Reminders: Followers

Two little boys in kindergarten were walking to school.  One of them noticed that a lady and a little girl had been following them.  He turned to his companion and asked, “Do you know who those people are?”  The other boy replied, “Yes! I think I do.  Last night when my mom was tucking me in, and we said our prayers and the 23^rd Psalm, it hit me.  We said that, “Shirley Goodnest and Marcy shall follow me all the days of my life.”  I guess that means they’ll be following us for the rest of our lives.”

“Surely, goodness and mercy…” can follow us all the days of our lives, but first we need to do what the Psalmist David did––recognize Jesus as his “Shepherd”.  Becoming a follower of Jesus is the first step in finding the peace and security that only He can give.

The 23^rd Psalm can be of great comfort in times of trouble, and that is one reason we encourage our children to memorize it.  Some people have other ways of reminding themselves that God is always with them.  A woman, whose deathbed I attended, had been humming the tunes to hymns.  One day she suddenly stopped humming and said out loud, “Oh, I guess I don’t remember the words to that one.”  Obviously, she had been silently saying the hymn lyrics to herself as she hummed.

We all need reminders that God is with us in times of stress.  For some it is a Bible verse they memorized at some point.  For others it is a prayer.  Some of us might think that memorized prayers tend to be said by rote, and thus become meaningless.  And there might be some truth to that, since saying something we don’t have to think about allows our minds to wander.  But in times of trauma, it may be the only thing that we can bring to mind.  Such things may take on entirely new meanings. They can remind us that as followers of the Good Shepherd Jesus, He will be with us, even in, “the shadow of death.”  Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12