Hello,
This past weekend, my wife, Kate, went to visit her sister, leaving me
to take care of the chickens (which I report survived, if not thrived) and in
the company of our loyal dog, Duncan.
Duncan is a 5 year old Gordon Setter who has been with us since his
puppyhood. Jokingly I say that he
loves me and obeys Kate. This
weekend I found out differently.
It used to be when we lived
in Sioux Falls that Duncan would spend his nights in a kennel afar from our
bedroom, in the laundry room. When
we moved to Pennsylvania and lived by the good graces of Kate’s brother in
their cabin, his kennel moved to the bedroom. However, the kennel was soon abandoned as his sleeping quarters
when he discovered that Kate’s brother’s dogs took their place on the king-size
bed upon which her brother and his wife slept. A new habit was formed. So, now that we have lived in our house for a while, the
kennel has been placed in the garage attic, and Duncan makes himself cozy on
one of the beds….often ours….on my side!
Well, this weekend, even though the bed was half vacant, when it became
bed time, Duncan did not hop into bed with me. Instead, he went into the front bedroom where he could lay
himself down and keep an eye out the window. It didn’t strike me as too unusual, because it is upon this
front bedroom bed that he often sleeps, but when I noticed that over the course
of the weekend he would sit himself down in front of our house and watch out
over the drive. It didn’t take too
long for me to realize what he was doing….he was looking for Kate to come back
home. When she did come back home,
he greeted her with tail away, and since now all was right in the world, he
also took his place back on our bed…..on my side!
It all reminded me of the parable that Jesus told that we call the
Prodigal Son, but others who study the Bible have entitled “The Loving
Father”. As you may well know it
is about a father that has two sons, of which the younger one in disrespectful
manner demanded his inheritance (even before his father’s death) and then ran
off and wasted it on wild living.
His other son, in the mean time, dutifully stayed at home and worked. When the younger son finally “came to
himself”, he decided to come home and beg for mercy, the mercy that would be
given a slave. Jesus, however,
tells us that while the younger son was still far off, the father spotted him
and like a fool ran out to greet him, kissing him…..with tail awag! “Get a
robe! Get some sandals! Get a ring! Kill the calf…lets party!” Although the older brother didn’t find it to be so, with the
son’s return, all was right in the world.
The father’s son was by his side.
As Jesus tells the story it seems clear that the Father was like
Duncan….always keeping an eye on the driveway, looking for the return of the
one who was missing, and until that one was back, he would keep his watch. I am convinced that it was the father’s
love that pulled his son back (like a bungee cord). It may have been that
Duncan took sentry duty awaiting my wife’s return, but I know that I was just as anxious to have her back…even
more so…..than he.
This weekend I experienced the point of this parable that Jesus told,
the point being that God so intently loves each of his children that things are
not right in his heart when even one of them is not with him, and no matter how
far away a child of God’s may go, God’s eye is on the horizon and his heart is
attached to the hearts of his children pulling them back to his side, where
when they are back God’s greets them …. greets you and me….with tail awag!
Have a great week.
God’s grace and peace, (ggap)
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
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