160. The Good Shepherd

Show Notes

What does a shepherd do?  They protect and guide their sheep.  They show their sheep the way.  In a way, they love their sheep.  Jesus is known as the Good Shepherd, and models all of these things for us.  Zach is flying solo today to bring a short, but encouraging word to all you mentors out there about how Jesus is our Good Shepherd, how he calls us to be shepherds for our mentees, and how we can live that calling out.

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Creators and Guests

Host

Zachary Garza

Founder of Forerunner Mentoring & You Can Mentor // Father to the Fatherless // Author

What is You Can Mentor: A Christian Youth Mentoring Podcast?

You Can Mentor is a network that equips and encourages mentors and mentoring leaders through resources and relationships to love God, love others, and make disciples in their own community. We want to see Christian mentors thrive.

We want to hear from you! Send any mentoring questions to [e-mail], and we'll answer them on our podcast. We want to help you become the best possible mentor you can be. Also, if you are a mentoring organization, church, or non-profit, connect with us to join our mentoring network or to be spotlighted on our show.

Please find out more at www.youcanmentor.com or find us on social media. You will find more resources on our website to help equip and encourage mentors. We have downloadable resources, cohort opportunities, and an opportunity to build relationships with other Christian mentoring leaders.

Speaker 1: 00:02

You can mentor is a podcast about the power of building relationships with kids from hard places in the name of Jesus. Every episode will help you overcome common mentoring obstacles and give you the confidence you need to invest in the lives of others. You can mentor.

Speaker 2: 00:36

Mentors and mentoring leaders, Zack Ardsley here with the You Can Mentor podcast. I got 3 things that I would like to ask of you today. Number 1, if you are a mentoring organization and you would like to be on our podcast or learn more about the best practices of mentoring, please reach out to us, www.youcanmentor.com. You can send us an email, [e-mail], or stephen, that's with a PH, at you canmentor.com. You can also find us on social media.

Speaker 2: 01:02

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Speaker 2: 01:23

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Speaker 2: 01:46

Please do those things. Reach out to us. Share and rate. Appreciate you. You can mentor.

Speaker 2: 01:57

Welcome back to the You Can Mentor podcast. Zach Darcy here, flying solo today. So, honestly, just had a lot on my mind, and I just wanted to do a podcast by myself and see if I could encourage some of you guys or gals who are out there mentoring and trying to make disciples and investing into the future generations. And so here we are. So over the past couple weeks, I've been really struck by Jesus as shepherd.

Speaker 2: 02:21

And I've been thinking about what a shepherd is and who we are as sheep and what a shepherd does. And I've just been really just focused in on how how Jesus shepherds us well throughout our journey and all the things that we're going through and how our call as mentors is to do the same thing, is to is to shepherd, is to guide, is to create an environment where our mentees can thrive. And I have been really seeing this through the context of my own children. So as you guys might know, I grew up without a father figure in my life. It was just me and my mom for the majority of my childhood.

Speaker 2: 03:08

And and the thing about the thing about being a father, the thing about growing older is every new season in the life of my children kind of gives me the opportunity to revisit my own past and my own childhood and to think of myself how I was whenever I was their age. And and my son's now, I've got one who's in 2nd grade. I've got one who's in 1st grade. And they're turning into these little people. And they have feelings, and they have emotions, and they see the world just a a different perspective.

Speaker 2: 03:43

They have opinions now, and they are truly starting to grow up. And I was hanging out with them the other day, and it just hit me. I was like, man, it is it really is my job to help them flourish, to help them mature, to help them grow in their passions, and to help them understand the world and how to use what the lord has given them to make their mark. And it just hit me. I was like, man, I I didn't have that.

Speaker 2: 04:16

And I knew that from, like, a 5,000 foot view, but I don't think it really ever hit me in, like, I'm I'm watching my children grow up, and it's my responsibility to guide them. It's my responsibility to shepherd them. And I kinda saw myself as them. And I kinda saw myself as a young man. And when my kids looked to me for advice, when my kids looked to me for guidance, I didn't really have anyone to look to.

Speaker 2: 04:45

And that's just bringing up a lot of stuff in my heart that is giving me a new perspective on my childhood, on the lord, and on his kindness. It's bringing up a new appreciation for those those people, whether it's teachers or coaches or mentors who stepped into my life and filled in that gap because I didn't have a shepherd, and I didn't have anyone to guide me. And as I was younger, I think I got really angry about that. I was extremely bitter. But now I I think there's a there's a part of my heart that mourns that, and I think that that I think that that's okay.

