Tree-Clearing Grab Bag

Several things have continued to resonate in my brain as I think about Saturday's work day on the farm clearing these aggressive, destructive trees:

*I think about Keith's deep disdain for these trees. He hated them because he grew up on that farm, he knew the land, and he knew the beauty that was once there and should be there still. Keith was jealous for the land to display its' proper beauty.

Thinking on this has sparked fresh perspective on God's jealousy. Scriptures say that God is jealous for the people whom he created. Jealousy is not a very admirable quality in most of us humans. But to think about Keith's jealousy for his land sheds some sweet light on the gloriously loving jealousy God has for us.

*The difference between Keith's perspective on the land as the land-owner and my perspective on the land as someone who was just there to work for the day and was worried about my own well-being (like heat-stroke, among other ailments) also has continued to linger in my imagination.

Jesus tells a parable in John 10 where he differentiates between the Good Shepherd and the hired hand. The Good Shepherd knows the sheep, loves the sheep, calls the sheep by name and they follow him. Ultimately, Jesus says, the Good Shepherd lays his life down for the sheep. The hired hand, however, is just that--a hired hand. They don't have the same love for the sheep. And so when trouble comes they flee.

Same sheep/same land, different people, different perspectives. One perspective is deeply invested in the sheep/land, the other perspective views the sheep/land purely functionally and ultimately has self-interest at heart.

It makes me wonder how I would approach my work as a campus minister differently if I had the same heart as the Good Shepherd for the sheep, or that Keith has for his farm. How would I think about the 17,000 students at UNC differently? How would I think about the 350 in our chapter differently? How would it change the world if believers everywhere shared the Good Shepherd's heart for their neighborhoods, places of work, the schools where they sent their kids?