Hello,
I’ve worn glasses since I hit 40, a casualty of aging eyes. When I first started wearing them, I
could still read without them, but they made things a lot clearer. Now, my arms aren’t long enough for me
to be able to focus on any print short of headlines. I don’t need them for long distances, but without them,
things near to me are but fuzzy blurs.
Without them, I cannot read….which is what I have to do on Sunday
mornings when I preach and lead worship.
I was out walking my dog the other day and taking pictures of our house
to post on my facebook page, when I noticed that my glasses were not on my
face. Since I was mainly doing
long distance viewing, I really didn’t need them, and that is why I couldn’t
remember when I had them on last.
When Duncan, my dog, and I got back home, I began searching for them in
places where I thought I might have laid them…nope. Then I searched places where I thought I might not have laid
them….nope. With the house
scoured, I went to the garage and my car…nope. The only place left to search was the fields in which I had
been walking…..GOOD LUCK!
I decided that I should try and backtrack my path, but with some of the
grass knee high, my hopes were not very high. Actually, I was hoping that they were still in my house
somewhere. So, I started out into
the field walking very slowly and scoping the ground as if I was panning for
gold. Down one path and along
another…nope. But just before I
hit the deep grass I saw this glimmer from the ground…eureka! (Which comes from the Greek for “I
found it”.) There they were…my
glasses … or my “glass eyes” which
I jokingly call them. How
they fell there, I don’t know? But
there they were.
I can’t say that I danced for joy when I found them, but I did breath a
big sigh of relief; relief that I would be able to see to lead worship, and
relief that I wasn’t going to have to shell out the money for new glasses.
Jesus tells two parables about how
important you and I (actually all people) are to God. So important is each person to God, that if God were a
shepherd and one sheep strayed away, he would search till he found it…or if God
were an elderly woman who lost a small coin, God would search for it until it
was found….and in both cases, when the sheep or coin was found, not only would
God dance a jig for joy, but all of heaven would join in with him. And the amazing reason for God’s
elation: God cannot go on without
you or me.
It is one thing to find one’s glasses so that one can read. It is far another thing to find
something so important that one cannot even go on without it….and that is what
Jesus says you and I (actually everyone) is to God. It is an amazing reality to consider. It is almost beyond human credibility
that the one who encompasses all things and all time should so deeply care for
you or me that God would not be able to go on without us. Unbelievable? Yet that is what Jesus tells us, and that is what we
celebrate every Sunday morning and build our lives upon for Monday through
Saturday.
The world may think you or me to be dispensible. Bosses are quick to let us know that
their businesses can survive without us, and spouses know that the day will
come when they will have to press on without the other. But not so with God. You and I are not dispensible. God cannot go on without us. If you or I stray – get lost – God will
search high and low, in every knick and corner, in every cesspool and cemetery
until God finds us. And when he
finds us…and he will says Jesus….there will be no holding back the joy for
God….for as unbelievable as it may seem to be, God cannot go on without us.
Have a great week.
God’s grace and peace,
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
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