Long time ago in an African community it was common to find animal husbandry as a means of both economic prosperity and social interaction. Many people had goats, sheep, cattle and cows and the people were very close to each other that any stranger would find it difficult to easily determine who owned what.

On a fateful day news went round the village that a sheep owner had lost his sheep and so a search party was quickly assembled to help find the sheep, but after four days of searching the party returned that the sheep could not be found and so the owned was told to forget about it more so as he had lots of them, but he refused and insisted that his sheep was very precious to him and had to be found. He then decided to do the searching himself, this took him through the whole area of the community and while he was contemplating on what to do on his way back home he noticed a sheep among others and came close to inspect it, to his untold joy it was his own and so proceeded to carry it but the shepherd leading this flock challenged him and claimed the sheep was his own, this resulted in very deep arguments and struggle to determine the rightful owner but to no avail.

The matter was brought before the council of elders who held a meeting and after listening to the two parties on proof of ownership told the two contending parties to go home and return to the council after three days for decision as to who will be allowed to take possession of the sheep. The leaders now held a private meeting during which they tried determining the rightful owner but at the end they could not ascertain the owner so they also adjourned.

The D- Day came and the council was settled then the parties were called and so was the sheep in contention. The eldest of the council members cleared his throat and asked the two mean men if any wanted to back out but either of them insisted that the sheep was his.

At this stage the old man asked the sheep to be put in an adjourning room while the two men take turn to call the sheep.

The first man made chants and calls and whistles but the sheep did not come out, he then called on the second man to call the sheep, at the first sound the sheep was seen coming out towards him, it was then decided that the second shepherd owned the sheep. Case closed.

A careful look at what Jesus said in John 10: 27 – 28 shows that He knows His sheep and His sheep hears His voice and follow Him. A day is coming soon when He will call all His sheep from earth will you hear His voice on that day, You can call on Him today to be the shepherd of your soul and life.

Author unknown. If anyone has a proprietary interest in this story please authenticate and I will be happy to credit, or remove, as the circumstances dictate.

Thanks to Sherry’s Inspirational List INSPIRATIONAL@ChristianEMailService.com