Brownson Properties, 96 W 15th Street, Ste 104, Holland, MI (2026)

06/06/2026

*Pictures of some of the participants in the Summer Institute Retreat.

¡Hola! Hello!

¡Esperamos verlos en el campus del Western Theological Seminary esta semana para el Retiro del Instituto de Verano de 2026!

We are looking forward to seeing you on the Western Theological Seminary campus this week for the 2026 Summer Institute Retreat!

Last night, and all day today I will be “bilingualing”, at the Summer Institute Retreat. I have much to learn from the Spanish speaking church community here in Holland and around the world…particularly about the Holy Spirit.

Reading through the Bible…II Chronicles 25-27/John 16

So let me say it again, this truth: It’s better for you that I leave. (John 16:7)

It’s better for you (and me) that I leave this morning and learn, rather than write…Feel free, however, to teach me in the comments below. Why do you think it is better that Jesus leaves and leaves the Holy Spirit with us?

Bendiciones,

Jonathan

06/05/2026

*Andrew Scott stars as James Stagg in the Movie Pressure.
Alex Bailey/Focus Features

Last night I watch the new movie Pressure. It tells the story of the day D-Day gets Delayed. Today marks the anniversary of that day.

Reading through the Bible…II Chronicles 23-24/John 15

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. (John 15:13)

Jesus, in today’s verse, anticipates His own D-Day, the day on which He will lay down His life. Jesus describes a day when He will not only sacrifice His life for His friends. He will give His life for us all.

The Gospels give us four eye witness accounts of what Jesus is feeling and doing just days before He will sacrifice His life. The movie Pressure, seeks to do something similar today.

Writing…

Pressure looks at the life, not of the Son of Man, but of a weather man. Is there any other movie made which profiles the life of a meterologist?

In Pressure, we see a day in the life, perhaps more accurately a weekend and a day, in the life of Dr. James Stagg. He is a Royal Air Force Chief Meteorological Officer, portrayed in the movie by Andrew Scott.

Stagg anticipates not the day that he will lay his life down, but the day when the allied troops will. He is in charge of a team who must predict what the weather will be like on that D-Day.

Stagg trains to study atmospheric Pressure. He knows that falling pressure typically indicates the approach of stormy or rainy weather, while rising pressure signals clear, fair, and calm weather.

In the movie, and in history, however, Stagg faces a different kind of pressure. He must decide whether the allied forces should attack on June 5th, 1944. Based on data, like the barometric pressure and other gathered information, Stagg takes on the political pressure of advising Eisenhower to Delay D-day, to postpone the invasion of Normandy.

*See pictures of me on Omaha beach and Jeannette at the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, France

Building…

In July of 2015, Jeannette and I visit the Omaha Beach and the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, France. The cemetery serves as the final resting place for 9,389 U.S. military dead, most of whom lose their lives during the D-Day landings and the subsequent liberation of Europe in World War II.

There is a greater love which inspires the allied troops to lay down their lives for those who are being killed by Hi**er and his henchmen. There is a greater science which tells them when to do it.

Based on data gathered by scientists like Stagg, Eisenhower delays the invasion one day, from June 5th to June 6th. When later asked why the D-Day invasion had been so successful, General Dwight D. Eisenhower famously answers: “Because we had better meteorologists than the Germans!”

I would simply add, because they listened to their better meterorologists.

There is a scene in Pressure where Eisenhower and other military officials are worshipping in a small church on Sunday. Stagg stands outside the church. The scientist stands alone studying nature. Christians stand together calling out to God.

I don’t know if the picture is true to history. It does, however, seem true our experience today. Scientists seem increasingly isolated, oftentimes by people who claim to do so for religious reasons.

In a subsequent scene, however, Stagg stands in the “situation room” together with many of those who had been inside the church. Thousands of troops and equipment have been mobilized. There is great danger in delaying, both to the troops and to the mission.

Still, military leader of the Normandy Invasion and future President Dwight David Eisenhower turns to Stagg. “What should we do?” He asks. The man who worships a God that he can’t explain, listens to the man who studies data that he can.

Based on information that he has acquired, Stagg recommends they postpone the invasion. Then, Eisenhower commands it.

On this anniversary of what would have been D-Day, they Delay for a day.

Pressure is a movie about a military leader and future President who not only appeals to God, but who also listens to the scientists.

