In our neck of the woods it is bright and shiny.  Unfortunate Carla had to accompany me to the doctor’s office and it took almost an hour longer that we had planned.

Meanwhile, though Deed and Josh were in town and took down all the fencing and tomato cages so we can better prepare her garden for when Josh comes back up with his tractor and rototiller to plow the garden.

We will be doing some transplanting of seedlings into other containers shortly, they are looking healthy and, of course, there are hundreds of them.  She will be giving most of them away; she loves it.

Taking some more tests to make sure that super bacteria I had in last fall was completely eradicated.  We shall see.

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Luke 15:4-5 “What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?

⁵ And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.”  KJV

To be honest, verse 4 used to bother me.  After all, the shepherd has a full flock of sheep of 100 to care for, why would he endanger the 99 by leaving them and searching for the lost one. 

The wolves don’t fear the sheep, no matter the number, they fear the shepherd.

But during the search for a three year old, lost in a cherry orchard for over 24 hours before we located him, it came to me.

We had dozens of people searching for this boy.  He was lost and a 3 year old can only last so long without proper help, these were hot days of summer and he had no food or water, let alone clothing that was warm at night.

The parents were beside themselves; they were Mexican, doing migrant work and knew very few of the people they were working with and of course none of the rest of us.  They kept saying how they thought he had been abducted, they knew of other such cases, and that thought was horrifying to them.  We had someone assigned to them to help them and to provide information and comfort to them – but, as with most of us, there was little conciliation, they were so afraid for their child.

We had regular employees assigned to the search as well as volunteers.  We had a helicopter in the air with a deputy inside helping to look and keeping in contact with the search commander.

The boy was located as he came out of hiding to wave at the helicopter, a long ways from where he was last seen.

Everyone did indeed rejoice, the parents, of course were ecstatic.  Their son was lost and now he was found.

Wasco County is 2994 square miles in size; the search area was, at the most, 2 square miles.

The population of the county, while not large, was still over 24,000 people, plus at least 5000 – 10,000 migrant workers in the orchards all around The Dalles.  There was but one boy missing.

While the search was ongoing, so was the need to service the other 24,000 plus people.  We had court to take care of, we had inmates in the jail, we had papers to serve, other areas that had to be patrolled, other cases to investigate, not to mention having deputies available for other calls in the county.

But when we were looking for the boy, the rest of the county received its regular protection.  We continued to work, answered calls, serve critical papers and fulfill our contracts to other agencies.

We did not leave the county unprotected.

In Jesus’ example neither did the shepherd, which of course was an analogy of Christ’s searching for the lost souls while those that were saved were in a place of safety.

He is not going to leave the rest of us without His love and protection; He is there for us whenever we ask and even though His Holy Spirit is continually working with non-believers all over the world, those that have committed their lives to Him are secure in His hands.

Psalm 40:1-3  “I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.

² He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.

³ And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.” KJV

Mathew 28:20 “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” KJV

Lord let us rely on the assurance of your protection that we might serve you as we share your Gospel with others; knowing that while your Holy Spirit is working with them, you are also watching over us as our Good Shepherd.

Later, Art (-: