The Bungee Cord 5-6-24

Hello,

The title, “Christian”, means “little Christ”, as I suspect most of you already know.

The picture with today’s Bungee Cord is another Dogwood tree, a little Dogwood tree. We planted it in front of our house a couple of years ago. When we bought it, it was slightly smaller than it is now, and it did not produce any flowers. We had to put some support stakes around it as its roots had not taken hold of the surrounding soil, and without the support it would have easily blown over in the winds that rattle our house. This year, however, its roots have woven themselves deeper in the ground, so it is no longer in need of auxiliary support, and after my wife has tended the soil with nutrients it produced around 10 blossoms. (You might be able to see them in the picture, and if you do you will notice that they have already begun to wilt.). I don’t think that in my lifetime this little Dogwood tree will match the big Dogwood tree that I wrote about last week, but in the years of my life that remain, I will watch it grow and develop with a clear picture in my mind of what it will one day become.

I am a Christian. Through nothing of my own doing, but completely by Christ’s doing, I am who I am. I am not the product of my deeds, good or bad. I am the product of Jesus’ deed, his death and resurrection. I am not “dust in the wind” (as the band Kansas has said ). I am clay in the potter’s hand. I am not a random sub-microscopic speck in the universe. I am the apple of the eye of the one who permeates the universe. I am not an accidental particle of time and space. I am one who the one who is beyond time and space has inhabited as his home. “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 has named me a beloved child, and God, whose word contains creative power has made me what I am: a child of God.

When I, a child of God, stand myself next to Christ, the Son of God, I feel like a 6th grader who is stepping his toes into puberty with my older college graduate sibling by my side. No zits on his face. No cracks in his voice. His arms and legs fully muscled, mine like the twigs of a tree. My head barely reaching his shoulders, and my naivete dwarfed by his wisdom. I am a “little Christ”, far less than Christ, himself.

The peace in my mind, the joy in my soul, the love in my heart is pretty trifling compared to Christ’s. I am much more akin to the little Dogwood tree in our yard than the big one. The beauty that I bring to the world is far more minimal than that which Jesus brings. When the world comes at me with its clubs and bats, I wish that I had the peace that Jesus had in the Garden of Gethsemane. When evil tempts me and seeks to bring me to my knees, I wish that I had the joy that Jesus had when he laughed at the devil’s trickiness in the wilderness. When I feel like I have been pummeled by the beater bar of life’s vacuum, I wish that I had the love in my heart that Jesus had when he prayed for his enemies as he hung on the cross. I am a little Dogwood, a Christian, a little Christ.

But all is not hopeless. As a matter of fact, all is full of hope because Christ, like my wife, is at work in my life, loosening the soil around me, feeding me with nutrients, staking me down against the wind. The day will come that I, who has been under Christ’s care from the day that he made me his, will be like him. “2Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he* is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. (1 John 3:2). Just as the little Dogwood tree sees what it will be like when it looks at the big Dogwood tree, I can see what I will be like when I l, a Christian…a little Christ, look at Jesus Christ.

So, fellow little Dogwood trees, live each day in great hope, for the day is coming that you, and I, will bring the beauty and grace to the world that comes from the daily care of the gardener. Take a look at the big Dogwood tree…..it is beautiful!

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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