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  Patricia Hammell Kashtock

Aka: Pat Kashtock. Mother of three, wife of one. BA in Social Work and Biblical Studies. Graduate work at Virginia Tech interrupted, then derailed by oldest child’s brain tumor...

My life has not followed the course I planned. But I am not complaining. Pain is to be expected in a world broken apart from its Creator.

The miracle resides in the ability to find joy when least expected...

 

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Pat

For What It's Worth

Each life is a journey. The voices of many guides try to direct us, saying, “This is the path – walk in it!” Yet each one leads in a different direction.

I believe only one Voice can be true. That Voice will lead us in ways most unexpected, into worlds yet undiscovered. It will lead us up the hill, around the river and through the forest. And sometimes, it will lead without mercy.

Or so it seems.

I have made listening for that Voice and following it, my life’s quest. I will share some of what I have heard that Voice say with you. But I am not in the business of telling people how to think or what to believe. Each has to decide for himself. Only you can decide if you find the truth of the Voice in these words. And only you can decide how much it is worth to know the Voice, and follow.

But for me, it is worth the whole world.

And then some…

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« Draining Him Dry | Main | Teeth Clenching Pride and Kings »
Monday
Jul072008

Sheepish Under-shepherds

DateMonday, July 7, 2008 at 05:14PM

--You don’t need to change them.  by Jonathan Wilson 

Your job is to love them into the Kingdom. Love them as they are.

Did Jesus cajole or preach at anyone to move them into the Kingdom?

“Perhaps,” you think. “Look at the Pharisees.”

Yes, I did rebuke them for the hardness of their hearts,

but they were hardhearted

Truly hardhearted against Me

And they sought to lead others away from Me! Deliberately, intentionally.

This is not the case with your families. They are not hardhearted as such;

they are confused and lost.

A sheep without a Shepherd is a dangerous thing,

and lonely.

Dangerous because it can hurt itself and others can get hurt trying to rescue it.

Sometimes the shepherd gets hurt in the process of seeking his (His) sheep

-but he (He) does not hold this against the sheep. Instead He seeks to hold the sheep and nurture it back to Himself, back to health.

He does not castigate the sheep, but merely seeks to do that which will prevent its harm – all His energies go into the sheep and not into His own desires.

I would have you (plural) do likewise

Be My “under-shepherds”

Work for the good of My sheep, alone.

Work with Me hand in hand and I will guide you.

Seek not your own good, but let Me take care of that for you, for not only are you My little “Shepherd-lings,” but you are My sheep, also.

And I love you with a sacrificial love that lays down My “life” daily for you.

Now I ask you to go and do likewise for the good of My sheep

for the good of My people,

for the good of Myself.—

Amen, Lord. Thank You.

Author[Pat Kashtock] | Comment2 Comments |
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Reader Comments (2)

I am reminded that the good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. And yes, he got "hurt" (i.e. died) on behalf of them, much as pastors/shepherds/Christian workers get hurt by the sheep. It's part of pouring yourself out. I remember Jack Hayford once saying that "wounded sheep bite the shepherd." So true.

July 15, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterBeverly

Yes -- a pastor friend of ours that left the ministry to go back to being a pilot, said, "Sheep bite." He certainly had experience with that.

And the rest of us who have served others, if we have done so for any length of time, likely have been bitten. But hey, that is one way we become identified with the chief Shepherd, right?

July 15, 2008 | Registered Commenter[Pat Kashtock]

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