21 Dec 05 113517590894882868
The word loyalty has disappeared from the vocabulary of the modern day baseball player. It has been replaced with money, money, money. Johnny Damon moves from the Red Sox to the team that must not be named? Next thing you’re going to tell me is that Nomar Garciaparra is going to the Dodgers. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to use such a foul word in my post. I’m just a little cranky this morning.
I’m a little frustrated and distracted this morning as the mice have returned. Two times two traps have been sprung, picked clean. This proves two things: mice are smarter than we give them credit and mice like fudge. I even set up my video camera last night (in super night shot mode) to catch the little rodents in the act. They just waited ninety minutes and had their little party in my desk drawer. Yes, they have managed to find a way into my bottom desk drawer and consumed two packets of Ketchup. Nothing goes on fudge like Ketchup. I’m expecting to see a grocery list in mouse script sometime soon.
To get back on track here are more thoughts from Henri Nouwen, The Return of The Prodigal Son:
The true prodigal. I am touching here the mystery that Jesus himself became the prodigal son for our sake. He left the house of his heavenly Father, came to a foreign country, gave away all that he had, and returned through his cross to his Father’s home. All of this he did, not as a rebellious son, but as the obedient son, sent out to bring home all the lost children of God. Jesus, who told the story to those who criticized him for associating with sinners, himself lived the long and painful journey that he describes.
I’ve been mulling this excerpt over and over in my mind. The stones have been in the tumbler for some time now (no pun intended Steve) waiting to emerge as polished agates.
Jesus suffered the same treatment for his obedience that we experience for our disobedience. Our decision to walk away from the Father, to leave the dwelling place of the Father behind, led us on a journey to become the very people Jesus was hated for sharing with his meals. His decision, to be obedient to the Father, lead Jesus on a journey to woo us back to the safety and security of life with God.
Isaiah 53:3-6 (NCV) He was hated and rejected by people. He had much pain and suffering. People would not even look at him. He was hated, and we didn’t even notice him. But he took our suffering on him and felt our pain for us. We saw his suffering and thought God was punishing him. But he was wounded for the wrong we did; he was crushed for the evil we did. The punishment, which made us well, was given to him, and we are healed because of his wounds. We all have wandered away like sheep; each of us has gone his own way. But the LORD has put on him the punishment for all the evil we have done.
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1. Johnny Damon – A Floridian (Orlando’s Dr. Phillips High School) and apparently living a very deprived life. It seems the 40 million the Sox offered just wouldn’t meet his needs like the 52 million the Evil Empire threw his way.
2. Latest (estimated) Score: Randy – 1, Mice – at least 8!
3. Interesting thought about the “suffering obedience” of Jesus. Thank God for it.
4. Prayers for you. The mice don’t need any.
Perhaps you should try ahlbesmo on the traps.
Some truly awesome thoughts. I never thought of Jesus as the prodigal son. To think He left His home in glory to travel to this sin-infested world and take on the misery that we have inflicted on ourselves………..what a wonderfully sobering and humbling thought. Thanks for articulating it, again, in such a way as to hit me between the eyes in a new way.
As for the mice, my suggestion is the same as before……….get a church cat! Say they like fudge, huh?
Mice … baptize them and get them into a small group. Obviously they are extremely gifted critters.
I don’t keep up with baseball except through Steve, so I’m clueless as to where Damon will now play.
I’d never thought of Jesus as the prodigal either. Must get the book.
I appreciate Nouwin’s use of the “journey”. It is something that I very much relate to and try to emulate. I’m not a preacher or a missionary, but day to day, year to year, place to place, if I can make other lives better, help communities, bring different constituencies into partnerships, improve qualty of life for people, that’s my journey. I don’t try to save souls, mine included. Salvation is not my call, I have to rely on faith for that. But if I can help others with their journey, my journey (and my soul) is complete.
Not much of a philosophy. In the future I’ll leave the deep thinking to the professionals in the blogosphere.
I’m telling you…DECON to send the little critters away (far, far away)
I was actually at my friend, the Red Sox fan’s house last night when he fired up Yahoo and got the bad news. He didn’t swear (out loud), to his credit, but the rest of the evening had quite the damper on it.
Cecil, you’re on vacation. You can stop keeping score now. (For the record, the stones are still winning.)
Randy, I’m with Brady on this one. I thought Nouwen’s comparison of the prodigal to Christ was a tad strained. But there is much merit to the thought process there. And no question as to what he knowingly went through for us.
Steve, I agree with you. There are some leaps and jumps that are made throughout the book. He makes quite a few assumptions from things in the painting and not actually in the story. People also tend to forget that the story is just that, a story.
Kristi, I took your advice and purchased some decon (cue the evil laughter). Between that and the chdeocg, the mouse standeth not a chance.
Hey Randy. Thanks for the post. Steve took the words right off of my keyboard. Jesus is not the prodigal. But he certainly did all that Nouwen said he did.