Missing!

"Safe were the ninety and nine in the fold; safe, though the night was dreary and cold.  But, said the shepherd when counting them o'er, one sheep is missing there should be one more."  I identified with that completely yesterday tramping over the fields looking for our missing goats!  I couldn't believe it when Howard came in yesterday and told me they had disappeared!

Apparently, the gate to their pen hadn't been closed properly, and the energetic young animals butted or pushed it open and escaped.  Although the family had conducted a thorough search before I found out the bad news, I insisted that we go look again.  So Sunday afternoon found us bundled up against the frigid wind searching every conceivable place for the helpless babies.  Every outbuilding was peered into, gullies were searched, and brambles were inspected.

Not a trace.  The only clue being sharp little hoofprints in the mud immediately outside the pen.  They led to nowhere.  Did something get them?  Were they stolen?  We retraced the road around the property that my husband had already driven. I peered into the pasture from the high road surrounding the farm.  Nothing.  Only the occasional white plastic bag blowing in the wind, mimicking movement and life. 

"What was that?!!" I exclaimed as I saw a large, white object beside the highway as we drove toward home.  It looked like a white blanket, tinged in red.  Or the hide of an animal, I thought.  Howard turned around and went back so I could get a closer look.  No, it was only a large plastic bag, flattened by the rain.  The red colors were the red ties tangled through it.

With heavy hearts, we gave up.  My only consolation was that, in the event they died from exposure, they just went to sleep and woke up gamboling over celestial pastures.  At least I felt better for having looked for them myself.   Barring a miracle, we won't see them again. (Although our lost guinea showed up once after we had written it off!)

Jesus's story of the ninety and nine in the gospels is an illustration of seeking lost souls.  He says in Luke 15:5, "And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. (6) And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost."  The next verse talks of the joy in heaven over a repentant sinner, which is greater than the joy over a just person.

What a tender story of God's compassion, couched in human terms that all can understand.  Especially anyone who has ever lost a sheep (or goat)!