The Bungee Cord  4-27-21

Hello,

 

This week’s Bungee Cord is a day late, because I just got home from NYC having visited my new, first, wonderful, dashing, delightful….grandson!  He was born last Monday, and after giving my son and his wife to settle in a bit, Kate and I decided it was time for a visit.  And what a visit it was!

 

We walked into his room, and there he was sound asleep and content.  Peacefully breathing in and out, and occasionally making faces of all sorts as he slept. I had forgotten how small newborns are, but as he wrapped his tiny hand around my finger, he had the power to break open my heart.  Welcome to the world, Henry!

 

I know that many of you have had the wonder of this experience, seeing bone of you bone and flesh of your flesh carrying on into one more generation.  So, you’ll excuse me if I am a bit giddy about my grandson’s entry into the world.

 

When I picked him up for the first time, his head flopped a bit as I gathered him into my arms.    So fragile.  So frail.  So utterly dependent on those who love him.  Not a whimper or a cry as he was passed from arms to arms. Completely unaware of the world that he was facing, completely trusting those who embraced him.

 

As he grows, I know that things will change for Henry.  He will come to know the feeling of being alone and afraid.  He will come to understand that there are some people you can trust and some people who you can’t.  He will quickly learn the words, “NO!”, “Mine.”, and “Me do!”  And before he knows it, the world will have him convinced that you have to look out for number one the burdens that will be laid upon his shoulders can be quite heavy.

 

But hopefully, he won’t forget these first days of his life when trust came naturally, and the adventure of life was exciting as he felt the security of his parents’ and grandparents’ arms.

In the book of 1 John, the writer refers to his readers as “little children”… not “children”, but “little children”…little like the stature of Henry whose “trust is so childlike no cares could destroy” (words from the hymn “Lord of all hopefulness.”).  He calls them little children to bring to their memory those first few days of life….completely trusting, full of wonder….because, they are being held in the arms of one whose love for them is unmatched in the universe, and whose trustworthiness is sealed in a death on the cross.  “Little children.”

 

As I gush over my grandson, I hope that you hear God gushing over you and you will experience a “peace that surpasses all human understanding.”  There’s no better time than right now to hear the verse from 1 John that grounds my life, and brings grounding to yours, “See what love the Father has given us that we should be called Children of God; and that is what we are.) (1 John 3:1)

 

God’s grace and peace!

 

Have a great week

GGAP,

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger