SHEEP STORIES
In 1969 my husband's friend invited us to stay at his place in Fredericksburg. Actually, he invited two families, ours and one other from Corpus Christi. His purpose was to see which family was best suited for caring for his ranch and animals while he was gone. See, he was a ship captain from Pennsylvania and his wife was from Brazil. He was due to return to the ship and she had to go to Brazil to see about her father who was ill. So, we all went to Fredericksburg to see who would win the prize of staying on the ranch. Well, our little family won out and stayed to take care of the place while they were gone. It was a lovely location with a very comfortable large house and there was plenty to keep our active five children busy. There were chickens to feed and eggs to be gathered, dogs to be fed, rattlesnakes to shoot and last but not least, sheep to be tended.
It was there that I finally understood why Jesus referred to us as his "flock" and "sheep". Those animals are basically stupid! We were there for about ten days during which time the afternoons were really very hot and especially uncomfortable for the sheep considering that they had to wear all that wool. They had free range in a large field in front of the house and plenty of water in the trough plus several shade trees dotted around the area. I watched as one or two sheep would stand in the blazing sun, five feet from water, panting rapidly and not moving. They were too stupid to walk to the trough and sometimes would just lay down and not get up until the sun went down. There was one old ram who collapsed a couple of feet from the trough and my husband got worried about him so he picked him up, brought him into the barn and hand-watered him. The poor old thing died a few days later and my husband was worried that his ship captain friend would be upset. As it turned out, when he returned and learned of the demise of the old ram, he was rather relieved since he had expected it to die for some time.
I have always been partial to cattle and was reminded that Jesus said "You are my sheep and I am your shepherd." He didn't say, "You are my cattle and I am your cowboy." That's because he knew that we, like sheep, would be basically pretty stupid and need looking after.
During that visit we went to the dance at the hall in Luckenbach. It was a great big wooden building with a fine dance floor and large transom windows that were kept open by a large long stick;no air conditioning. There was live music, (not the best), lots of beer and it was great fun. The lady had returned from Brazil so she treated us to an evening of dancing there. She pointed out one couple to me and said, "See that lady ober dere? She is from Chermany and hass been here many years and she still don spik so good dee English!" She also told me about driving into town behind a person going very slow and she "rrronk and rronk dee horn, but he no pull over". She was a hoot and a lot of fun.
It was because of our stay in rural Fredericksburg that we decided to leave Corpus and move to the Hill Country. And that, my friends is another chapter.
It was there that I finally understood why Jesus referred to us as his "flock" and "sheep". Those animals are basically stupid! We were there for about ten days during which time the afternoons were really very hot and especially uncomfortable for the sheep considering that they had to wear all that wool. They had free range in a large field in front of the house and plenty of water in the trough plus several shade trees dotted around the area. I watched as one or two sheep would stand in the blazing sun, five feet from water, panting rapidly and not moving. They were too stupid to walk to the trough and sometimes would just lay down and not get up until the sun went down. There was one old ram who collapsed a couple of feet from the trough and my husband got worried about him so he picked him up, brought him into the barn and hand-watered him. The poor old thing died a few days later and my husband was worried that his ship captain friend would be upset. As it turned out, when he returned and learned of the demise of the old ram, he was rather relieved since he had expected it to die for some time.
I have always been partial to cattle and was reminded that Jesus said "You are my sheep and I am your shepherd." He didn't say, "You are my cattle and I am your cowboy." That's because he knew that we, like sheep, would be basically pretty stupid and need looking after.
During that visit we went to the dance at the hall in Luckenbach. It was a great big wooden building with a fine dance floor and large transom windows that were kept open by a large long stick;no air conditioning. There was live music, (not the best), lots of beer and it was great fun. The lady had returned from Brazil so she treated us to an evening of dancing there. She pointed out one couple to me and said, "See that lady ober dere? She is from Chermany and hass been here many years and she still don spik so good dee English!" She also told me about driving into town behind a person going very slow and she "rrronk and rronk dee horn, but he no pull over". She was a hoot and a lot of fun.
It was because of our stay in rural Fredericksburg that we decided to leave Corpus and move to the Hill Country. And that, my friends is another chapter.
Comments
Post a Comment