Carried

What’s God like? Tricky to answer because he’s invisible!
Wonderfully, Jesus showed us. He even told us stories that answer this crucial question.

Jesus told us that God is like a shepherd, searching for a lost sheep and joyfully carrying it home on his shoulders.

On his shoulders! That tells us our shepherd is strong. Sheep are heavy – weighing up to 300lbs! Our divine shepherd can carry us and whatever we are carrying – no burden, now worry, no grief is too heavy.

It tells us that our shepherd wants us close. It reminds me of how Trev used to love carrying our boys up on his shoulders. Here is great affection.

If I’d tramped through mountains to find a lost sheep, I reckon I’d be cross and ready to cook up a mutton stew. But unlike the serious shepherd in this photo, God is always full of joy when he carries us home because he loves us.

All last week, that picture filled my mind and then on Monday and Tuesday, two separate people came and told me that God has given them a picture of God carrying me, like a shepherd carries a sheep. Neither of them knew what I was speaking on. Amazing!

Go to the catacombs where the first-century persecuted Christians hid and on the walls, you will find the picture of Jesus carrying the sheep on his shoulders - it was the most treasured image of the early churh. Why? Because it reveals the very nature of God, who promised through the prophets to shepherd his people. It is to be our picture because it’s what God’s like.