for 8 APR 06: ONE LAMB WAS ENOUGH

(BLOGGER'S NOTE: You may find this humorous, serious, or a little of both - but from time to time, we offer things to reflect upon as we keep the seventh-day Sabbath.)

Russell County authorities faced a strange mystery Friday. Who snuck onto a farm and shot 15 lambs to death? The animals apparently weren't even stolen -- or taken to a lamb chop shop.

The owner of Marengo Creek Farms near Ladonia can't understand why someone climbed over a fence early Thursday morning, and shot 15 of his 16 lambs. But he's guessing a neighbor may have held some sort of a grudge -- perhaps saying at some point, "Baaa, humbug!"

Here's hoping authorities catch the lamb-killer -- but the timing of this case is quite noteworthy. Next week Orthodox Jews will kill lambs to keep a Passover tradition. But shooting them on site isn't orthodox. Redneck maybe, but not orthodox....

It's also a time of year when believing Christians should think about a lamb as well. In fact, the Bible says this lamb was planned for the slaughter "before the foundation of the world." I think that was even before the Bradley-Turner Foundation was set up.

God really only needed one lamb to die, to bring a great plan for man to reality. But it had to be a perfect lamb, without a spot or blemish. Nowadays it's hard to even find ANY lamb at supermarkets - much less spotless ones.

You'd think the only way to have a perfect lamb is to quarantine it from birth, keeping it in an isolation pen. But amazingly, God brought us a lamb which openly walked among imperfect people. He even sat down to dine with them -- yet escaped becoming the main course for years.

Do you know this lamb I'm talking about? If you don't, open the Bible to the New Testament book of I Peter sometime this weekend and read about it. This lamb truly is worth knowing. That Russell County criminal can shoot 15 more if he dares - but without God's perfect lamb, he'll be the one facing the roast sooner or later.

COMING SUNDAY: Two square miles of trouble.... and e-mail about an old car....

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