Shepherd’s Fold Ranch…a tribute to Home

Last Saturday, Shepherd's Fold Ranch (the camp in NE Oklahoma that my mom and dad founded in 1972) celebrated 40 years of ministry. I was fortunate enough to make the quick trip back to attend. They asked me to share a few words and in preparation I wrote the following essay:

Since the very beginning Shepherd's Fold Ranch has used the tag line "…a place called home." And since the very beginning that tag line has always fit. "Home" is a very distinct part of the SFR DNA. Remember…the essence of the ministry of Shepherd's Fold was born, not out of a sanctuary or an auditorium, but out of a living room in a home where kids came to break open the Word of God, sing songs of praise and learn to do the ministry of Jesus on their own.

But what is home? One of the dictionary definitions is "the place in which one's domestic affections are centered." I suppose that's true but it's still not clear. Home seems to embody so many other things. Bart Giamatti reminds us that "home" is an English word that is virtually impossible to translate into other tongues. No translation captures the associations, the mixture of memory and longing, the sense of security and autonomy, the aroma of inclusiveness, the freedom from wariness. These definitions simply aren't captured in the word "house," or even "my house," "mi casa," or "ma maison." 

You see, home isn't a place, it's a concept. It can't be held in by four walls, three bedrooms and a bath. What images come to mind when you hear the words "Shepherd's Fold Ranch?" Chances are you see faces not facilities. You feel the immediate warmth of memory and friendship and community.

Home is a state of mind. It's where self-definition starts. It's "origins." Home is a magical mix of time and place and smell and sound…even weather. Home is a safe and secure place of discovery and firsts; a first experience with God. A first rappel of the cliff or trip down the slide. A first dive or first kiss.

There's something very human about going home. It's why certain literature touches us so deeply. Even the Bible, ultimately, is about going home. Home is about reunion and rejoicing. It's about putting things right; putting things in order; putting things back together. Home is about restoration and right relationships. Think about it for a moment…putting things right, restoring order, right relationships. Isn't that the real legacy of this place called home?

These things apply to those of us who worked here and served here and lived here every bit as much as they apply to those who came to camp here.

Shepherd's Fold has been that place of learning and discovery for me. The heat and pressure of camp provided the refining furnace that revealed the things I was born to do. But more than that, camp provided the laboratory where I was able to turn gifts into skills and natural instinct into applyable talent. I was born in Oklahoma City but in so many ways I grew into who I was born to be right here on this hill in Osage County Oklahoma.

Recently, while sitting at my desk at Taconic Retreat in upstate New York, I was surprised and captivated by a sudden rush of home.

It all started with a simple mouse click on the recent SFR promotional video. As I viewed the images and listened to the sounds, I was overcome by a tidal wave of emotion. Then when the locusts began to sing…it all came rushing back; this magical place called home. The video didn't show buildings or facilities because that's not home. The video captured the essence of this place with faces and sounds. 

I left SFR in 2000 after spending the first 20 years of my career and my marriage here. Since I've left I indeed have found that there's a great big beautiful world out there. Indeed there is life after SFR. There are many, many more vistas of discovery waiting to be explored.

But Home will always be here. My place of origin, my spiritual birthplace, my tribal and ancestral ground. My place called home is Shepherd's Fold Ranch.