These short, heartfelt Minutes with Marlin deliver quick moments of wisdom, faith, humility, and encouragement… perfect for busy homestead days when we need a gentle reminder of what really matters.
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Transcripts
Marlin Miller:
How often do I overlook the simple truths all around me? I recently became a shepherd. I think we’re on our third or fourth year now, third year of having lambs with our little flock of maybe 10 or 11 ews. And I love it. And we also added some cows, but that’s not the point of this. It’s amazing to me how scientifically people have tried to prove that the sheep only respond to their shepherd. And I saw a video a couple years ago before we were shepherds, other people tried to call this guy’s flock and they would holler out for the sheep and they would look up and they would keep right on eating and grazing and playing and doing their thing. And then the shepherd called out. And in 10 seconds, the whole stinking flock is running down the hill, coming at him, and they are there in no time because they know him.
They trust him. They love him. They know him. They know their shepherd’s voice. Jesus used the imagery of a shepherd and the flock of sheep all the time. And when he’s talking about the 99 and the one, that shepherd leaves the 99 and goes after the one. And I am so glad that he does not say, “Ah, 95% is good enough,” but that he comes out and he hunts for that one. He wants every single one of us to know him and to follow him. I have read that passage many, many times. And I don’t think I’ve really thought about the fact that 99 sheep is a ton of sheep to leave to go find one. A minute of thinking, just a little bit of pondering will tell you how valuable that one sheep is to that shepherd. It could be maybe a three or four month old lamb who was a fuzz too curious and got lost.
It could be an old hardened ram that thinks he’s got it all figured out. And neither of those really know how dangerous the world is. A sheep is really not that smart. And just looking at the math very, very simply, obviously it’s a hundred sheep. You have one lamb or one ram, and you have a 1% issue. You have a 1% thing that means enough to our Lord, to our shepherd that he cares. I am so glad that he didn’t say, “Ah, 95% is good enough.”
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