Would that it were a movie about our present administration.

“And let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.” Eisenhower on the Delayed Day of the Invasion…June 6th, 1944

06/04/2026

Newark Pastor protesting then praying with an ice agent at Delaney Hall, the for-profit detention facility in Newark, NJ

How can these two people claim the same Bible yet act in very different ways?

It might have something to do with the RED and the READ Letters.

Reading through the Bible: 2 Chronicles 21-22/John 14

If anyone loves me, he will carefully keep my word…Not loving me means not keeping my words. (John 14:23)

Jesus, in our RED reading for today, asks His disciples to τηρέω His word. The Greek word Téreó translates as to keep, guard, observe, or watch over.

Jesus doesn’t force his followers to keep His words. He doesn’t pay to publish. Jesus knows that if His followers love Him, they will listen to and live out His word.

Turns out, He’s right.

The disciples preserve Jesus’ words in the New Testament. They write down much of what they can remember that He tells them. Again, it’s not because they have to, but because they want to. Jesus captures their hearts before He engages their minds.

Jesus’ followers write down what He says. More than that, they live out the life to which He calls them. Jesus incarnates God’s word to them. They incarnate Jesus’ words to others.

Writing…

Perhaps, this explains the ICE agent and the pastor in our photo? Perhaps, people who claim the same Bible act in different ways because they are reading different verses in that Bible.

Perhaps, some of us are RED Letter Christians and some of us are MAGA Christians.

The movement which adopts the name RED Letter Christians (RLC) begins in 2007 as a community of Christian authors and speakers who focus on the RED Letters of a RED Letter edition of the Bible. RED letter Bibles, print in RED all the recorded words of Jesus in the New Testament.

In December 2010, co-founders Tony Campolo and Shane Claiborne launch a Red Letter Christian blog which focuses on Jesus’ words and promotes RED Letter living…

https://redletterchristians.org/about-us/our-mission-our-story/

It is from that blog that I capture the picture of the Pastor and the ICE agent.

MAGA Christians, on the other hand, focus on different verses in the Bible than RED Letter Christians do. Rather than highlighting what Jesus personally says in the New Testament, they tend to focus on what the political nation of Israel experiences in the Old Testament.

One example might illustrate.

In his recorded reading from the Bible on Capital Hill, our President highlights Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the Temple (II Chronicles 6:12-7:22). It’s no accident that the one who would be King of the United States, and build his own East Wing Temple, reads the words of the one who is the King of Israel’s United Kingdom.

MAGA quotes King Solomon who builds a kingdom on earth. RLC quotes King Jesus who informs His followers in John 18:36 that His kingdom is NOT of this world, but of Heaven.

Ironically, Google tells me that Trump’s $59.99 Bible is a RED letter edition of the King James Version of the Bible. What’s up with that?

Maybe those who buy the Bible notice the KING James version, but assume that the RED letters are “edit outs” from the publisher, meant to be ignored, rather than followed.

Building…

I don’t know, but you probably do. You probably know by now that I am an unofficial member of the RED Letter club. I love Jesus. I want to keep His words in my heart and incarnate them in my life.

I realize, however, that there are limitations to a RED letter approach to the Bible. I’m not suggesting that we take any words, including those attributed to Jesus, out of their biblical and historical context.

Still, I wonder what might happen if more of us who call ourselves Christians, and even those who don’t, read the RED.

06/03/2026

Jeannette and me visiting relatives in Charlottesville, VA on 9-10-17, one month after the “Unite the Right” Rally

Reading through the Bible…2 Chronicles 19-20/John 13:21-38

“Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.” (John 13:34-35)

Love is not new for the disciples. What’s new is for them to love each other the way Jesus loves them. What’s new is the shift from heirarchy to community. What’s new is the shift from authority to humility. What’s new is how people will recognize them.

The Passover meal had been celebrated for years among the Jews. It recounts a time in history when God’s judgment passes over God’s people. What’s new in Jesus, is not just God’s judgment passing over. It is God’s grace bending down to wash our feet.

Jesus’ new command comes on the heals of His new foot washing addition to the passover celebration. Jesus is God getting God’s hands dirty. Jesus is the Son of God coming not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45)

Jesus serves His followers. Then, Jesus tells his followers to reciprocate, to allélón ἀλλήλων. To do for each other what He has done for them. Jesus wants His followers to be distinguished by their love for each other.

