"The Shepherd" by Alfred Soord
Follow the Shepherd
Associated Press, July 2005
ISTANBUL, Turkey - First one sheep jumped to its death. Then stunned Turkish shepherds, who had left the herd to graze while they had breakfast, watched as nearly 1,500 others followed, each leaping off the same cliff, Turkish media reported.
In the end, 450 dead animals lay on top of one another in a billowy white pile, the Aksam newspaper said. Those who jumped later were saved as the pile got higher and the fall more cushioned, Aksam reported.
"There's nothing we can do. They're all wasted," Nevzat Bayhan, a member of one of 26 families whose sheep were grazing together in the herd, was quoted as saying by Aksam.
The estimated loss to families in the town of Gevas, located in Van province in eastern Turkey, tops $100,000, a significant amount of money in a country where average per head is around $2,700.
"Every family had an average of 20 sheep," Aksam quoted another villager, Abdullah Hazar as saying. "But now only a few families have sheep left. It's going to be hard for us."
ISTANBUL, Turkey - First one sheep jumped to its death. Then stunned Turkish shepherds, who had left the herd to graze while they had breakfast, watched as nearly 1,500 others followed, each leaping off the same cliff, Turkish media reported.
In the end, 450 dead animals lay on top of one another in a billowy white pile, the Aksam newspaper said. Those who jumped later were saved as the pile got higher and the fall more cushioned, Aksam reported.
"There's nothing we can do. They're all wasted," Nevzat Bayhan, a member of one of 26 families whose sheep were grazing together in the herd, was quoted as saying by Aksam.
The estimated loss to families in the town of Gevas, located in Van province in eastern Turkey, tops $100,000, a significant amount of money in a country where average per head is around $2,700.
"Every family had an average of 20 sheep," Aksam quoted another villager, Abdullah Hazar as saying. "But now only a few families have sheep left. It's going to be hard for us."
When I read this I thought of all those verses about us as wayward sheep: "All we like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all." (Isa. 53:6) and "I have strayed like a lost sheep. Seek your servant, for I have not forgotten your commands." Ps. 119:176
This story is the perfect picture of the hazard of straying from our Good Shepherd! We don't even understand that we are leaping off a cliff! Praise God our Shepherd "neither slumbers nor sleeps." Praise God for His rod and staff that though sometimes painful, keeps us from leaping to our spiritual death!!
Cling to the Shepherd!!
4 comments:
Hallelujah He is the Good Shepherd!
The 3 crosses dishcloth is from the monthly dishcloth group I belong to. There is a link on my blog and you need to join to get the pattern from the archives.
I am also the list mom for Christian Knitters. :-)
Thank you Deb!!
Karen,
I just wanted to say how encouraging your blog is. I hadn't checked it out in awhile, and it really lifted me today. Thank you!
Nicole (nicoleh @ T2CHK)
Thank you so much Nicole! That is the best compliment I could receive! Love, Karen
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