DON'T FORGET THE SHEPHERD

[prophetess m. brignac]

WHEN THE PATRIARCH, MOSES, WAS OVER=SEEING THE ISRAELITES EXTENDED "SAFARI"I IN THE WILDERNESS, THEY CONFRONTED ONE CALAMITY, AND DISASTER AFTER ANOTHER. THE VERY LOGISITCS OF NAVIGATING THAT NUMBER OF PEOPLE ACROSS THE VAST EXPANSE OF TERRAIN, WOULD HAVE CAUSED OTHER "PASTORS" TO TAKE UP FISHING OR SAY "CAN I TAKE YOUR ORDER PLEASE"?, BUT YET, HE HAD TO STAY FOCUSED,L TUNED INTO GOD, LEVEL-HEADED, SHREWD, AND STRONG , NOT JUST FOR HIMSELF, BUT FOR THE PEOPLE TOO. NO ONE CONSIDERED THAT WHILE THEY WERE MURMURING AND BEHAVING AS CHILDREN, BECAUSE THE COULDN'T GET A "HAPPY MEAL",OR "SLURPEE", THAT MOSES WAS HUNGRY AND NEEDED TO QUENCH HIS THIRST AS WELL. NO ONE PONDERED THE FACT THAT DEALING WITH THOUSANDS OF COMPLAINING, ORNERY, REBELLIOUS, "POSSESSED", BACKBITING, AND BACKSTABBING PEOPLE, AND THEIR YOUNG AND ALL OF THEIR CATTLE , HAD TO BE A TREMENOUS STRAIN AND PRESSURE, ALMOST HUMANLY IMPOSSSIBLE, AND AN OVERWHELMING TASK. THEY WERE NOT CONCERNED THAT THE LORD WAS HOLDING HIM RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR BEHAVIOUR, BECAUSE HE HAD BEEEN GIVEN STEWARDSHIP OVER THEM, AND WOULD BE CALLED TO GIVE AN ACCOUNT. WHILE THEY STACKED UP ALL WARM AND COZY WITH THEIR MATES AT NIGHT, THEY FELT THE NEED TO PERSECUTE THE MAN OF GOD WHEN HE TOOK A WIFE BECAUSE THEY WEREN'T "FEELING" HER. NO ONE SEEMED TO BE CONSIDERATE OF MOSES FEELINGS WHILE THEY WERE PERSECUTING, CRITICIZING, AND SCORNING HIM, AS HE WENT BEFORE THE LORD, PUTTING HIMSELF IN PERIL, TO GAIN FAVOR AND MERCY FOR THEIR BEHAVIOR , NOT FOR HIMSELF, BUT FOR THEM. EVEN THOSE WHO WERE OF HIS OWN BLOOD, HOUSEHOLD AND KIN, JOINED IN THE "BOARD MEETINGS" TO MAKE A DECISION ABOUT GETTING HIM TO "STEP DOWN", OR REPLACING HIM WITH SOMEONE WHO WAS SOLD OUT TO THE DEACON BOARD AND CHURCH MOTHERS, RATHER THAN BEING SOLD OUT TO THE LORD. AFTER ALL THAT MOSES ENDURED TO FULFILL HIS PREDESTINED CHARGE TO LEAD THEM SAFELY OUT OF EGYPT, HE BECAME NO MORE THAN A "SACRIFICE" FOR THEIR DELIVERANCE AND EXODUS FROM EGYPT, BECAUSE HE NEVER GOT TO TREAD UPON IT'S SOIL.THIS SAME BEHAVIOUR IS PREVALENT IN OUR LATTER CHURCHES, AND TO AN EXTENT, ON AN EVEN LARGER SCALE. THE ISRAELITES PERSECUTED AND SLANDERED MOSES BEHIND HIS BACK, BUT NOWADAYS, THERE ARE FULL BLOWN "CUSSING WARS", BOXING MATCHES, AND A LITTLE "GUN SLINGING THAT GOES ON BETWEEN MEMBERS AND THEIR PASTOR/LEADER RIGHT SMACK DAB IN THE SANCTUARY. THEY UNDERSTAOOD THE EDICT TO "TOUCH NOT MY ANOINTED, AND DO MY PROPHETS NO HARM", WITH A WHOLE LOT MORE SOBRIETY AND REVERENCE THAN WHAT CAN BE FOUND IN OUR CONTEMPORARY CHURCHES. ONE REASON FOR THIS, IS "FAMILIARITY, AND FRATERNIZATION, AND MOST SHEPHERDS LEARN ,AFTER A CASUALTY OR TWO, THAT THIS IS A LIBERTY THEY CAN NOT AFFORD, IF THEY ARE GOING TO BE RESPECTD AND EFFECTIVE. FEW STOP TO THINK THAT THE REASON THEY CAN'T GET "PASTOR" ON THE PHONE "ON DEMAND", MAY BE BECAUSE HE/SHE HAS A LIFE SEPARATE FROM WHINING, CO-DEPENDENT SHEEP,AND WANTS TO PRESERVE THE INNER SANCTUM OF THEIR HOME AND PRIVATE LIFE. NOT ONLY THAT, IT MAY BE BECAUSE THERE ARE A COUPLE OF DOZEN MORE SHEEP" AWAITING THEIR CHANCE TO "WHINE" AS WELL. BELIEVE