THE NEW EWE

"What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!'"

Luke 15:4-6

August 5, 2020

LIFE IN THE FOLD:

I have never been athletic! I've never been a fast runner or agile or good at sports. In fact, when I was in school and we had to chose teams for PE class, I was generally always one of the last ones chosen.

I got my first bicycle for my 8^th or 9^th birthday. I learned how to ride and had fun, but was never particularly good at riding a bike. In fact, when I was in my early-30's, my step-brother and his wife asked me to go to a nature park to ride bikes. I told them that it had been years since I'd ridden a bike, but they assured me that I would be fine and would get the hang of it again quickly. Not so! I did make it around the park, but was wobbly the entire ride. In fact, I'm pretty sure I made them nervous at times and they were worried that I would end up crashing. The old saying, "Just like riding a bike," meaning that it is something that once you learn it will come back naturally, does not necessarily apply to me.

When I was in my twenties, my church had a picnic at a state park. Afterwards, we divided into teams and played softball. I was talked into playing. "It will be fun..... no one cares if you are good...." I ended up getting hit in the leg with the ball, which left a huge bruise. The ball came towards me and I wasn't fast enough to move out of the way, and catching it wasn't particularly a good option for me either.

I do enjoy taking walks and being outdoors, but these short, chubby legs aren't good at jogging or running. In fact, my running pace is like a fast walk.... well, maybe not particularly fast!

But when I was five years old I joined a lifelong race that I've continued running. For fifty years now, I've been faithfully keeping on track to complete this particular race. There have been times when I've fallen down, rabbit-tracked, been discouraged, failed, felt as if I wasn't running as well as others, been hurt, stumbled...... but I've never been tempted to give up and quit. This race is much too important to me!

This race doesn't require agility or athletic ability, nor are we running against anyone else. We all run at our own pace and are not in competition with anyone else. The only things required for winning this race is acknowledging Jesus Christ as our Savior and running with endurance.

None of us know how long our race will last or how close we are to the finish line, until we cross over. What we can know is that there is an eternal prize awaiting for each of us. In fact, there will be an entire cheering section who will be there to welcome us.

1 Corinthians 9:24-25 says, "Don't you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize."

This is an all-inclusive race and every person has a personal invitation to join. All those who participate and stay the course until the end will receive eternal life in heaven.

There may be people who will try to cause us to stumble and become distracted. There may be sins that try to entangle our lives in such a way that we feel entrapped. There may be times when we feel unworthy and as if we have failed too many times. But this is the most important race any of us will ever run! There are eternal consequences if we choose to leave the race and give up.

Hebrews 12:1-2 instructs us with these words, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith."

The key is to keep our eyes on Jesus, and not on people or circumstances or the world around us. We need to pay attention to who we listen to and make sure that they aren't drawing our heart away from God. Even though we aren't in competition with one another, we still need to encourage those who are running the race alongside us; as well as encouraging those who are lagging behind or who have left the race or who have never joined.

Don't ever give up or quit! We must always keep running, keeping our eyes on the prize!

One day we will be able to say these words: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. And now the prize awaits me -- the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of His return. And the prize is not just for me, but for all who eagerly look forward to His appearing." (2 Timothy 4:7-8)

JON'S PERSPECTIVE:

I was nearly the same as Loretta. I was always picked last for teams, except when someone was being charitable. And in anything requiring speed or agility or strength, I was generally worst at it. But I was good at endurance. When we had to run the mile, I was usually first. Mostly because I wasn't trying to be first. I was just trying to get it over with quickly, but not so quickly I broke myself. And that's probably why I usually won. Most of the others in my class would start out running as fast as they could, and would be worn out by the first lap. But I looked at the bigger picture, and started of quick, but not so fast I would get worn out.

Our journey through life is more like a cross-country race. There are times when we are headed uphill. There are times when it is downhill. There may be times when we have to take a big leap over a stream, having faith we will make it across. And there are times we need to sprint. But if we keep our eyes on the bigger picture, and know what is across the finish line, it makes the entire journey easier. When we take our eyes off the finish line, it's easy to get off track.

ON THE MENEWE:

Easy Oven Shrimp

Place ingredients in a 9x13 pan. Cook at 400 for 20 minutes.

Bake potatoes.

Serve shrimp with cocktail sauce.

Spoon the butter/onion/celery drippings from the shrimp pan over the baked potatoes.

THIS, THAT AND THE OTHER:

When I was a very young, very little girl, the freezer part of our refrigerator was definitely not self-defrosting. I'm not sure any of them were back then. Thick ice would build up on the inside of the freezer. Mama would have to occasionally empty it out and let it defrost, and would scrape out the ice that had built up.

I'm not sure what possessed me to do this. But one day I pulled a kitchen chair over to the refrigerator, climbed up on the chair and opened the freezer. Maybe it was because vanilla ice cream (or "white ice cream", as I called it back then) was my favorite. Perhaps it was because when it snowed, Mama would go outside and scoop up a big bowl of it and make snow ice cream. Maybe the white frosty ice reminded me of those things. Maybe it was because we didn't have air conditioning in the house and I was exceptionally hot that day. But I decided that it would be a good idea to lick the ice inside that freezer. All it took was me sticking my tongue to it, and I was stuck! Mama heard me hollering and ran into the kitchen, only to find her baby's tongue stuck to the ice inside the freezer. She had to pull it loose, and all I can remember about it was that it hurt like crazy when she did! Needless to say, it only took that one time for me to learn my lesson.

THOUGHT TO PONDER:

To make a difference in someone's life you don't have to be brilliant, rich, beautiful, or perfect.

You just have to care! - unknown

OUR HEARTFELT THANKS TO YOU:

We love you!

Loretta & Jon

http://www.graysheep.org