The Legacy Of A Sheep

Easton- listening to the Bridge on XM. Elton John came on. Easton asked, “What’s with the colored glasses?”

We look at life through rose colored glasses...

I recently saw a man from my hometown where my father was a police officer. He told me, my brother was brought home more than once by your dad because he was drunk. That was his recollection of my dad.

Years ago, I heard stories about my dad from lots of people because being a policeman in a small town you get a lot of people who say they are your friends. (It is worse in the ministry). Add an early death, and there’s something about romanticizing the truth and wanting to be sympathetic to the deceased’s family members with what they think are positive stories. I’ll stop here.

But that was their memory.

No one was more surprised than Christina Novak when the short online obituary she placed in the Kennebec Journal about her mom’s death went viral.

"Florence 'Flo' Harrelson, 65, formerly of Chelsea, died on Feb. 22, 2024, without family by her side due to burnt bridges and a wake of destruction left in her path."

"Florence did not want an obituary or anyone including family to know she died,"That’s because even in death, she wanted those she terrorized to still be living in fear looking over their shoulders.  So, this isn’t so much an obituary but more of a public service announcement."

her daughter said, ““Let’s be clear. It’s a PSA and it’s no joke. It was written with sarcasm and relief, but it’s real,” Novak, 47, tells PEOPLE exclusively. “It was done in four sentences because I refused to spend another dollar on that woman.”

According to Novak, her mother, a former Maine State Prison corrections officer, died months before anyone in the family noticed.

Novak, who hadn't spoken to her mom in a decade, says she only discovered what had happened after a discussion with a friend about how things were “too quiet lately.” She Googled her mother’s name and a death notice from a crematorium popped up.

“I messaged my aunt, her identical twin sister, and I’m like, 'Did Mom die?' And she’s like, 'I don’t know,” ’ Novak says. “After some digging, I discovered it was her.”

Growing up, Novak says her mom “took sport in ruining every birthday and Christmas” and played cruel pranks on her when she was just little — like allegedly taking her to the top of a bridge and having her and her partner grab Novak's legs and arms and act like they were going to throw her into the water below.

"I still can't drive over a bridge without getting an anxiety attack," says Novak.

So she had no problem jotting down her true feelings, only restricted by the reported $1.25 per word price tag — in fact, she says, "it felt cathartic to write it out. It was like, hold my beer."

Before she turned in her four sentences, Novak says she ran it past her aunt to get her approval. She did not hear back for more than 24 hours. And when she did, she says her aunt only took note of a typo.

“She pointed out, ‘It’s destruction, not distraction,’ “ Novak says.

“Some people are like, 'Why even say anything? She's dead,' " Novak says, but, as she points out, sometimes it's only when a person is no longer alive that "someone finally has got the power to say something."

We tend to romanticize, even look through rose colored glasses at our life once we know Jesus. And it’s been my experience that most of the time, for all of our romanticizing- the bills are still here, our enemies are still our enemies, the car still needs oil changed and brakes put on, and the weeds still need pulled.

Psalm 23:6 ESV

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

I want to talk about a misnomer we all make with the 232rd Psalm. While it is only found in the 6th verse, it applies to the entire reading of the 6 verses of the 23rd Psalm. And it surrounds the word “forever”. To illustrate what I want you to see, please read aloud with me what is on your screen right now.

Look closely at that word “forever”. Now I’m going to put the Message version of this verse on your screen for a moment. Look closely.

“The rest of my life” is far different than “forever”, isn’t it? And every modern version of the Bible gets this wrong notion into everyone’s head- except for Eugene Peterson.

Psalm 23:6 MSG

6 Your beauty and love chase after me every day of my life. I’m back home in the house of God for the rest of my life.

Forever: it doesn’t mean forever.

Forever doesn’t mean forever.

Forever: it means an indefinite portion of any continued state, existence, or series of events.

It could be a day, a minute, an hour, a year, a decade, even a century. But it is not eternity.

This forever implies there is a caboose coming on that train. Eternity implies a caboose will never arrive.

So let’s look at our verse again.

Psalm 23:6 ESV

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

If I had to translate this myself, it would go like this:

Your goodness and grace carry me through my life. I’m at home in Jesus while I’m here.- Psalm 23.6, Joel’s version.

How did the Psalmist know that “goodness” and “mercy”(grace) would be his for his life?

Because He’d lived it. Go back and look at the 23rd Psalm one more time.

Psalm 23:1 ESV

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

It wasn’t that there were no “wants”. He’d lived a lifetime with wants. He wanted to have safety, warmth, food, and a lot more as long as he lived. He didn’t always get it. Sometimes he was cold, sometimes he was wet, sometimes he ate weeds and sometimes he just existed. But with the shepherd his needs were met and in time he learned what mattered. The shepherd already knew what he needed. And when the needs were met the wants took a back seat.

Psalm 23:2 ESV

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.

Without the shepherd the psalmist would have lay down in rocky places and over fed farmland. But with the shepherd he had rest in vital farmland that met his greatest needs.

