Posted on 03/24/2005 5:06:56 PM PST by Paul Ciniraj
Jeff Smith, also known as The Frugal Gourmet, was a Methodist chaplain at a small college near Seattle. He tells the story of driving one day across the eastern part of Washington State. He was forced to stop when a large herd of sheep was being shepherded across the road. As he waited, watching the sheep, the phrase "Lamb of God" drifted through his mind. Seized with the notion, he leapt from his car and bounded up to the shepherd and asked, "What does "Lamb of God" mean to you?
The shepherd was initially startled by the abrupt question from this total stranger, but sensing a level of sincerity, he looked at Jeff squarely in the eye and answered, "I know exactly what 'Lamb of God' means."
"Each year at the lambing time, there are lambs and ewes which do not make it. A ewe whose lamb has died is filled with milk, but will not nourish any other lamb she does not recognize as her own. An orphaned lamb could starve because no ewe will accept and nourish it. So the shepherd takes the dead lamb, slits its throat, and pours its blood over the body of the living lamb. Recognizing the blood, the ewe will now nurse, and save the orphaned lamb."
Through the gift of blood of the lamb who has died, the living lamb is recognized and restored to the fold, nourished and saved. We need to remember that we have been washed in the blood of the Lamb of God, JESUS. Our job at worship is to remember this gift and to give thanks. Our job as the church is to explain to people that Jesus offers continued life to each person.
"YOU ASK WHY I FOLLOW JESUS?"
You ask why I follow this Jesus?
Why I love Him the way I do?
When the world's turned away from His teachings
And the people who serve Him are few.
It's not the rewards I'm after,
Or gifts that I hope to receive.
It's the Presence that calls for commitment
It's the Spirit I trust and believe.
The Lord doesn't shelter His faithful,
Or spare them all suffering and pain,
Like everyone else I have burdens,
And walk through my share of rain.
Yet He gives me a plan and a purpose,
And that joy only Christians have known,
I never know what comes tomorrow,
But I do know I'm never alone.
It's the love always there when you need it.
It's the words that redeem and inspire,
It's the longing to ever be with Him,
That burns in my heart like a fire.
So you ask why I love my Lord Jesus?
Well, friend, that's so easy to see,
But the one thing that fills me with wonder IS?
Why Jesus loves someone like me.
But in 1997, seven men filed a lawsuit alleging they had been sexually abused by Jeff Smith as youths. Six said the abuse occurred while they worked for him at the Chaplain’s Pantry, a restaurant he operated in Tacoma in the 1970s. The seventh alleged Smith abused him after picking him up as a hitchhiker in 1992.
Smith was soon off the air.
Smith denied the allegations and was never charged with a crime. He and his insurance companies paid an undisclosed sum to settle the lawsuit.
Sorry. I didn't know this. If so I wouldn't have post it.
It's okay, God uses us sinners. Just that I have a tendency to shut my ears to certain sinners.
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