In John 10:14 Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me”

I have a goal of knowing everyone’s name in our church. I don’t right now, there are a number of newer people who I have not yet got their name and their face put together. I have several methods that I am using to accomplish my goal. One is I work very hard before and after each service greeting as many people as possible, majoring on the ones I don’t know very well. If I don’t know their name I ask what it is, and then I write it on the palm of my hand and look at it repeatedly in the next couple of hours. I also take pictures of people with my phone and put them in my prayer journal. I pray for every person in our church every week and I look at the picture that have with their name and various prayer requests that I have collected for them. Doing that week after week I soon remember their names.

I don’t need to learn every person’s name, but I feel so much more power in my praying when I know who I am praying for, and pray with some understanding of who they are, what their needs are, and what is there state in their relationship with Jesus.

Whenever I say “I love you” to people in our church, I am saying it as a commitment to them. I am committed to praying for them, I am committed to doing whatever I can to help them grow in their walk with God, and I am committed to knowing them as a unique person and being their friend.

Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd.” I am not “the” good shepherd, only Jesus can be that, but I do want to be “a” good shepherd.