Without the shepherd he would have walked by springs and streams because he had no idea they were there.... but the shepherd knew exactly where they were and which ones were safe to drink from.

Psalm 23:3 ESV

3 He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Every need of the psalmist was net- physically, emotionally, and most importantly spiritually. Down to his soul. Do you know why?

The shepherd knows physical need, spiritual need, but also the unique person that the psalmist was. Look at John 10.3...

John 10:3 ESV

3 To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

He knows his sheep by name because he made them each uniquely who they were. He knw who the Psalmist was. He made him that way.

Psalm 23:4 ESV

4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

The psalmist had walked through the desert- the valleys- the dry places. He’d been there.

But he learned that if the shepherd was there, there was nothing to fear. In fact, if he was afraid, he always found comfort.

Listen to what Jesus said in John 14.16

John 14:16 ESV

16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,

Psalm 23:5 ESV

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Who were the psalmist’s enemies?

Want. What had he learned? with the shepherd there is no want.

Lack of food and rest. What had he learned about lack? The shepherd led him to green pastures and still waters to rest.

Paths of unrighteousness (sin). What had he learned about unrighteousness? the shepherd knows a better path. The paths of righteousness.

Fear. What had he learned about fear, even fear of death? The shepherd’s presence was all the comfort he needed. He would be protected.

The psalmists “enemies” were not only people, they were pain, problems, persecution, lack of protection- it was all of life without a shepherd.

Listen again- the enemy was a life without a shepherd.

And so, he concludes in Psalm 23.6

Psalm 23:6 ESV

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

My life will be lived with the Shepherd.

How did the Psalmist come to this conclusion about the “Good Shepherd”?

Through His life. Not his hope that he makes it to heaven. His knowledge, that he experienced in this life, that you can count on God (Jesus).

It was a lifetime of experiences. It was his “forever” here that promised him that what lay ahead was beyond what anyone could imagine.

What is your legacy?

So it is with the influence of a single person.

Take Edward Kimball, for an example. Never heard of him?  Rest assured – most people have never heard of him.

Kimball was a Sunday school teacher who not only prayed for the hyper boys in his class but also sought to win each one to the Lord personally.  He decided he would be intentional with every single last one of them.  Surely he thought about throwing in the towel.  If you have ever taught the Bible to young boys, you know that the experience can often be like herding cats.

One young man, in particular, didn’t seem to understand what the gospel was about so Kimball went to the shoe store where he was stocking shelves and confronted him in the stock room with the importance of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  That young man was Dwight L. Moody.  In the stockroom on that Saturday, he believed the gospel and received Jesus Christ as his Savior. In his lifetime, Moody touched two continents for God, with thousands professing Christ through his ministry.

But the story doesn’t end there. Actually that’s where it begins. Under Moody, another man’s heart was touched for God, Wilbur Chapman.  Chapman became the evangelist who preached to thousands. One day, a professional ball player had a day off and attended one of Chapman’s meetings, and thus, Billy Sunday was converted.

Sunday quit baseball and became part of Chapman’s team. Then, Chapman accepted the pastorate of a large church and Billy Sunday began his own evangelistic crusades.

Another young man was converted whose name was Mordecai Ham.  He was a scholarly, dignified gentleman who wasn’t above renting a hearse and parading it through the streets advertising his meetings.

When Ham came to Charlotte, North Carolina, a sandy-haired, lanky young man, then in high school, vowed that he wouldn’t go hear him preach, but Billy Frank, as he was called by his family, did eventually go. Ham announced that he knew for a fact that a house of ill repute was located across the street from the local high school and that male students were skipping lunch to visit the house across the street. When students decided to go to interrupt the meetings of Mordecai Ham, Billy Frank decided to go see what would happen.

That night Billy Frank went and was intrigued by what he heard. Returning another night, he responded to the invitation and was converted. Billy Frank eventually became known as Billy Graham, the evangelist who preached to more people than any other person who ever lived, including the Apostle Paul.

As of 2008, Billy Graham’s estimated lifetime audience, including radio and television broadcasts, topped 2.2 billion.  That means that approximately 2.2 billion people have heard the gospel from Billy Graham’s mouth.  That’s hard to wrap your mind around.

All because Edward Kimball was a Sunday School teacher who cared about high school kids knowing Jesus.

The Legacy Of A Christian Tells The Story Of Jesus

Our life is the story of the lost sheep. He leaves the 99 to find us.

our life is the story of the lost coin. He sweeps the house to find it then rejoices when he does.

Our life is the feeding of the 5000 when we’ve known need.

Our life is the healing touch of the Master’s Hand when he raises us from sickness.

Our life is the baptism in the Jordan when we come to faith.

Our life is the transfiguration when we realize who He is.

Our life is the crucifixion when we suffer unjustly.

Our life is the resurrection when we die to ourselves.

And one day our life will be eternal when we meet Him in the clouds.

But until then. What is your legacy and who is your shepherd?