Bob White

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ehind Shady Grove Baptist Church, just south of my hometown of Cherryville, NC there is a large tract of land.  When I was a small boy, my great uncle, Stowe Carpenter, owned the land and let my dad use it to plant a garden.  Uncle Stowe eventually sold the land but every time I pass by Shady Grove Baptist Church, I remember that garden and the wonderful lesson I learned there about a type of bird called a Bob White!

Daddy had an old dump truck that we affectionately called the “Bump Bump Truck” due to the incredibly smooth (I’m kidding here) ride it gave.  Actually, the truck jostled you to and fro and you felt as if you had been involved in a boxing match rather than taking a leisurely ride in the country.  We would take the Bump Bump Truck out to the garden, hitting every pot hole and bump in the long dirt road that led to it.  Once there, daddy unloaded whatever tools he needed to tend to the garden and I watched and played at the edge of the wooded lot that surrounded us.

Now, when you’re five or six years old, there’s not much you can do in a garden and there’s not much to capture and hold your attention.  I soon grew tired of throwing dirt clods, kicking sticks, and chasing butterflies.  But one thing I never grew tired of was the chirping of birds in the surrounding trees.  They were everywhere and their voices blended like the instruments of a finely tuned orchestra. 

Of all the different bird songs I heard that day, there was one that was very distinct.  Instead of a song, this bird’s chirp sounded more like someone’s name.  My dad told me the bird was called a Bob White and that if I listened carefully I would hear another Bob White answer the call.  Sure enough, after a few seconds another Bob White, a few hundred yards deeper in the woods, answered back with its own call.  I was mesmerized as I stood and listened to these two birds answer each other. 

My dad joined in the conversation with a whistle that sounded like the Bob White’s call.  Soon the birds were answering him and moving ever closer to where we were.  He taught me to make the bird call and pretty soon, they were answering me!!  However, if the call changed or if I made a different sound, the birds would not answer and would fly away. The Bob White would only respond to one of its own kind; never to a strange call.

Jesus makes this same point in reference to those who follow him.  Jesus speaks of himself as the good shepherd who cares for his sheep.  He makes a distinction between the shepherd and the hired man whose only concern for the sheep is based on the salary he receives from tending them.  But the sheep don’t belong to the hired man and they do not listen to him. 

Sheep respond only to the voice of their particular shepherd and they will not follow another.  If several flocks of sheep are banded together, the shepherd can always find his sheep because they will respond only to his voice. There is a relationship between the shepherd and the sheep that is unique and special.  The sheep look to the shepherd for everything they need.  He feeds them, he waters them, he tends to their wounds, he gives them rest, he protects them from predators, and he searches for them when they are lost. The sheep know that as long as they remain with the shepherd, they are safe.  They do not worry but follow him wherever he leads them, following him anywhere, at anytime, no matter what.

In John 10:5, Jesus describes this special relationship between shepherd and sheep. “But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice."  Jesus wanted his followers to understand that he was the good shepherd. It was his voice the sheep recognized. It was his hand that led them to pasture and to water.  It was he who protected them from harm and it was he who comforted and tended them when they were wounded.

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ne afternoon, I left the apartment where I was living and heard a Bob White chirping somewhere in a tree close by.  I stopped for a few minutes to answer him and he responded.  It was a wonderful reminder of the lesson my dad taught me so many years ago.  The bird answered me because it recognized my call.  In the same way, we can be assured that God hears us when we call Him.  He knows our voices and as His children He will answer us.  We know His voice and He knows ours.  When we call He answers and when He calls we have the assurance that He takes great interest in us because we belong to Him.  Are you listening to the shepherd’s voice?  Are you walking with him today?