The voice of the Good Shepherd

   Back in the early nineties, I worked in Washington D.C. for three and a half years commuting on the subway from northern Virginia.  My dad commuted to Washington D.C. on that same subway line from Virginia, though he lived in a different town than myself once I was an adult.  We rarely saw each other on the subway.  One point about the D.C. subway is there are certain lines which overlap for a certain length, and then split.  Thus before you get on a train you need to look to see if it is the correct line you want.
   Once I was at a subway station which is a junction for two different lines, the orange line and the blue line.  I was waiting for an orange line.  A long blue line train came to the station and slowed to a halt.  Suddenly I saw my dad in a seat in the car just to the right of me.  He was sitting reading a book.  The doors opened and people immediately departed the train.  Then I jumped in the doorway and said, “Dad!”
   My dad, who was bent over reading, after a moment, raised his head.
   “You’re on a blue line,” I stated as he looked at me.
   He grabbed his briefcase and walked off the train.  As the train pulled away, we were both glad and amused I happened to be just at the right spot on a rare time when dad happened to be on the wrong train.
   And though there may have been a number of fathers on that train, my immediate reaction was to call him what I always call him.  And my dad said in the midst of reading, when he heard someone loudly say “Dad,” he recognized my voice.  Before he looked up, he thought, “That’s Hunter.”
   In a sermon in a church where I worshiped this past Sunday the pastor was teaching on John 10 and made the statement that all followers of Jesus are in one flock.  He said there is only one flock and there is only one Shepherd.  Sounds obvious, but sometimes we Christians are so enamored by our human institutions we do not act like there is one flock.  Jesus does not divide the sheep based on denomination membership or ethnicity.  There are no sub-flocks.  The flock of God started out with Jewish believers within the Mosaic Covenant, and in the time of Christ was expanded to consist of people from all ethnic groups of all nations who believe in Jesus.  Jesus has one flock, children of God who have been adopted into the forever family of God.  Those of us who truly believe in Jesus have God as our Father in heaven.  People are not in the flock if Jesus is not their Savior and Lord, however active they are with a church institution.  Membership in the flock is not based on human merit or family history.
   Jesus stated, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand” (John 10: 27-28 NIV).
   Have you heard the voice of the Good Shepherd?  The Bible records teachings, discourses, and discussions by Jesus.  In my Bible, His words are even in red letters.  Though words on a page, the longer I follow Jesus, the more I hear the “voice” of Jesus as I read what He stated.
   I started with an old subway story, and I conclude with one.  When I was a rather new Christian, I got that job in Washington D.C.  Every day after work, I read the Bible on the way home.  Having only read a small amount of the Bible from the Old Testament in high school, I started by reading the entire New Testament for the first time.  Months in the future I shifted my Bible reading to the morning subway ride so I would read when more rested.  As my learning journey continued, Bible reading became more of a “study.”  Then came the ultimate; Bible time on the subway involved personal reflection and meditation.  All this happened on a subway over the course of six years.  And all along I grew in my understanding that when reading the Bible, Jesus was talking to everyone, including me.
   Soon after those six years of Bible learning and much other education at my special church, I became a youth pastor.  Though I had only been a Christian for seven years, time listening to and learning from the Good Shepherd predominantly on a subway train of all places, resulted in me being able to discern His voice.  And throughout all these years, I have been able to follow Jesus because I have listened to His voice in Scripture.
   To hear the voice of the Good Shepherd, you simply need to read the Bible trusting God that you will hear from Him, the One who loves you.
Hunter Irvine