Speaker 2: 05:24

It's okay to mourn that. But it's also an opportunity for me to go to the lord and for me to be thankful and for me to really take a step back and objectively look at how he has taken care of me. And as I'm investing into my own children, as I'm guiding them, as I'm a mentor, you know, as I'm investing into other kids in my community, as I'm investing into my staff, I just think about what does it mean to invest into people? What does it mean to truly shepherd, to guide, to lay your life down for those people that the lord has put in your life. And I think about John 10 where Jesus says that he is the good shepherd, where Jesus says that the sheep will know the voice of the shepherd, that he will he will save, that he will give his sheep safe pasture, that the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but that the shepherd has come to give life and give it abundantly.

Speaker 2: 06:27

The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. He is not a hired man, but instead, he's a shepherd, and he cares, and he loves them, and he knows them. And I think about that as a mentor. I think about that as a father. And as we as mentors invest into the next generation, as we invest into our staff, I just wanna take a second today and just kinda talk about what that means.

Speaker 2: 06:55

And I think the older that I get, the more that I spend time investing into other people. There's just some things that continually start to come up. 1, I think I think it's harder than it sounds. I think to continually invest into someone, to guide them, it takes a continual effort. More times than not, your mentee is not gonna come up to you and ask you for advice, but you have to initiate.

Speaker 2: 07:20

You have to step into the gap. You have to be the one who calls them. You have to be the one that knocks on their door because they're probably not going to do that. Every once in a while, you'll find a mentee who will do that, but more times than not, you have to pursue them. And I think that that's what the Lord does.

Speaker 2: 07:37

Right? He he leaves the 99, and he goes after the 1. So as we invest into our mentees, just know that it takes intentionality that you have to be the one to pursue and that you have to be the one to initiate because you are the shepherd. You are the adult. You are the god.

Speaker 2: 07:57

I think that you're not, most of the time, going to get a thank you. You're not gonna get praise. You're not gonna get a pat on the back. Actually, in some cases, you might actually anger. You might actually get frustration whenever you try to bring up things that your mentee needs to focus in on or an issue that's keeping them from becoming the best version of themselves.

Speaker 2: 08:17

So if you, as a mentor, are looking for praise, if you're looking for a thank you, you might be barking up the wrong tree. Always keep in mind that even if your mentee is 25, they're still pretty young and more times than not focused on themselves, especially if they're 18 or 16 or 12. You're just it's a thankless job more times than not. That's why it's so important to be connected to the Lord because to get your appreciation, to get your affirmation, to get that praise from the Lord, that is a well that's never gonna run dry. So get everything that you need to pour out from him because your mentee's job is not to fill up your well.

Speaker 2: 08:57

These are these are some things that you will give as you invest into others, as you guide, as you shepherd. You will sacrifice. You'll sacrifice your time. You'll sacrifice your energy. It's a it is a sacrifice.

Speaker 2: 09:12

Your mentee might not see that, but to the Lord, the aroma of your sacrifice is well pleasing to him. I think about my mentor, Pat. Every time I call, he picks up the phone. He's a pretty busy guy, but he always makes time for me. He doesn't necessarily give advice.

Speaker 2: 09:29

He doesn't necessarily, you know, have all of the solutions, but instead he, he just listens. He just makes space for me to process. He makes space for me to figure out what the Lord is trying to do. And, man, that is so valuable. I think next, you are gonna give intentionality, which we talked about.

Speaker 2: 09:48

My mentor, Steve, he's intentional about praying for me daily. He's intentional about sending me a text. He's intentional about calling me every week, asking me questions about my life, about what I'm going through, about the things that are important to me. He's intentional about asking good questions, intentional about helping me create a plan to help me overcome obstacles or to help me become the best version of myself. And that's a great gift that we can give our mentees.

Speaker 2: 10:14

The next thing that you'll give as a shepherd is your patience. You know, I've had many mentors who have just sat with me and who have just walked with me as I've tried to figure out this thing called life, as I've tried to mature, as I've tried to overcome obstacles. And I think about Jesus. Right? Like, he he will never leave us.

Speaker 2: 10:33

In the Psalms, often, it says to wait on him. It says that his yoke is easy and that his burden is light, and he calls us to lie down in green pastures. You know, the good shepherd is not in a hurry, but he his his timing is perfect. And we get to invite our mentees into that. We get to help provide to them a calming presence.

Speaker 2: 10:55

We get to help them learn what it means to be patient, learns learn what it means to trust the Lord and his timing, not our own timing, and to ultimately have faith that God's ways are better than our ways. One more thing that you'll give as a shepherd is hope. Right? Whenever it looks like there's darkness, whenever it looks like there's no way out, whenever it looks like they failed and there's they have no future, you get to give hope. You get to paint a different picture.

Speaker 2: 11:23

You know? Think about my mentor, Bob. Bob saw something in me that I didn't see in myself. You know? Whenever I was a 19 year old kid and I was lost and I was hurt and I didn't know up from down, Bob had hope for me.

