WHO IS YOUR PROTECTOR?

I grew up on 7 acres of beautiful land on the edge of Farmerville. My Daddy loved raising many different kinds of animals including sheep during my childhood. The sheep were supposedly mine and Robbie's 4H project, but I suspect that Daddy was the one that wanted us to become shepherds. We were actually required to do all of the work, I am sure it was supposed to be character building. It was a life changing project for me since I decided I definitely did not want to be a farmer when I grew up.

We started the sheep project with several lambs that were being raised for food. This evolved into raising breeding animals including a ram and several ewes. Our first lamb was born in the dead of the winter, around February. The lamb was so cute-all legs and a long tail that would be clipped when the lamb was older. The barn was at least a football field length behind the house and required quite a trek on cold mornings. This did keep you from hearing the noise that the animals made or smelling the aroma that always accompanies a barnyard.

When the lamb was a couple of weeks old, we had a severe cold front arrive. After much discussion about what should be done to protect the lamb, a heat lamp was put in the barn over the ewe's pen. Sometime during the night the cord overheated and caught the hay on fire. I do not remember why the entire barn did not burn down, but I do remember exactly what happened. That ewe backed her baby back into the corner of the pen and stood between it and the fire. Her entire side was burned with the wool being burned completely off and the flesh looking like cooked meat. She might could have jumped the fence, but chose to protect her offspring and take the pain herself. The lamb was not completely spared from the heat of the fire and also had burns on its legs, but this was not life threatening. While still suffering the pain associated with the wounds, the lamb's life was spared, but the ewe lost her life in the process.

This reminds me of what Jesus has done for us. Though we are not spared the pain of the world around us, Jesus has taken the brunt of the punishment that we truly deserve. The fallen world would have us in the heat of the flame and suffering the pain of the burn it produces. He has stood between us and that flame and suffered the burn for us. He is truly "Our Good Shepherd."