This is not the only reciprocal command which will characterize the early church. It is, however, intended to be the most visible.

Writing…

A friend of mine, who is white, just got back from visiting overseas in Southern Brazil. Many citizens there are white skinned and my friend had learned some phrases in Portugese.

A few days into their visit, he turned to his wife (who is from Brazil) and asked, “Do you think people here know that I am an American?” She, responded with a smile. “They knew you were an American as soon as you stepped off the plane.”

I wonder, in the days ahead, how will people from other countries recognize that we live in America? I wonder how might people even be able to recognize the state and city in which we live…

I grow up knowing from license plates that “Virginia is for Lovers” (a slogan coined in 1969). On my trip to Charlottesville with Jeannette, however, I also discover something about one of their cities. We discover that Charlottesville, VA still , even and especially after some there “Unite for Hate”.

When did we become red states and blue states, rather than the United States? When did our cities start uniting in hate, rather than standing for love?

Building…

On our visit to Charlottesville, Jeannette and I put ourselves in the “O” of the sign LOVE. Can you recognize us?

I hope so…

The word is bigger than we are. Still, we find our place in it.

Will you?

Will others recognize you in the word LOVE?

I hope so…

06/02/2026

You are loved…right to the end.

Reading through the Bible…II Chronicles 17-18/John 13:1-20

Just before the Passover Feast, Jesus knew that the time had come to leave this world to go to the Father. Having loved his dear companions, he continued to love them right to the end. (John 13:1)

Jesus loves me this I know. So goes the children’s song. Still, how do we know that we are included? What does that look like? How can we be sure it will last?

Our reading today tells us that Jesus loves His dear companions. It makes sense that He would love them. How do we know that we are on the guest list?

We know because Jesus knows…about Judas. Jesus knows that Judas will soon betray Him. Still, Judas gets included.

Not only does Judas get invited to the meal. Judas gets his feet washed before the meal. Jesus tells His disciples, including Judas, that He loves them. Better yet, He shows them.

Jesus models what it looks like to love dear companions. He models what it looks like to love enemies too.

Love washes the feet of friend and foe. Jesus knows that the Father had put all things under his power. He doesn’t have to wash Judas’ feet. He chooses to wash his feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. (John 13:15)

Jesus knows that foot washing is not a traditional part of Jewish celebration of Passover. It is an over and above gesture of love and kindness towards His enemy.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor[a] and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,you have heard that it was said”. (Matthew 5:43-44)

How do I know that Jesus loves me? It’s because He loves Judas.

Writing…

How do I know what that love looks like?

In our regular protests of the policies of the present administration, one person will sometimes start a chant:

“Tell me what Democracy looks like…”

Then the rest of the group will respond:

“This is what Democracy looks like…”

Jesus in washing His disciples feet, including Judas’, says in effect:

“Tell me what love looks like…”

His disciples then respond in their service to one another daily:

“This is what love looks like…”

Building…

How do I know that Jesus’ sacrificial love for all of us will last?

Tonight, I will officiate a wedding between Luke Honderd and Adel Esther Bird. It will be a small, informal back yard celebration.

Luke, along with his family, host Jeannette and I, with our significan others in Paris, France in July of 2015. We travel there to renew of our vows on our thirty fifth anniversary.

Luke witnesses me saying these words to Jeannette in 2015, thirty five years after I first say them:

"I, Jonathan take you, Jeannette, to be my wedded wife,
To have and to hold from this day forward;
For better for worse, for richer for poorer,
In sickness and in health,
To love, cherish…
From this time forth and forevermore”

Luke is one of my witnesses in 2015. I will be one of his witnesses tonight. He will say the same words to his pheoncee Adel that I say, years before, to Jeannette.

How do we know if love will last?

We don’t I guess. We can only believe it, promise it and then by God’s grace live into it, from this time forth and forevermore.

06/01/2026

*Picture of my late wife Jeannette and one of the neighbor kids on Halloween October 31, 2011

Why does the woman in this picture, and the Church named behind her, have to die?

Read through the Bible…II Chronicles 13-16/John 12

*Amen, Amen…Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you’ll have it forever, real and eternal. (John 12:24-25)

Jesus speaks not of the death of a church, but of His own death. It is no small matter. He will endure unimaginable suffering and shame. He will face that suffering entirely alone with accusers calling for His death and all of his followers silent in his defense.

