Hippies ... someone the Shepherd brought home.

Carl Ketcherside served with and was instrumental in a strict branch of the Restoration Movement. However, the Lord made a lot of changes in his life. In his later years he moved to St. Louis and ministered among the down and out. At this time, Ketcherside began to work with a group of teenagers he described as "a crew of ripped off long haired kids," with a history of drug addiction. He loved them, listened to them, and one by one baptized them into Christ.

An affluent member of the church asked, "How are you making out with the hippies--those long haired, sad looking specimens you have been meeting with?"

Carl responded, "Those are not specimens, they are children of God. You are talking about my brethren in the Lord."

Condescendingly the other man continued, "They look to me like something the cat dragged in."

And Carl replied, "They look to me like someone the shepherd brought home."

At one time in your life … you were the one that cat dragged home and Jesus stepped in and reached out to you and brought a change and a brighter future. You look someone the shepherd brought home…

Ephesians 2:10 states it this way, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” The question becomes … what are you doing for God? If I were a non-believer looking at your life, would I want to know Jesus because of you? Because of how you live your life and how the hope found in Christ brings a brighter future?

God has made it very clear that He uses ordinary people on a ordinary journey to make EXTRAORDINARY changes in the world around them. You and I have a mandate, a message, a calling that is very clearly laid out and it is for every believer that truly believes. Jesus said … “Go, make disciples and preach and teach and Baptize and LIVE the truth that He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Are you? Are you listening? …are you seeking? Are you doing? These things are not for a special person over there…they are for the special person living inside of you.

You know I love ya, Don