This week we added four Babydoll sheep to what we affectionately call Meadow Brook Farm-ish!

Do we know how to be an actual shepherd and shepherdess?

Hahaha. Of course not.

Not with “actual” sheep, at least!

But here goes the start of a fun adventure.

Reminiscent of Lisa’s years as a school principal, we’ve started calling them “the boys and girls.”

Let me introduce you to them.

This is Judd, named after the great missionary Adoniram Judson.

And Lizzie, named after the brave missionary and writer Elisabeth Elliot.

Here’s Fred, named after the influential missionary Fredrik Franson.

And finally, Virgie, named after the courageous missionary Virginia Broughton.

Yep, we named them after great missionaries.

A friend joked, that with those names, we better have strong fences because they’re going to want to break out to “seek and save the lost.” 😉

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Beautiful Things

Their calm, gentle dispositions have a way of forcing me to slow down.

Not theoretically.

Actually.

Yesterday, I followed behind them as they explored our property.

Slowly.

Quietly.

Close together.

What surprised me most wasn’t how cute and cuddly they are.

It wasn’t even how peaceful it felt to sit nearby and watch them graze.

It was how quickly they started changing me.

Because they are so gentle, I have to move slowly so I don’t spook them.

So I take one light step at a time.

My breathing slows down.

I pay attention to what they’re eating, which means I’m paying attention to something deeply—a rare thing when my phone is near.

In his Confessions, the great spiritual writer Augustine talked about how he

“…rushed headlong into beautiful things, but was scattered…”

That’s me.

Scattered by everything I claim to love.

Rushing past beauty with my phone in my hand and anxiety in my chest.

Lambs don’t rush past beautiful things.

Which may be why, this week, I found myself reading Matthew’s story with new eyes.

Matthew’s Table

This Sunday I’m teaching on the story in Mark 2 where Jesus calls Matthew to follow him.

After leaving his post as a tax collector, Matthew throws a party for a group of his irreligious friends to meet the man who just changed his life.

Mark 2:14–15 recalls the event:

As he walked along, he saw Matthew son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.

While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.

I would have loved to have been there.

While driving my Jeep Wrangler this morning, “So Long, Honey” by the folk band Caamp popped up on my playlist. The song’s first lines are:

We sit with the fools and the sinners

The jokers and the killers

It’s just our way

I smiled.

It made me think of Matthew’s party, and his friends taking their places around his table - the fools and the sinners, jokers and killers of Capernaum.

They must have been caught off guard by Matthew’s new demeanor, his language, his joy, and his guest of honor—a rabbi.

When moments like this came, Jesus reached for a story that opened a window into the heart of God.

Maybe he told it to his new friends at Matthew’s house that night.

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When Grace Finds You

It’s a story that went like this:

A shepherd has one hundred sheep, but when one goes missing, he leaves the ninety-nine and goes searching into the brush. It is a foolish thing to do with wolves and jackals in the dark - unless, of course, you love the lost lamb that much. And when he finally finds it, he doesn’t scold it or drag it home in disgust. He lifts it onto his shoulders and rejoices.

I think that’s why Matthew threw the party.

• Not because he had all the answers.

• Not because he knew how his friends would respond.

• Not because he was ready for the looks, the questions, the puzzled expressions, or the disdain.

But because he had met the Shepherd.

• The one who walked all the way to his tax booth.

• The one who looked at him and said, “Follow me.”

• The one who came looking for him.

So Matthew did the only thing he knew to do.

He set the table.

He filled the room with the people who knew him before grace found him.

And he put them in the same room with Jesus.

Because when we realize we were the lamb he came looking for, we start seeing those around us—the other fools and sinners, jokers and killers—as people loved by Jesus just like us.