#221 "Dear to the Heart of the Shepherd"

I love the message of this hymn!  I like the author of the text made sure (in verse 3) that the "ninety and nine" were also "Dear to the heart of the Shepherd."  I like the sentiment that the Good Shepherd made sure the "ninety and nine" were safely in the sheep fold before he went out to search for the lost sheep.  I like how in the last verse, the words in the chorus change focus and it reads, "Off to the rescue we'll hasten, Bringing them back to the fold."
I have a funny story about this hymn that happened in my sister's (Denise) early-morning seminary class in 1974-75.  Her freshmen class thought they'd play a trick on their teacher.  They planned to take up as much time as possible with the opening hymn and opening prayer.  The person who was in charge of the devotional that morning, looked through the list of hymns available (we used records and record players back then) and looked on the back of the album cover to find the longest hymn.  Because of the four verses and slow tempo, "Dear to the Heart of the Shepherd" was the longest song.  (I guess we didn't have the option of all seven verses of  "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief" or "How Firm a Foundation" back then!)  I think my sister said it was about a six-minute song.  Then, they asked (the day before) the girl who was going to say the opening prayer to say a really long one.  I guess she prayed for about four minutes--which is pretty long for a teenager in an early-morning  seminary class!  The last part of the students' joke included asking lots of questions of the teacher.  I wish I could have been a fly on the wall that morning!