[Membersandfriends] Friday, October 15, 2004

Thu Oct 14 22:01:48 PDT 2004

The Upper Room Daily Devotional -- E-mail Edition
Brought to You by Upper Room Ministries
Friday, October 15, 2004

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Making a Difference

By making available any of The Upper Room's all-ages family of magazines to nursing homes, hospitals, or your church, you'll help others grow in faith. Under this group order arrangement, you can give 10 or more copies of each issue for 50% off the cover prices.  To learn more about these "Standing Orders," visit:
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WITHOUT A SHEPHERD
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Mark 6:34-42 (NRSV)

As [Jesus] went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. When it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, "This is a deserted place, and the hour is now very late; send them away so that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy something for themselves to eat." But he answered them, "You give them something to eat." They said to him, "Are we to go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread, and give it to them to eat?" And he said to them, "How many loaves have you? Go and see." When they had found out, they said, "Five, and two fish." Then he ordered them to get all the people to sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and he divided the two fish among them all. And all ate and were filled.

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When Jesus . . . saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.
-- Mark 6:34 (NIV)
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IN the past, flocks of sheep would travel past our home in the foothills of Colorado.  Many of them were driven by men on horseback.  They used barking dogs and noisemakers to keep the sheep moving.  The herders were hired to move the flock from place to place, but they were not shepherds.  My wife repeatedly had to run into the yard to protect her flowers and bushes from the animals that invariably became separated from the others.  They seemed to revel in destroying domestic plant life.  They were "sheep without a shepherd."

Jesus had compassion on folk who were like sheep without a shepherd.  While the disciples wanted to send them away, our Lord asked them to sit down while he ministered to them.

Today we are often distracted by forces outside us that move us off the path.  Daily needs can overwhelm us.  We are like sheep without a shepherd.  And Christ still welcomes us to come to him in prayer and Bible study so that we may find direction and be fed.

Prayer:  Dear God, help us to find the security that comes when we are fed by the shepherd.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
How have I experienced God's guidance and provision?

-- Marshall Eugene Schirer (Kansas, U.S.A.)

PRAYER FOCUS: Ranchers and shepherds

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RELATED READING ...

Feeling distracted? David Griebner's THE CARPENTER AND THE UNBUILDER is a book of modern-day parables about the spiritual journey. Griebner shows some of the ways in which we are distracted and the ways in which we continue the journey of faith.
http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/desc.asp?ep_id=30&item_id=12507

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The scripture quotation is from the NEW REVISED STANDARD VERSION of the Bible, copyright (c) 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.