Still, Jesus can see beyond his cruel death on a cross. He knows that His death will not be meaningless. He understands that He is a metaphorical seed in the purposes of God.

A buried seed can grow into a single plant that sprouts several stalks (called tillers), with each stalk producing a head containing roughly (30) to (50) grains. [1, 2, 3]

Jesus places His body, like a grain of wheat, in the hands of His Heavenly Father. The Father, out of love for the world, splits the seed up on a cross. Then God buries Him in a tomb.

Jesus must die (as all humans will). However, in His death He produces multiplied fruit. He must die before He is raised in glory.

Writing…

One day my new next door neighbor tells me, “I think God wants me to start a church in this neighborhood.”

I tell him, “Ben, there is already a church here (Fourth Reformed) and I’m the Pastor”

My conversation with Ben, half my age at the time, doesn’t end. The Church I pastor, however, soon does.

Why does Fourth Reformed Church after living in the Westcore Neighborhood for over 100 years have to die? When Pastor Ben first speaks to me, Fourth Reformed Church is holding her own. We are worshipping with perhaps 60-80 folks. Still, I sense, along with Ben, that God might want to do more.

Ben comes on staff for a quarter time. Jeannette and I travel around the country one week a month doing volunteer prayer ministry for the Reformed Church in America.

After less than a year, however, it becomes clear that Fourth Reformed is not getting any younger. In fact, we are getting smaller. We have served the city well. Still, it becomes clear to me, though not as clear to some of our leadership, that we need to prepare for a funeral and I need to officiate.

Why does Fourth Reformed Church have to die? Perhaps, it is so that BLVD Church can live.

Several months after Fourth Reformed closes, the Holland Classis “sells” what some estimate as a two million dollar facility to BLVD Church for a dollar.

Fourth Reformed dies in church birth. BLVD Church grows. We worship now with two services and are making plans for a third onsite or satelite worship service in the Fall.

Building…

I know every individual congregation like Fourth will someday die. I know every person will too. Still, in the case of my late wife Jeannette, I still wonder about the why of the when. Maybe you have similar questions.

Jeannette and her mother both get diagnosed with metastatic pancreatic cancer at 64 years of age. Why then, I wonder, when they are looking forward to enjoying the fruits of their labors and the blessings of more time with family?

I don’t know the why of the when. I see only through a mirror dimly right now (I Corinthians 13:12).

The death of Fourth Reformed Church allows me to invest in the last four years of Jeannette’s life. Her real estate business thrives, inspite of a brutal chemotherapy regimen. In addition to standard of care treatment, Jeannette also endures four clinical trials which we believe may benefit those who follow her. Jeannette welcomes her first grandchild, writes a “Storyworth” book of her life and inspires countless members of her family and friends.

Still, I have some arguments with God about Jeannette. I think she could have been more God honoring alive than dead (Psalm 6:5). Personally, I know that I would be more fruitful were she still here…love, joy, peace, patience… (Galatians 5:22-23)

It may be providential that the church closes so I can spend more time with Jeannette for her treatments…Still, I don’t consider it providential that those treatments, along with the prayers and support of countless friends, did not lead to her healing.

Why a Church dies. I am starting to see it.

Why Jeannette? In some ways, that’s still Greeks to me (John 12:20-21)

05/29/2026

*Jeannette’s and my gravestone (along with our three children’s “amazing grace stones”)

Jeannette faces a choice after being diagnosed with metastatic pancreatic cancer. Will the rest of her days on earth be death denying or life giving?

I wonder if we all face the same choice…

Reading through the Bible…2 Chronicles 7-9/John 11:1-29

…then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea. ”But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?” (John 11:7-8)

After a Sabbath healing in John 5, the authorities seek to kill Jesus because He calls God his own Father.

At the Feast of Tabernacles in John 7 after Jesus goes to Jerusalem and teaches in the Temple, the crowd and authorities attempt to arrest him, but fail because his time had not yet come.

At the Feast of Dedication in John 10, after Jesus claims that He is one with the Father, the leaders in Judea pick up stones to stone him for blasphemy.

Jesus could understandably want to deny His own imminent death out of fear. He chooses, instead, to give life out of faith. He goes back to Judea, even though He knows that is where Lazarus has died and where Jesus soon will die as well.

The disciples think that Jesus is denying Lazarus’ death. Instead, Jesus is defying it. Rather than giving in to Lazarus’ demise, He chooses to give life to him, instead.

Why? You tell me.

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. (John 11:5)

Jesus’ love for Mary, Martha and Lazarus brings Him back to Judea, to Lazarus’ tomb. Jesus love for the rest of us brings Him all the way to the cross. He risks his life for Lazarus, He sacrifices His life for us…out of love.

Greater love has no man than this, that he would lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13).

Writing…

My late wife Jeannette endures four different clinical (read experimental) trials. She chooses them when other standard of care treatments are no longer effective in slowing down her cancer.

She chooses those trials not out of fear. She chooses experimental treatments out of love for us, her family. She wants more time with us.

She also chooses to endure grueling treatments out of love for others. She hopes that the treatments, even if they don’t give life to her, may perhaps give life to someone else in the future.

*She has that hope, as do all the amazing doctors who treat her at NIH. She does not, they do not, deny death. They simply seek to give life (when given the funding to be able to do that. Who knows? Maybe some of that billion dollars a day we are spending on fighting Iran could be redirected towards fighting cancer).

Building…

Jeannette finishes her last clinical trial, just a few days prior to her death. She is, in a clinical trial sense, potentially giving life to others up to the very point of her death.

I hope that the same will be said of me when I die.

My name is already written in gravestone. The date, however, remains to be inscribed. Right up until that day, which I do not deny will come. Right up until that day, I want to give my life for others while here on earth. I want to do so, in the hopes that the One who claims to be the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25), will grant life to me in Heaven.

I have a choice every day until I die, whether to deny my death out of fear or give life to others out of faith.

So do you…

05/28/2026

*Kilmar Abrego Garcia speaks during a rally and prayer vigil for him before he enters a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office on August 25, 2025 in Baltimore, Maryland.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

I wonder if King Solomon would be happy. I wonder if he would be pleased that last Friday a federal judge in Tennessee dismissed criminal charges against Kilmar Abrego García, an immigrant who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador.

Reading through the Bible…II Chronicles 4-6/John 10:24-42

And don’t forget the foreigner who is not a member of your people Israel but has come from a far country because of your reputation…Listen from your home in heaven and honor the prayers of the foreigner, So that people all over the world will know who you are and what you’re like, And live in reverent obedience before you, just as your own people Israel do….(II Chronicles 6:32-33)

King Solomon asks God to listen to his own prayers. He also asks God to Listen to the Prayers of the Foreigner.

The word translated as foreigner is No-kree from neker. It can mean foreign, non-relative, adulterous, different, wonderful, alien or even outlandish. Solomon uses the word here specifically to refer to those who come from a far country.

Solomon wants God to Listen to the Prayers of the Foreigner for God’s sake….So that people all over the world will know who you are and what you are like.

He also wants God to listen for Solomon’s sake, so that the inhabitants of his country will live in reverent obedience before you, just as your own people Israel do.

Solomon believes that if God Listens to the Prayers of the Foreigner it will be good for God and for Country.

Writing…

If Solomon were alive today, he might be happy for Kilmar Abrego Garcia. He might be pleased to see Kilmar come from the far country of El Salvador to the U.S. He might be enthused to see him participate in a prayer vigil on August 25, 2025. He might even be happy to hear that some of Kilmar’s prayers are answered last Friday.

The King of Israel might be glad about Kilmar. The President of the United States might not. What’s the difference?

I’m just speculating, and it’s just me, but I think that Solomon might be more concerned about God’s reputation with people all over the world, than the other guy. The King of Israel wants all people to know who God is and what God is like. He wants to Make God Great Again (MGGA if you are following along in your program)

Solomon prays to God for God. Solomon also prays to God for Solomon’s Country. Solomon believes that foreigners can and will live in his country in reverent obedience.

Maybe he knows what we know. Foreigners (read immigrants) tend to be more religious than citizens whose families have lived in the U.S. for years.

