kenny was a trooper. He actually said yes to the crazy leader headed toward God knows what, in lighting, to look through thousands tents, in the middle of the night to find people that may or not be in trouble. At that moment I think the look in my eyes was scarier than the lightning. I know that I scared him even more, when while the sky was all a glow and thunder that shook us to our core, I began to laugh uncontrollably. I hadn’t lost my mind. The truth about myself came crashing in, “I was a shepherd”. I found myself looking a lot like Jesus where he says, “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd puts the sheep before himself, sacrifices himself if necessary. A hired man is not a real shepherd. The sheep mean nothing to him. He sees a wolf come and runs for it, leaving the sheep to be ravaged and scattered by the wolf. He's only in it for the money. The sheep don't matter to him.” John 10:11-13 I was risking my life, and Kenny’s too to protect God’s people.

After hours of searching I found the students huddled up in a corner half submerged tent like a pile of newborn puppies. We quickly got them out of the mud and helped them secure their tents and belongings. I had found our group and was sure that I was, in fact their caring leader. They never knew what I endured to find them in the midst of a sea of tents in the midst of a storm, but I knew, God knew, and so did poor Kenny. That was when I knew I was a shepherd.