Would you and I have gone?

Back a couple of years ago,
I met an old hand named Ray.
He asked me something 'bout Christmas
That I still ask myself today.

Now Ray had herded sheep
On a big place south of Elko.
Said, "It was an awfully lonely spot -
Lotsa time to read and think, though."

"I stocked that old herder's wagon
With all the books I could read.
I had a pretty good dog that year,
So I'd read while them woolies'd feed."

"One of the books I found
Got me thinkin' hard, you see.
It was a study on herdin'
Stock, way back through history."

"Shepherds back in Bible times
Would pen their flocks each night
And then lay across the gateway
Until the mornin' light."

"Now imagine we're a couple a herders
Guardin' our ewes at night,
When an army of singin' angels
Fills up the sky with light."

"And they tell us 'Go to Bethlehem,
And leave your flocks right there.
Go welcome God's own baby son.'
I'm tellin' you - I'd be scared."

But I wonder if given the chance
What you and I woulda done
When baby Jesus was born that night -
Would you and I have gone?"