Become a Sheepdog
Postscript
Become a Sheepdog
Wendy Hoynes looked happier than I had ever seen her before. In fact, standing next to the man she was about to marry, I hardly recognized her. The broken, distraught woman I knew just three years prior had been transformed. When I met her, Wendy could barely speak for thirty minutes without crying. Her life had been derailed at an early age, and she hadn’t allowed herself to blossom or move through the sorrow she had been experiencing for many years.
Today she was a new woman. Dressed in white, beaming and expectant, she was ready to take on the future with hope and confidence. Her life had been transformed by God, and He did it with a bit of case making.
Wendy’s sister, Robin, had been murdered in our city in the 1980s. When it happened, Wendy was a young teenager. The murder shocked our community and changed the trajectory of Wendy’s life. Robin was the most committed Christian Wendy knew, and her death caused Wendy to question God and the meaning of her own life. When I first told Wendy I was taking over the case, nearly twenty-five years after the murder, she immediately burst into tears. Grateful but cautious, Wendy couldn’t imagine her life without the pain and uncertainty of her sister’s unsolved murder.
When the crime occurred, it paralyzed Wendy’s entire family. Her parents never fully recovered, and her father died before we were able to arrest and convict the murderer. When the guilty verdict was finally delivered, the lives of those who survived were changed forever. They had been released from the uncertainty and injustice of the crime. While they didn’t experience “closure” (few people really do), they did see justice served. As a result, they began to do things they hadn’t done in years, and they celebrated holidays they had previously placed “on hold.” Life started anew as the result of the case-making efforts of the prosecution team.
Of all the cases I’ve worked in my career, this one was perhaps the most gratifying. I watched God work in the midst of terrible evil, and I was grateful to play a small role in Wendy’s story of transformation. Her case reminded me of the importance of my role as a case maker and renewed my desire to help others experience the same kind of transformation.
The Importance of Sheepdogs
Law enforcement officers (like military personnel) view the world through a unique lens. We tend to see people in one of two distinct categories: as “sheep” or “wolves.” Jesus also recognized this distinction. He often referred to His followers as “sheep.” When Jesus was saddened to see His people disheartened, Matthew described it in the following way: “He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36). Those who hadn’t yet trusted Jesus were also described similarly: Jesus said He “was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 15:24). When I first read these “sheep” passages, I was encouraged and inspired. In many ways, Jesus seemed to be talking like a police officer. When commissioning His disciples to preach in neighboring communities, He even told them, “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves” (Matthew 10:16).
After working cases like Wendy’s, I understand how dangerous life can be. The world is filled with potential victims (“sheep”) and perilous victimizers (“wolves”). Police officers stand in the gap; we’re the thin blue line separating the sheep from the wolves. We are sheepdogs.
Even in Jesus’s day, sheepdogs played an important role in the shepherd’s pasture. If you’ve ever worked with sheep, you know they aren’t the smartest animals in the field. Sheep are typically unable to defend themselves from predators, and they aren’t clever enough to understand their vulnerabilities. Sheep don’t know they have a need for protection; they are unaware of danger until it is too late.
Sheepdogs do understand the danger, and they’re better equipped to meet the challenges. In spite of the value sheepdogs provide to the flock, however, sheep are sometimes hesitant about them. In fact, most sheep find sheepdogs annoying; they’re always nipping at their hooves and trying to herd them in one direction or another. But one thing is certain: If the yard was filled with sheepdogs, there wouldn’t be a wolf problem.
Christian case makers are also sheepdogs. It’s our duty to protect the sheep from the wolves who seek to draw the sheep away from the Shepherd. The sheep are often unprepared to face the challenges presented by the culture (and equally unaware of the dangers). They sometimes view sheepdogs with hesitation; Christian “apologists” are much less popular than other speakers in the church. But if the church was filled with sheepdogs, there would be little or no threat from wolves at all.
That’s why it’s so important for those of us who already understand our duty as Christian case makers to help others see their duty as well. Time is short, and while there are certainly many incredibly valuable apologists in the Christian community, we can’t wait for another “Million Dollar” apologist to rise up and protect us. Instead, we need a million “One Dollar” apologists. You may not feel like you’re the biggest (or strongest) sheepdog in the field, but if everyone in your midst was a sheepdog of one kind or another, you would be in a safe place nonetheless. It’s our duty, as Christians, to become sheepdogs and help the rest of the sheep see their duty as well.
So, what kind of sheepdog will you become? Wendy experienced the transformational power of criminal case making. It changed the trajectory of her temporal life and restored her confidence in the God who offers her eternal life. Christian case making is even more transformational. If you’re willing to accept and embrace your Christian duty as a case maker, you’ll change the trajectory of the lives around you, and you’ll grow in confidence as a follower of Jesus.
This book (like my others) is a gateway book. It’s not intended to be read at the end of a journey, but at the beginning. I hope it will ignite in you a desire to change the way you think about Christianity so you can change the way you live as a Christian. I hope it starts an investigative journey that will last a lifetime and that will encourage you to love Jesus with your mind as well as your heart and soul. Let’s get busy together as the church. Now more than ever, it’s time for us to accept our duty as case makers and start training. It’s time to investigate the case for Christianity and communicate it convincingly to others. It’s time for all of us to become sheepdogs. Now more than ever, we need to embrace a forensic faith.