The Shepherd's Voice

There is a European legend about a shepherd who lived in the mountains with his daughter. When she was a little girl she loved to go out in the pasture with her father. She particularly got a thrill out of hearing him call the sheep with that loud distinctive shepherd’s call that would echo through the mountains. She grew up and moved to Glasgow. She wrote fewer and fewer times as she was away longer and began leading a very sinful life.
The father heard a rumor that his daughter was not living right. With a broken heart he went down into the streets of the city. They said that it was a real sight to see him in his shepherd’s outfit and a staff in the city going into all kinds of places looking for her. He just could not find her, but he refused to give up. He decided to call for her in his shepherd’s voice. He walked the streets calling out her name and in some dingy apartment, she faintly heard that call. She pushed her companion aside and went to the window and saw her father coming down the street. She ran down to meet him and they embraced and he took her back home.
Legend has it that on the mountainside there is a gravestone over the girl’s body that has etched on it one word: “forgiven!”
True shepherds know their sheep. True shepherds number their sheep. True shepherds go after their sheep when they have wandered away.
I pray for all the shepherds of the world that they will call for the lost sheep and be able to bring them home. God will rejoice if only one is found and brought back into the fold.