Keep a Look Out for Lost Sheep

I just watched a video of a sheep that was stuck. The video was completely in Arabic so I don’t know exactly where they were or what the substance was the sheep was stuck in. However, the ground looked solid. As solid as the ground appeared, it obviously wasn’t because only about the top third of the sheep was above ground. Along came a passerby. The only part of the video which had subtitles was this man saying that he had to go out and get the sheep because there was no one else to help. He tried walking but soon sank into what appeared to be goo. The man then sat down and scooted all the way to the sinking sheep until he was able to pull the animal out.

How could I not think of our Savior? Like that sheep, I go off my own way because it appears to be a good path. I think of how far that sheep was from the edge of the thick, soupy mud. It had continued on even though each step took it deeper and deeper until it could no longer move at all. That’s what happens when we try to go our own way.

When I was young, we lived by the ocean. One day, my father and I went boating and I jumped off the boat to swim. My mother had warned me to tie back my very long hair when I swam in the ocean, but I wanted to feel like a mermaid. I loved how my hair swirled around me as I wove my way under the waves. Her ignored instructions almost lead to a tragedy though. As she knew, but I thought would never happen, my hair became tangled in the seaweed. The more I thrashed around, the more the soft plants grabbed on tightly and pulled me deeper into the water. I could look up and see the boat. I could see my father searching into the murky water for me, but I could not reach the surface. The next thing I knew, my father plunged himself into the water and grabbed a handful of seaweed as he easily pulled me from its grasp and threw me back on the boat.

That is the way sin is. Something had to have convinced the sheep it was worth the risk of the mushy ground. My imagination of being a mermaid convinced me it was worth the act of disobedience to leave my hair untied. Sin often sounds like a good idea. It looks appealing, but it never delivers. It always leaves us tangled and stuck. Alone, we cannot escape the clutches of sin. We need a Savior. We need a friend who will jump in, fully clothed with wallet in his pocket. We need a passerby who sees the worth in the one in that is lost and makes the effort to reach them. None of us want to fall into sin and suffer because of it. Still, we might just find ourself needed a helping hand. Don’t push it away. Don’t let your pride convince you that you can get out on your own. Remember, the more I struggled, the deeper I was pulled down, and the deeper the sheep sunk into the soupy mud. And if you happen to see someone struggling, don’t wait for someone more qualified to come along. You might just be the only one who can help. Take every opportunity. Sin is nothing to play with. None of us can escape it if we don’t learn to depend on each other and carry one another through the rough times. Keep looking out for those lost sheep.

(Written by Keegan Harkins.)