Booger McLovin

Every shepherd has a deep love for his flock. So much love that when a lamb is born, he will stand watch by its side. He knows that for many reasons a mother might turn her lamb away. She may be weak, afraid, or unable to care for more than one. Whatever the reason, the little one may be rejected, left hungry and cold, and without hope.

Shepherds call such a creature a bummer lamb. Alone, it cannot survive. Its cries go unanswered and its need is unmet. To the flock it is of little value, but to the shepherd it is precious. He does not leave it. He bends down, gathers the lamb into his loving arms, and carries it into his home. There he feeds it with warm milk, holds it close, and loves it so it will not feel alone. The lamb learns his voice, and finds comfort in his care.

As the days pass, the lamb grows stronger. When it is placed back in the field with the flock, it never forgets the one who saved it. Each morning when the shepherd calls, the bummer lamb is the first to run. Its legs may be small and its voice soft, but it runs with joy. It knows its life depends on the shepherd.

This is the picture Jesus gives of Himself. “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep” (John 10:14–15). The world often rejects the weak and unwanted, but Jesus does not. He gathers them into the loving arms of Christ.

And when He calls, those who know His rescue are the first to come. Not because they are better, but because they remember what it was to be lost. The rejected draw closest, because they know the joy of being chosen.

Christ Himself was rejected. Isaiah wrote, “He was despised and abandoned by men, a man of great pain and familiar with sickness” (Isaiah 53:3). He knows the sorrow of being cast aside, and He uses that very sorrow to bring the cast-off near.

The bummer lamb is a living picture of grace. What once was weak becomes strong in devotion. What once was rejected becomes close in love. The Shepherd still says, “You are all My sheep, and I love every one, especially the rejected.”