The Lamb as Shepherd

I'm an oncology nurse, and I sit with people dying from cancer. The fear of being abandoned is sometimes as bad as the pain. They want someone to stay. Someone who won't leave when it gets too hard.

John's image of the Lamb as shepherd leading to springs of living water - it's the shepherd that sticks with you even to death. Not leaving. Not abandoning.

I tell patients: the Lamb hasn't abandoned you. The Lamb is with you, even now. I'm not sure how much they believe it, but it seems to matter that someone says it. That someone bears witness that they're not alone.

I'm trying to be a shepherd too - to stay, to listen, to lead people toward comfort even when I can't heal them. That's what the Lamb does.