Data shows that immigrants in the U.S. are generally more likely to have a religious identity than the native-born population. While over a quarter of foreign-born adults identify as religiously unaffiliated, U.S. immigrants as a whole report higher rates of religious affiliation and hold a greater share of Christians, Muslims, and Jews than the American-born population (Religion News Service)

Solomon prays for foreigners, for the sake of God and Country. Solomon also prays with foreigners. He constructs in the Temple a special place for foreigners to pray.

Solomon makes room for non-Jews to pray in the Temple, kind of like Jesus makes room for foreigners when He clears out the money changers. Matthew 21:12-17,Mark 11:15-19,Luke 19:45-48,John 2:13 ...

I don’t remember Jesus saying…do you…that “My House will be a house of prayer…for U.S. citizens”. I think He said, “My house will be a house of prayer for (and with) ALL people.”

Building…

I don’t know about you, but I’m glad Solomon and Jesus make room for the foreigners in the Temple.

Why? Because I am one.

Unlike Solomon and Jesus, I am a non-Jewish person, I’m one of those foreigners for whom they advocate.

I’d like to believe that their prayers have helped, and continue to help, me know who God is. I’d like to think that partly because of their prayers, I now am able to live in reverent obedience to God.

What Solomon and Jesus do for me, I’d like to do for others…I’d like to bless God, and ask God to bless America, by Listening to the Prayers of the Foreigner.

I don’t know about a King or a President, but I think that might make God happy….

05/27/2026

I’ve earned some titles. Roughly 12 years of post graduate study will do that for you. M.Div. at WTS. Th.M at LSTC. D.Min back at WTS. I’ve Mastered Divinity and Theology. I’ve even Doctored up some Ministry.

I’ve earned some titles with my education. The title I treasure most, however, is one I’m still working on. It’s one that I would like you to work on too…

Reading through the Bible…2 Chronicles 4-6/John 10

A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of. “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd puts the sheep before himself, sacrifices himself if necessary. A hired man is not a real shepherd. The sheep mean nothing to him. He sees a wolf come and runs for it, leaving the sheep to be ravaged and scattered by the wolf. He’s only in it for the money. The sheep don’t matter to him. (John 10:-10-13)

Jesus self identifies, He ego eimies in John 10, as a Good Shepherd. This is just one of seven I AM statements that Jesus uses to describe His purpose and mission.

Jesus first contrasts Himself with a sheep stealer. Sheep stealers are not concerned with nurturing, only capturing and destroying.

Jesus is no Sheep stealer. Nor is he a hired hand. He’s not in it for the money. He is willing to sacrifice His own life to protect His sheep from wolves.

Writing…

People who call themselves Christians believe that we have a Good Shepherd in Jesus. We seem to have forgotten, however, our responsibility as undersheperds.

We seem to be substituting televangelists and influencers for undershepherds. Mega church leaders steal parishioners from small congregations which can’t afford big facilities and extensive staff. Small churches get smaller. Big screens get bigger.

We think that we get the leaders we pay for. We forget that we actually get the leaders for whom we pray. As a result we hire televangelists and influencers who are in it for the money and for whom us sheep don’t matter.

Us sheep need to listen more closely to voice of the Good Shepherd, so we can find the right leaders, rather than settling for sheep stealers and hired hands.

We need to find and follow good undershepherds. Better yet, we might need to fill that role ourselves.

Building…

My late wife Jeannette and I have a friend. Let’s call him Mario. He crosses the border from Mexico as a teenager some forty to fifty years ago now.

He is looking for a better life. He finds, instead, a less than better wife. His esposa is a citizen. Mario is not. After a few years of marriage and before Mario is able to gain his citizenship, she leaves him, taking almost everything he owns except a table cloth handmade by Mario’s mother.

Mario carries that table cloth with him for years as he travels up and down the country harvesting our food in farmers’ fields. Somehow, he ends up in Holland. Somehow, he becomes friends with mi esposa Jeannette.

At one Thanksgiving meal, years before Jeannette is diagnosed and later dies from pancreatic cancer, Mario gives my late wife that hand made tablecloth from his mother!

Mario calls me Pastor (the Spanish word for Shepherd). He gives the table cloth to Jeannette, however because, in the over ten years that Mario attends our church, Jeannette pastors him more than I do.

You may not have the same titles that I do. That doesn’t prevent you from doing what Jeannette does. There just may be a Mario out there who needs a Pastor, an undershepherd. That person just could be you. And…you just might get a cherished tablecloth out of the deal.

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