The Bungee Cord

Hello,

I am writing this week’s Bungee Cord as I sit in the Denver airport, having come here for a week to share in the joy of my son’s wedding. It was a wonderful week of crystal blue skies and warmer weather than I had expected for the end of September. If you have ever been to Denver and the mountains that lie west of it, you know of the towering glory of the Rockies and the stark beauty that they supply.

With time to kill before my flight home I have taken my temporary home at an empty flight gate feeling as if I was on some ocean-side beach watching the to and FRO of the waves of people passing by on the people movers in front of me. Sometimes the waves are no bigger than a few people with a lengthy interlude between the small crests, but other times when a plane has just landed, there is a crashing of humanity, churning with people scurrying to get to their connecting flight or to the object of the travel they have made.

I find myself amazed by some of the travelers, most amazed by those who are travelling with small children. Having made such trips when I was younger, I know the struggle of such journeys. Packing the essentials that a baby will need when away from home….getting to the gate with toddlers in tow…keeping them occupied as you await the flight…hoping that they will not scream during the flight, or worse yet, the duration of the flight…excess trips to the small bathroom in the back of the plane….hoping that their luggage isn’t lost……. Travelling with young children is an adventure!

On our way to Denver a family of six boarded ahead of us. Mother with a baby in her arms. Father with a baby in the baby carrier on his chest. A little girl who was preschool in age, and a boy, pulling a small suitcase, who may have been 5. I don’t know if they were on their way home, or if they were starting their trip, but this I do know; given the challenge of their travelling, wherever they were going or had gone, the destination must have been very important.

Speaking of challenging travel, consider the travel that Jesus, the Son of God, made when he came into this world. Packing to enduring the struggles of life…seeking to bring God’s grace into a love-lacking world…wondering if the people will take hold of God’s word…preparing for the disappointment of the people…hoping that roadblocks will not be placed in his way. It was, to say the least, a challenge for Jesus to make his journey into the world….a journey that would find its end on a cross and out of a grave. And realizing the difficulty that he faced, it is clear that there was only one thing that motivated his trip……the importance of the destination.

And the destination wasn’t Jerusalem….it wasn’t Rome….it wasn’t Athens…it wasn’t Cairo. It was your heart and mine. More important than to see some spectacular sight. More important than visiting a beloved, dying grandfather…more important than being there for a son’s wedding…..Jesus, the Son of God, left his heavenly throne to stake his claim on your heart. Nothing could have stopped him from his journey, and nothing did. The destination of your heart and mine was not just some bucket list quest to accomplish before he died, it was the destination for which brought about his death.

It took more than the courage of travelling with young children for Jesus to make his human-bound trip…it took undenying love. Just think, you are that important of a destination to Jesus!

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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