Feed My Sheep

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my lambs." A second time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Tend my sheep." He said to him the third time, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, "Do you love me?" And he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep. Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go." (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, "Follow me." John 21:15-19

Feed My Sheep

They are always in need of a shepherd
always getting lost, always stumbling
climbing the mesa sharp ridge
we must risk it all to bring them home.

They will always be in need of direction
on the dusty roads linking small towns
on the reeking inner city streets and croners
we must offer all we have to bring them home.

They will always be in need of a shepherd
when we are locked away under house arrest
others will have to lead them out to pasture
others will have to lead them to God's love.

We will always need shepherds to guide the faint
always need apostles and witnesses to God's love
always needing missionaries to go into the darkness
bringing the lost and misguided back to God's arms.