The Young Shepherd

The Young Shepherd

The cold wind cut right through his clothes. The blowing sand half-blinded his eyes. But a lamb was lost. Hosteen had to find it! The clouds got darker and darker over the mountains. Lightning flashed across the sky, followed by loud bursts of thunder. He wished he was home, but a Navajo shepherd never forsakes a lost sheep. He plunged on through the storm, straining to see or hear the lamb.

Suddenly, in the distance, he heard it! He struggled toward the sound, and found the lost sheep caught in some quicksand. He needed all his strength and skill to rescue it from certain death. At last Hosteen fought his way up the sandy bank with the shivering lamb in his arms. He put it under his coat. He had to keep it warm or it would die. Two hours later—cold, wet and exhausted—he reached his hut. As the young shepherd dried the lamb, it soon fell asleep. Its troubles were over.

Isn’t it amazing what a shepherd boy will do for a lost and helpless animal? He loved that lost sheep, so he risked his life for it. It had belonged to him before it was lost, but now it was “twice his.”

Months later, Hosteen heard a missionary talking about God. What funny ideas these missionaries have, he thought! Then he heard him describe a God who looks for lost sinners the same way a good shepherd looks for lost sheep.

“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing”(Luke 15:4-5).

The shepherd boy leaned forward to listen. He remembered facing the wind and rain to save his lost lamb. He, too, felt the joy of rescuing that helpless sheep from certain death in the quicksand.

The missionary said: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity (sin) of us all” (Isaiah 53:6). The missionary went on to explain that God’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, came into the world not only to find lost sheep, but also to save them by giving His own life for them.

Hosteen always thought that God was too strange to understand. But this story of such love—how easy to understand and how good to hear. Could it possibly be true? It must be!

At that moment, the little shepherd believed that he was that lost sheep, and the Lord Jesus Christ was his Savior and Good Shepherd. He believed the Bible, and was glad to know that God took away his sins and made a place for him in heaven.

The Bible says: “The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). Jesus Himself said: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep” (John 10:11).

Do you see yourself as that lost lamb? Do you wish that the Lord Jesus Christ would find you? He will, if you will cry out to Him right now: “Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner. I need to be saved from sin and hell. I want Your wonderful forgiveness, and I want to spend eternity with you in heaven. I trust you as my Savior.”

Jesus hears you pray, no matter where you are. If you really mean these words, you can be sure you belong to Jesus.