As A Sheep

 By Cyd Holsclaw

“I want you to imagine yourself as a sheep.

And if a sheep isn't an animal that you get excited about, you could imagine yourself as a different kind of animal. But of course, sheep have wool. And in this story, your wool doesn't have to be a standard color like white or brown or black.

It can be any color you want it to be. So I ask you little sheep, what color is your wool?

Whatever color your wool is, just imagine yourself standing in a field, and the shepherd comes to you and calls you by name and digs his fingers into your wool. He is so glad to be with you. He knows your name and comes close to you because he's glad to be with you.

And in being with him, you feel quite content. There's nothing that you need. But now the good shepherd says to you, come follow me.

And so you follow him to a wide open pasture, and it's filled with tender sweet grass. And he invites you to eat, and so you do. And so just imagine yourself sticking your little muzzle down into the grass and eating as much[…]”

From Attaching to God: Neuroscience-informed Spiritual Formation: 126 Where it all started: The Shepherd Story (with Cyd Holsclaw), Jul 29, 2025

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/attaching-to-god-neuroscience-informed-spiritual-formation/id1561994016?i=1000719683882&r=129

Mark 6-16

 Today’s headlines are filled with stories of war, rumors of more war, earthquakes, and famine. Some claim that each of these events are specific fulfillment of Bible prophecy while others aren’t quite so sure. I want to slow down my reaction to these stories by reminding myself who God is and we are not facilitating Christ’s return. We are not in charge and we cannot speed up what God has planned. Our role is to follow Jesus as our Shepherd, not as our hopes for military hero. Responding to explosive conversations, or adding to a conspiracy theory does not reflect His deep love and long suffering patience. 

“If we come to see the purpose of the universe as God’s long-term glory rather than our short-term happiness, then we will undergo a critical paradigm shift in tackling the problem of evil and suffering. The world has gone terribly wrong. God is going to fix it. First, for his eternal glory. Second, for our eternal good.” - Randy Alcorn, If God Is Good: Faith in the Midst of Suffering and Evil

“Jesus paired his warning about false messiahs with a warning about misreading the events they saw happening. He spoke of “wars and rumors of war” (Mark 13:7), earthquakes and famines (Mark 13:8). Anxiety-driven thinking naturally views such events in catastrophic terms—that is, as the end of the world. Such anxiety is embedded in hierarchal, power-over thinking. Jesus called his disciples beyond such thinking. “Do not be alarmed,” he commanded (Mark 13:7). It was to be expected that “nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.” - Excerpt, Following Jesus: Discipleship in the Gospel of Mark by Steve Langford