Uncle Otto Calls In The Cows

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them,” (John 10:4 paraphrase)

When I was growing up, my uncle Otto was my favorite uncle. He lived on a big farm and milked about 100 cows every morning and evening.

One day he had all the cows out in the far back pasture he called the “back forty.” It was the farthest pasture from the barnyard. Rather than walk back there and get the cows, he asked my brother and me to go back and call the cows into the corral area so he could get them in the barn and milk them.

We were excited to do what he wanted. My brother John and I ran to the back forty and began calling the cows. They barely looked up from munching on the grass. They were very content to ignore us.

After about twenty minutes, we gave up and walked back to the barn to tell Uncle Otto that the cows didn’t want to come.

At that news, Uncle Otto went out of the barn to the nearest fence post. He climbed up on the fence and began to call the cows. We were pretty sure they wouldn’t even hear him, much less want to come. But to our surprise, at his very first call, one of the cows began to walk down the muddy lane toward the front pasture.

One after another, the cows followed the leader back toward the barn. Soon all were in and Uncle Otto was milking them.

The cows heard Uncle Otto’s voice and knew him and knew what he wanted. He knew them. They didn’t know my brother John or me.

Jesus said that his sheep hear his voice and He knows them. Make sure you are one of his sheep