IT OR NOT, SHEPHERDS SUFFER HEADACHES, CRAMPS, DEPRESSION, BAD DAYS, BAD HAIR DAYS, BEING DISGRUNTLED, FRUSTRATED, UNCERTAINTY, FEAR, DOUBT, ANGER, BITTERNESS, HAVE "SCHIZOPHRENIC" MOMENTS, AND WOUNDS JUST LIKE ANY AND EVERYBODY ELSE, AND THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IS THAT THEY HAVE A GREATER EXPECTATION UPON THEM, AS IF "KRPYPTONITE" FLOWED THROUGH THEIR VEINS INSTEAD OF A FEW PNTS OF "O+ BLOOD. HE HAS TO TRY TO SHOULDER THE BURDENS OF THE "SHEEP", AS WELLAS THE VARIOUS OTHER "PASTOR COULD YOU PRAY FOR MY MAMA,...... ETC. REQUESTS, 'WHILE NO ONES HELPING THEM CONTEND WITH THEIR OWN TRIBULATIONS. PASTORS/LEADERS BECOME EMOTIONALLY DISTRAUGHT, SUFFER NERVOUS BREK DOWNS, "SNAP", AND FAIL EVERY DAY, AND MANY TIMES IT'S FROM THE PRESSURE OF DEALING WITH THE SAME FLOCK WHO ARE WORKING TO HAVE HIM "FARMED OUT", WHEN JUST LAST MONTH, H/SHE LABORED IN PRAYER UNTIL THEIR LOVED ONE WAS TAKEN OFF THE "CRITICALY ILL" LIST, AND BONDED LITTLE, INCORRIGIBLE "BA-BA" OUT OF LOCK-UP AT 3:57 A.M.. THEY HAVE A NEED FOR PERSONAL DOWN TIME, AND EVEN GODLY COUNSEL WHEN THEIR OWN LIVES BEGIN TO CONSUME THEM. THEY SUFFER GREAT HURT WHEN THEIR OFFSPRING DEFY THEM, ACT LIKE THEY ARE SEMI-PSYCHOTIC AND HORMONING OUT OF CONTROL,AND GO AGAINST EVERY BIT OF RIGHTOUSNESS THEY HAVE INSTILLED IN THEM, AND THEY YET CHOOSE TO GET IN TROUBLE WITH THE LAW, CONSUME DRUGS, AND HAVE BABIES OUT OF WED-LOCK. THEY SUFFER ANGUISH ND DESPAIR WHEN ONE OF THEIR LOVED ONES PASSES ON, AND THEY DON'T ALWAYS WANT O BE STARING THE "SHEEP" IN THE FACE SINGING "IF YOU'RE HAPPY AND YOU KNOW IT CLAP YOUR HANDS"
! THEY HAVE MOOD SWINGS, BAD MOODS, SOMETIMEY" DAYS, AND LONELINESS, AND OFTEN, WISH THEY COULD TRUST SOMEBODY AS A RELIABLE, FAITFUL CONFIDANTE. PEOPLE OF GOD, UNDERSTAND THAT IT'S NOT EASY EXERCISING CONSTRAINT AS A LEADER, WHEN PEOPLE BECOME SO INSULTING, BELLIGERENT, AND SLANDEROUS, OR ACTUALLY, PHYSICALLY ACCOST YOU, KNOWING YOU ARE AN AMBASSADOR FOR CHRIST, AND HAVE TO MAINTAIN A STANDARD. WE ARE AWARE THAT THERE ARE A GREAT NUMBER OF "PASTORS NOT AFTER GOD'S HEART", THROUGH OUT THE BODY OF CHRIST, BUT THIS ISN'T ABOUT THEM,BUT THOSE WHO HAVE THE PASTORAL GRACE UPON THEIR LIVES WITH A SHEPHERD'S HEART , AND WHO WILL GENUINELY LEAVE THE "99", TO GO RESCUE THE "1". IT HAS TO BE DEVASTATING TO LABOR TO BUILD A MINSTRY UP UNTIL IT'S FLOURISHING, ONLY TO FIND THAT THERE;'VE BEEN "COVERT" MEETINGS, WHERE THEY WERE THE TOPIC, AND THE VOTE WAS TO "LET THEM GO".THERE IS A REMEDY TO PRESERVE THE STAMINA, LONGEVITY, AND PRODUCTIVITY OF THE SHEPHERDS, OR SET MEN OF THE HOUESHOLD OF FAITH, AND THAT IS, AND WILL ALWAYS BE "IF MY PEOPLE WHO ARE CALLED BY MY NAME, WOULD HUMBLE THEMSELVES AND PRAY, SEEK MY FACE, AND TURN FROM THEIR WICKED WAYS, (THEN) I WILL HEAR FROM HEAVEN, FORGIVE THEIR SIN, AND HEAL THEIR LAND. IT'S NOT ENOUGH , TO BAKE AN OCCASIONAL RED VELVET CAKE, SLIDE A "BENJAMIN" OR TWO IN A HALLMARK CARD, OR TREAT THEM TO A NEW ARMANI, OR A COUPLE OF PAIRS OF MANOALOS, FROM TIME TO TIME, BECAUSE THE BEST BLESSING YOU CAN BE TO ANY SHEPHERD IS TO CONSIDER AND "REMEBER" THEM IN DAILY INTERCESSION, SO THAT THEY CAN FINISH THEIR COURSES WITH JOY!