T'was a sheep, not a lamb that went astray

In the parable Jesus told.

A full-grown sheep that wandered away

From the ninety and nine in the fold.

Out on the hillside, out in the cold,

T'was a sheep the good shepherd sought.

And back to the flock, safe into the fold,

T'was a sheep the good shepherd brought.

And why for the sheep should we earnestly plead,

And as earnestly seek and pray?

If the sheep go wrong, it won't be long

Till the lambs are as wrong as they.

For the lambs will follow the sheep, you know,

Wherever the sheep may stray.

If the sheep are lost, what a terrible cost

Some lambs will have to pay!

-- (bygrace@thru.faith), September 06, 2000

Answers

Bygrace,

Thank you for the *very* timely posting. I surely needed that reminding today. Who says that miracles need to be earthshaking - you've just answered a prayer I asked this afternoon during a traffic incident when I was terribly angry over an injustice done to me. This poem sure does answer the question...

Thanks!

-- Deb M. (vmcclell@columbus.rr.com), September 06, 2000.

bygrace, I liked this. Don't know why, I just did (it wasn't for the religious message; I think it's a more universal message). But I try not to question things I like if I don't understand why. I just kind of "go with it".

(Deb, if you don't mind my saying so, you don't have a whole lot of luck when it comes to automotive vehicles, do you? I empathize, believe me! Hang in there.)

-- Patricia (PatriciaS@lasvegas.com), September 06, 2000.

Patricia,

Thanks for the well-wishes, they are much appreciated. Turning lemons into lemonade as we speak...

-- Deb M. (vmcclell@columbus.rr.com), September 07, 2000.

Patricia,

You are somewhat lucky that you haven't had to drive where Deb and I do. All of our major roadways are under construction. Worse, some of them are down to one lane, surrounded by high concrete traffic barriors. It's not unlike driving in a roofless tunnel, and these sections can go on for miles. There is no shoulder to speak of, so if a vehicle can no longer go for whatever reason, traffic behind it can easily back up for miles, and there's nowhere to go!

Add to this mess the number of drivers who are on short fuses for one reason or another, and you can see the potential for problems.

Up where Deb lives, the evening traffic can back up on both the freeway exits and country roads, making what's normally a 15-minute communite into a 45-minute nightmare of stop and go, and "marginal" engines/brakes are stretched to the limit.

All this road work is supposed to be completed by next year. Yeah, right.

-- (kb8um8@yahoo.com), September 07, 2000.

kb8, believe me, I understand. I lived in NYC until March of this year. They had potholes that could literally swallow trucks.

Now I live in LV. And there's CONSTANT construction. At the rate they get things "done" (and I use that term loosely), I swear they hired the construction guys from NYC.

According to my SO, the freeways here have been "under construction" since he moved here over eight years ago. He said there hasn't been any noticeable progress. That's when I figured they hired the construction crews from NYC where it takes them four years to re-pave one city block. (Meanwhile, in NJ, they can tear up and re-pave four miles of the NJ Turnpike in a long weekend.)

No exaggeration.

Like I said, hang in there :-)

-- Patricia (PatriciaS@lasvegas.com), September 07, 2000.

Can you tell me anywhere in the U. S. that doesn't have highway construction going on right now. In our area (tourist) we have had construction of more and more dual lanes for the past seven years. It barely keeps up with the increasing amount of cars. The bridge is also being torn down while a new larger one is being built.

Patricia, I will say this, the construction is really moving along here, but there's so many miles to cover that it has taken forever. Also, we are the fastest growing country in the state, damn it!

I remember going into St. Louis when I was 17, and the highways were under construction. I'm now a senior citizen and they have been building the entire time. The city has just sprawled out, gobbling up little towns as it goes in all directions.

Some of my senior friends won't even drive there anymore on account of the traffic, detours, general confusion and fear of getting lost. Hell, it's gonna' take a lot more than that to keep me from driving in St. Louis, and K.C.! I may get lost, but I'm Not a sheep, and don't need, nor want a shepherd, (undoubtedly male). And I certainly hope my child has the gumption to find his way home if he wants to.

If you're wondering why I came on here, I was wondering if this was the same old sheep story my granny used to tell me, when she thought my indoctrination was wearing a little thin. It's pretty close, but with a more "child friendly," message this go around. I kind of miss the bloody part about the lamb being gobbled up by the wolf, because of the lost ewe. Sheep aren't very smart, you know.

-- gilda (jess@listbot.com), September 07, 2000.

Response to Response to The Lost Sheep

I don't really have an answer, but I was talking to a friend of mine, and he was describing a movie that he had seen once about a world gone crazy with traffic, where there was construction constantly. Building where knocked down regularly to make space for more lanes of traffic. The main characters office was right beside a highway where he would watch traffic go by. One day they took five feet off one side of his office to make the highway just that much bigger.

There where also so many cars in the world that even the most minor of driving offenses would cause a big crane to grab your car right off the highway, and your licsense would be revoked and your car siezed.

Acutually come to think of it I believe was a book not a movie, and due to a short attention span of mine, well its title is lost forever. Damn. Well just thought I would chip in as I wondered thru.

-- The Walruss (Idontthinkso@someplace.org), January 03, 2001.

You're welcome. I never cease to be amazed at how God answers prayer.

-- (bygrace@thru.faith), September 07, 2000.

If you're wondering why I came on here, I was wondering if this was the same old sheep story my granny used to tell me, when she thought my indoctrination was wearing a little thin. It's pretty close, but with a more "child friendly," message this go around. I kind of miss the bloody part about the lamb being gobbled up by the wolf, because of the lost ewe. Sheep aren't very smart, you know.

-- gilda (jess@listbot.com), September 07, 2000.

---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- Must you always find a way to ruin a thread? Perhaps that is why you came on here. Did it ever dawn on you that perhaps alot of people are sick of hearing your poor sob stories about indoctrination along with your chronic sarcasim. So do tell just how bad was it you old hag?

-- (Just@curious.critic), September 07, 2000.

Leave Gilda alone. She has a right to express her opinion. Any thread that gets ruined when one person posts a contradicting opinion probably isn't that great to begin with.

Personally, I've never heard the story you mentioned Gilda, so I didn't even think of it, though it sounds like a Christian version of Little Red Riding Hood. When I read this poem, I was reminded of how much anti-choicers value children over adults. Maybe this is why so many of them are anti-choice and pro-death penalty.

-- Tarzan the Ape Man (tarzan@swingingthroughthejunglewithouta.net), September 07, 2000.