our flocks

Care for the flock that God has entrusted to you.

Watch over it willingly,

     not grudgingly,

     not for what you will get out of it,

     but because you are eager to serve God.

1 Peter 5:2



...flock...

God gives us people to look out for.

And as the years pass, that "flock", that group of people changes, as they move in & out of our lives.

Too many times we think that the only people with "flocks" are preachers / ministers.

But we all have flocks- people God has purposefully brought into our lives to influence & impact.


I don't remember who it was early on in my adult life who once said to me something I've carried with me since...

     "God often doesn't permit us to choose to whom we minister...

     "...nor does He often allow us to choose who ministers to us."


I see many people (myself included) who have missed opportunities of influencing people because we think ministry only happens at a church, with a minister, &/or in a healthy sized group.


I doesn't matter where God has put us...

     in a cubicle at Geico,

     building houses,

     doing shift work in manufacturing,

     or living quietly in semi-retirement in a mountain community...

God will & does bring people into our lives to whom we have a set task of caring for, influencing, & impacting in ways that only we can.


Perhaps we should look around this week at the people who move in & out of our lives, & look for opportunities to be Jesus to those people.