WHY GOD INCARNATE
Seeba & the Need for Shepherds
"It was roughly five-o-clock in the evening when Mr. Harrison returned from Florida. As he made the last turn on to the gravel road leading up to his farm in southern Canada, he smiled as he noticed the porch light come on. Almost two full pastures away, Sarah, his seventeen year-old, must have been waiting by the window for hours, if not years, for this very moment to arrive. Finally, it was here. As the sun began to give way to the eeriness of November's Northern Lights, Dad pulled the trailer up as Sarah's silhoutte danced across the barn in front of him. Daddy was home, and so was Seeba, Sarah's horse, her yearling, her stallion to be.
As father and daughter embraced, they readied themselves to unload the horse. It was then, out of the shadows, that mother's voice rang forth: 'There's a storm movin' in... and it's a bad one,' she warned--as her figure turned and faded into the distance. As Sarah's excitement turned to fear, her eyes cied out for comfort as Dad was quick to console her. 'Everything is going to be alright,' he assured her-- 'Everything's going to be just fine.' But Sarah's fear seemed to overtake her regardless of what promises had been made. For Sarah knew, as did any other knowledgeable Canadian, that storms which were quick to move in from the northwest were nothing to be taken lightly. These storms were sometimes terribly menacing particularly at this time of year when seasons were changing. Sarah was also aware that many lives had been forfeited during storms in which people had ignored or miscalculated. The potential of such storms were nothing short of absolute fury. Hence, Sarah hurried along in hopes of getting Seeba bedded-down for the night before the storm arrived. As Sarah bent to lower the ramp to the trailer, forgetting, regrettably, to attach a lead rope to Seeba's halter, the colt bolted. It's thick black mane and strong haunches disappeared into the evening as hoof beats echoed indelibly fainter across the open range and in Sarah's heart as well. She stood there and watched her dream turn into a nightmare. There was nothing anyone could do. Her Seeba was gone, before Sarah was ever able to affirm her love and devotion towards him.
It was two-o-clock in the morning before Sarah's father could get Sarah back inside the house and out of the weather. They had looked diligently, frantically for several hours to no avail. The storm was worsening with each passing moment. The winds had reached some forty knots, with gusts up to sixty-five. The temperature fell some forty-degrees in just a matter of hours. Before the night would end, the temperature would plummet to ten-below zero. There seemed little chance that a young colt from Florida could weather such a storm. As Sarah finally cried herself to sleep in a corner of the living room, only the morning would bring forth the truth.
The sun had barely begun to backlight the horizon when Sarah was jolted from her sleep. Something was wrong. She felt it in her heart. It was almost like Seeba was crying out for help. In fact, Sarah knew he was. As she ran past the cloak room and out towards the back porch, her mother, startled from her sleep, pleaded with Sarah to 'Put something on' before going out. But Sarah did not stop running towards the door. She couldn't. She knew Seeba had come home. She knew in her heart that Seeba needed her... and needed her now!
Sarah had not taken too many steps towards the long trek to the barn before noticing something dark against the fallen snow. As Sarah began to approach the figure, her heart beat ever louder with each and every step. As time momentarily froze, she heard the screen door slam behind her as if it were some distant sound from a time gone by. A time when innocence was untouched by the harsh realities of a finite life. A time of immortality, that we all seem to share in. A place that truly exists... but only in our minds and in our spirits. A place never to be visited by Sarah again.
As Sarah's fear and intrepidation turned into tears and screams of anguish the closer she got to the fallen figure, she collapsed in the snow around the colt--refusing to let go of the lifeless but still warm body of her stallion no more. In agony and tears, she begged for Seeba to return to her. But, it was too late. As Sarah's father was finally able to plead and coax Sarah away from the colt, he carried Sarah back towards the house with promises of another Seeba to come. But Sarah never again wanted another Seeba, for there trully are no more Seebas, nor can there be.
Several years have now elapsed since that cold blustery evening in Canada. Sarah has now grown up and moved away. But what haunts Sarah the most about that night as she and her father looked for Seeba, is that had Sarah been a horse that evening, she could have found and led Seeba back into the warmth and safety of the barn. For you see, what occurred that night, which Sarah has never been able to understand or come to grips with, is that Seeba not only cried out for help that night (waking Sarah), but died inches away from a barn door that had been intentionally left open. But the colt didn't know. The yearling didn't have anyone or another horse to lead him into the barn. Thus, Seeba died... lost, scared, confused and lonely in the midst of life's raging storm--only minutes away from Sarah's guiding hand and inches away from the protection of shelter. Now, Seeba's gone. And, there will never be another Seeba.
And so, an analogy can be made between this story and why God came down to earth in the form of a Man--to lead His people into the eternal security of His heavenly kingdom--His shelter--from life's most raging storm, eternal death. The same inference can be made regarding His followers. We are also responsible for presenting God's guiding hand to all those chosen by God long before the foundations of the world were ever constructed, so that they ("we") might enter into 'The Shelter' and not be found found waiting or wanting without--just inches away from 'The [open] Door' (John 10.9), and minutes away from demise. Yes, there is a great need for The Shepherd to return, but not before that which has been lost has been found."
by: R. Christopher
