A Shepherd’s Work Is Godly Pleasure

Today’s reading: John 10:11-16 and 27-29

I have been trained in disaster response by the United Methodist Church and about a year ago answered my first call for “deployment.” The assignment was to a flood-ravaged rural neighborhood about 20 miles from my home. A crew of about 15 others and I spent several days helping two families remove wet debris, dry-wall and flooring from their homes. None of us were paid for this work, of course, and several of us turned down money-making opportunities in order to be there.

In my case, I chose this work over a week-long sub-contract job for which a friend had wanted to hire me. I remember telling a little fib when I turned him down.

“I’ll have to pass on this one,” I said. “They need me out in Gregory where all the flooding happened this week.”

“Oh really? Who’s hiring you for that?” my friend asked.

“I’m trained in disaster relief by my church. They take care of us pretty well,” I said.

Okay. So I didn’t exactly lie.(The church did take care of us very well. All of our needs for food, shelter, rest and vibrant fellowship were met royally as we worked.  But I did purposely leave the impression that I would be getting real money for this work.

I’m not sure why I didn’t fess up about my volunteer status.  Pride, I guess. Or embarrassment. Either way, I admit I made a mistake.  I know I missed a chance for discipleship and maybe even recruitment. If I had told my friend that I was making God’s work a priority, regardless of pay, I might have inspired him to come join the team. (We were a little shorthanded, so the leaders might have waived the training requirements for him.)  And, since the job he wanted to hire me for was not necessarily a rush, he and I might have even been able to tackle it later together.

Alas, I didn’t do all that, and I have learned my lesson.

But today’s reading brings all this to mind today for a different reason:

“The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away–and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.” (Verse 12)

My friends and I who worked on those two homes were definitely not “hired hands.”

I remember being very excited at the high quality work we did. And I remember the families being amazed at it as well. Several guys on the team were very accomplished contractors, and they put their very best efforts into those jobs. Meanwhile I am a recovering “white collar” guy, so my handyman skills are still developing, but  I felt blessed to learn a lot during those few days on this job.

And all of us did this great, important work (several of us estimated at least $15,000 worth of labor) for absolutely no pay. Protecting and serving the blessed “sheep” that were these families was pure pleasure for all of us.

Simple, pure, Godly pleasure.

I look back at those days as the highlight of the year — and I know the others do too.

So, while I may have allowed the world’s expectations to make me too timid to admit, before hand, that I would be volunteering for this work, I am very proud to be telling this story now.

Thanks be to God for the shepherds of the world. May I have many more opportunities to work and thrive among them.