Hello,
Some new neighbors moved in recently, and I can tell you, I don’t like
them. They leave their yard a
constant mess, they run around in my yard messing up my garden and flower
beds. They bring all sorts of
other riff raff along with them. These neighbors are nothing but a bunch of pests: they are a
family of ground hogs.
Actually, they are not neighbors, they are invaders, because they have
taken up home in my front field.
They have dug ten holes around a bunch of apple trees, and not small
holes at that. I’ve caught them
wandering into the part of our yard that we are trying to make into a lawn, and
I fear that it won’t be too much longer until they spot the vegetable garden
and help themselves to our crop.
Granted, they are cute. And
sure, they may capture the nation’s attention in the middle of winter. But they are destructive, messy, and a
nuisance. They are pests, and I
don’t like them.
I guess that I should know a pest when I see one, because, God knows, I
am a pest, too… a pest to God. I
dig holes of selfishness in God’s fields of grace, holes that other people
stumble upon and get hurt. I
wander into gardens and nibble away the sprouts of faith that are just
beginning to grow in other people’s lives. I carry disease and dirt (sin and guilt) with me, and I
leave a wake of suffering and pain behind me. I make my home on God’s creation, and I claim it out as
mine. If I look in a mirror,
there’s not much difference between me and a ground hog…at least when it comes
to God.
But the amazing thing is that what I do with pesky ground hogs, God does
not do with me. I am out to get
rid of my new neighbors, the ground hogs….get rid of them for good (if you know
what I mean….). But not so with
God and me. God is not out to get
rid of me (or you), he is out to get me and keep me, keep me for good. The Bible tells us that when Jesus died
on the cross, Jesus captured you and me in a trap of forgiveness, and once
captured he holds on to us with a divine grip, and brings us home… to his
home…to give us a home… to become our home.
I don’t know if my groundhog neighbors will ever become less pesty….I
think it is in their nature, and I have no power of that. But I do know that even though it is my
nature to be a pest, God does have the power to do something about that. Day after day God’s creative power is
recreating me anew. I may be a
pest, but God won’t leave me that way.
He wont rest until God’s hope, God’s mercy, and God’s peace rest in
me….and in the rest of the world.
Groundhogs beware…I am out to get you and get rid of you for good. People, fear not….God is out to get you
and keep you…keep you for good.
Have a great week.
God’s grace and peace,
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
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