Speaker 2: 11:40

He spoke life into me. He, he told me what I could become and he helped me get there and he didn't give up on me. Right. That's that's, what's so great about the good shepherd is he's never going to leave you is he's always there for you. As, as a shepherd, we can give faith that it's, even if they're going through a hard time now, even if there are difficulties, even if life isn't going how they thought it would go, we can instill faith into them.

Speaker 2: 12:06

We can speak faith over them. We can we can help them believe whenever they don't believe by by being with them, by sitting with them, by praying with them, and by encouraging them that that god truly does have a plan for their life, a plan to help them prosper. We can give endurance. Right? Just continuing to invest day after day, month after month, year after year, We can continue to show up, continue to text, continue to call, continue to check-in, continue to ask questions.

Speaker 2: 12:39

We can we can show them what it looks like to to be steady on this on this journey of life, that it really is a marathon. It isn't a sprint. And then lastly, what we can give is love. Think about my mentor, Don. Don's 92 years old.

Speaker 2: 12:59

And every time I call him, he just, he just loves me just as I am, not as I should be. He encourages me. He laughs over me. He prays over me. He he tells me all the good things that he sees in me, and he just fills up my tank.

Speaker 2: 13:14

He doesn't love me for what I can produce or for what I've done, but instead, he loves me for who I am. And isn't that the best gift that we can give as a mentor is just that unconditional love? You know, Jesus as the good shepherd, me as a father, us as mentors, to give unconditional love. You know? It's great to to give them advice, to give them wisdom, to give them physical things, tangible things, but the most important thing we can give is love.

Speaker 2: 13:43

And ultimately, through all those things, as mentors, we get to introduce them to Jesus as lord. We get to introduce them to the to the ultimate shepherd, to the good shepherd. You know, we we are but we are but a substitute for the ultimate father, the ultimate mentor, the ultimate person to look up to and to follow the ultimate guide. And that's Jesus. What a great chance we have as mentors to help our mentees learn how to learn, how to fish for themselves, learn how to, how to dig their own wells so that they're not consistently looking to us for the rest of their lives.

Speaker 2: 14:18

But instead we're giving them the tools to be self sufficient in their walk with Jesus, that they're not dependent upon a mentor, but that, that they have a intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, with the holy spirit, with God, the father, as I've moved from Waco or as I've moved from the city city of Dallas to Waco, I kind of lost seeing all of my mentors on a, on a day to day basis. And while that stinks and while I do miss them, one awesome thing that the Lord has done as I've as I've physically moved is he he has kinda helped me rely more on him than on my mentors. And he has taught me how to instead of going to them first, I go to him first. And as mentors, that should be our main goal is to not necessarily point our mentees to us, but to point our mentees to Jesus so that they can have a relationship with God so that they can go right to the source to get filled up. Because you as a mentor, you're probably not gonna be with your mentee forever.

Speaker 2: 15:24

You might be with them for 1 year. You might be with them for 6 months. You might be with them for 5 years, 10 years, 20 years, but, ultimately, you're gonna leave your mentee. But Jesus Christ will never leave you. The good shepherd is never going to desert his flock.

Speaker 2: 15:37

He's always going to be there. And so us as mentors, what does it look like for you to shepherd your mentee well today? What does it look like for you to care for them? What does it look like for you to create an environment where they can thrive? What does it look like for you to create dependence, not on you as the mentor, but to help your mentee create dependence on Jesus, on the holy spirit, to teach them how to fish for themselves, to teach them how to dig their own wells, to teach them how to go right to the source?

Speaker 2: 16:09

Obviously, this takes time. Obviously, this is a process. But what are we doing today to help them build intimacy with Jesus so that they can take steps towards that? Because I'm all about mentoring. This is a podcast about mentoring.

Speaker 2: 16:22

It's called you can mentor. But, ultimately, there's no greater mentor than Jesus. There's no greater guide or shepherd than the lord Jesus Christ. And what a what an excellent opportunity we have to introduce them to Jesus, to to help them walk in the Holy Spirit and help them be loved by god the father. So that's all I've got today.

Speaker 2: 16:45

I hope that that's encouraging. I hope that I hope that that speaks to you as a mentor. And just what just hear me say thank you today. Thank you for investing into those kids who were once like me, who don't have a guide, who don't have a shepherd. Thank you for filling in the gap.

Speaker 2: 17:01

Thank you for for for walking alongside them as they try to figure out this thing called life because it's so hard. Being a kid these days is so difficult. And if you don't have a guide, if you don't have a shepherd, it's just that much harder. Continue to show up. Continue to love no matter what.

Speaker 2: 17:20

Continue to have endurance and to give them faith and give them hope and to teach them how to be patient. Continue to sacrifice. Continue to show up and to love them just as they are and not as they should be because that's what the lord does for us. Thank you so much. I hope that you guys enjoyed this.

Speaker 2: 17:37

Be blessed today and know that you can mentor. The Lord is using you. Don't grow weary in doing good. Have a good one.