I am a sheep

Last week we said "See You Later" to our good friend and fellow laborer, Mark Hale. Respected for his tireless years of ministry, Mark was well known in Oklahoma City for his youth groups at the Oakcrest Church... his organizational skills in the Work Camps (teens painting homes of the elderly)... and his exciting retreats and sessions of senior week at church camp.

One step into Mark's Study and you would understand his love for the concept of "I am a sheep." While I'm looking up the lyrics to that song (a new personal favorite that's stuck in my head between AWTG summer programs), allow me to share one of my favorite hymns with similar sentiments....

"THE NINETY AND NINE"

There were ninety and nine that safely lay
In the shelter of the fold,
But one was out on the hills away,
Far off from the gates of gold;
Away on the mountains wild and bare,
Away from the tender Shepherd’s care.

Lord, Thou hast here Thy ninety and nine,
Are they not enough for Thee?
But the Shepherd made answer:
“This of mine has wandered away from me,
And although the road be rough and steep,
I go to the desert to find my sheep.”

But none of the ransomed ever knew
How deep were the waters crossed
Nor how dark was the night that the Lord passed thro’
Ere He found His sheep that was lost.
Far out in the desert He heard its cry,
Twas sick and helpless and ready to die.

“Lord, whence are those blood-drops all the way
That marks out the mountain’s track?”
“They were shed for one who has gone astray
Ere the Shepherd could bring him back.”
“Lord, whence are Thy hands so rent and torn?
They’re pierced tonight by many a thorn.”

But all thro’ the mountains, thunder-riv’n
And up from the rocky steep,
There arose a glad cry to the gate of heav’n,
“Rejoice, I have found my sheep.”
And the angels echoed around the throne,
“Rejoice, for the Lord brings back His own.”