"Wanderlust"

Seen cattle die in winter,

And escape when it was warm,

With nothing there to hinder,

From a grazing, happy norm.

But just looks like they’ll do it,

If you don’t expect ‘em to,

And put a cowboy through it,

When he’s done all he can do.

To doctor ‘em and show ‘em care,

And make sure they’re all right,

Up and die or won’t stay there,

It’s just a rancher’s plight.

To try and keep ‘em all alive,

A-growin’, happy, fed,

Prayin’ that they all will thrive,

And stay on your home spread.

But then you get a call at night,

Your cows are out again,

You jump up and get dressed all right,

And toll ‘em all back in.

Except the one that got away,

That you might just have to rope,

And if you do and it’s okay,

It’s what you do to cope.

And we are like those cattle,

We have a wanderlust,

But God is in the saddle,

And with His grace He must,

Toll us, maybe rope us,

He’ll do whate’er it takes,

To send His love with no fuss,

‘Cause eternal are the stakes.

There in Jesus’ home range,

Is the place we need to be,

Accept His love and all change,

Then live eternally.

“But you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardina of your souls.” (1 Peter 2:25, NAS)

It is in our nature to stray away from the right path. It started int the Garden and has been our problem ever since. If God says don’t go there, we somehow don’t take it seriously and go anyway. If God says don’t do it, all too often we have to learn the hard way that He knew best. Some of us wander so far away we doubt there is any way back again. And if it were not for the Shepherd who seeks and saves, we’d never make it. He comes after us, and as my friend Tommy always says when he leads in prayer, He never gives up on us. Aren’t you glad God never gave up on you?

Lord, heal our wandering hearts, in Jesus’ name.

Art by Bruce Greene, used by permission. Thanks, Bruce, and God bless you.