THE SHEEP

John and Mari Jones ran a farm in North Wales for over 50 years and had many sheep.  John has recently gone to Heaven aged 94 but Mari, an active 92 year old, is famous for her true story books about sheep.  Here is a shortened version of one of them.

 A sheep on a rocky mountain side saw some luscious green grass below and jumped down to get it.  But she was trapped between the rock face behind and a precipice in front.

 One day John the shepherd saw the trapped sheep but made no effort to rescue her but left her to starve for a few days!  When he heard her bleating as though her heart would break, John knew that now was the time to save her.  If he had gone earlier before she began to bleat she would have leapt to her death down the chasm when she saw him coming.

 John brought two lengths of rope.  He tied one end of each to a rock then let himself down on one of the ropes until he reached the sheep.  Soon he had tied the other rope around the helpless bundle and pulled her up safely.  John of course had many sheep so why did he risk his life to save this one?  It was because her bleat gave him no alternative.  She belonged to him!

 Like the trapped sheep we too, through our foolish wanderings, may get into a difficult situation.  We may even pray to the Good Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ who is the great Shepherd of the sheep. [ Hebrews 13:20,21 ]  Sometimes Jesus may seem to be slow in coming but when we have reached the end of our tether we are more likely to listen to His wise and loving words.