I’ve been in church life since I was an infant. My grandfather was a pastor and my parents were heavily involved. So I used my church experience over the years to come up with this different kind of shepherd cartoon.
Leadership can be tough when nobody wants to be a follower. It’s even harder when everyone in the group is about aggressive as a sheep, yet refuse to be led. I’ve seen a few pastors face this situation. You have to beware of sheep with fangs!
This cartoon is a good example of how technology has changed. When I first drew this, smartphones were just beginning to replace standalone GPS units. Who would have thought that today, there is such a thing as GPS sheep tracking?
Today, we can track anything, including livestock. Radiofrequency identification (RFID) technology is small enough, we can keep track of and identify an entire flock without leaving the house.
Cartoon of a boy in a shepherd costume and a teacher. The boy says, “You call this a Christmas play? There is no playground and you’re putting us to work!”
I am a big fan of A Charlie Brown Christmas. We’re the same age. We both came to this world in 1965. I’ve been in my share of Christmas plays and they always seemed as chaotic as the one Charlie Brown is directing. And I’ve always been tempted to break out of character and just dance in the middle of the play.
Christmas plays are hard work because you have to act A LOT when you’re in one. You have to pretend that boy who you know is a practical joker is Joseph. You have to pretend the girl who kicked you in the shins during recess is Mary. Then YOU have to pretend you are somber and just seen a platoon of angels when you know full well it was the Smith triplets in bath robes.
Christmas plays are also hard work because we can’t get our head around the notion God came to Earth as a baby to a poor family and was born in a barn. Lets face it. If we were God, WE wouldn’t want to be born in a barn and we’d want more than some smelly shepherds to visit us that first night.
Those Christmas plays are just hard work!
