The Bungee Cord 5-1-17

Hello,
     Lesson number two from my puppy, McHahon: leaves are fun to chase, but they are not very nourishing.
    As you may remember, my wife and I added a puppy to our lives at Christmas time.  He was 10 pounds when we got him, and now at about 7 months he is about 40 pounds.  His paws still overmatch his frame, so we fear he has a long way to go before he tops off.
    With winter behind us, McMahon spends a lot of time running around our yard, restrained by an underground fence.  Most of his outside time he spends hunting....hunting leaves.  For hours on end he will chase after leaves that the wind carries across the ground.  As soon as he gets outside he sets up in his Gordon Setter hunting stance clicking his head from side to side in rapid rotation until he locks on an unsuspecting leaf wind-caught frolicking atop the grass. As still as a statue he stands, but when the leaf ventures too close, he transforms from statue to preditor...leaping, chasing, and pouncing on the leaf.  Having captured his prey, McMahon lifts up one of his paws and then makes mince-meat of it with his sharp little puppy teeth.  No leaf is safe in our yard when McMahon is on the prowl, a prowl that he will undertake for hours.
    So caught up in his hunting expedition, he ignores calls to come inside...unless you include in your call, "Do you want to eat?".  When he hears these words, his stomach overtakes his hunting instinct and he comes charging into the house, devouring his food with ravaging appetite.  Leaves may be great fun to chase, but they aren't very nourishing!
    A lesson well to learn.  There are things that I find myself chasing after with singular focus - my job, my hobbies, favorite sports teams - things that often bring much enjoyment to my life.  They take hold of my interest with the thrill of the chase, with the pride of the catch, and the contentment of the victory.  But though I may devour them, they leave my stomach rumbling.  They are all fun to chase, but they aren't very nourishing.
    "Do you want to eat?"  Every Sunday morning I hear this invitation calling me from a cross-topped building, and the rumbling in my stomach gives me an immediate answer, "Yes!"  My stomach tells me that the stuff that the world has given me to gnaw on just hasn't done the trick to energize my life.  I need something that puts meat on my bones, fuels my muscles, clarifies my mind,  and sustains my life.  I don't know why, but for some reason people seem to hear a harsh command coming from the church, a command that doesn't work for my dog McMahon or for people, either, "Get in here!"  It may be that some churches issue such a command, but I know that if what falls on people's ears from my church is heard as a command that ends with the phrase "or else", then the message must be getting caught in some garbling filter that the world has placed in front of people's ears.  For when I enter the church with ravaging hunger, I discover food....great food....the Word of God and the blessings of God's presence at his table....and I am delighted to have been called into my home to eat.
    Because you see, I have come to learn from my dog, McMahon, leaves are fun to chase, but they are not very nourishing.
Have a great week.
God's grace and peace,
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger