Do not be surprised because I tell you that you must all be born again. The wind blows wherever it wishes; you hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. It is like that with everyone who is born of the Spirit.
John 3:7-8
FATHERS' DAY CARDS
Last week, I told you about Mr. Pyatt. He lived down the street from where I grew up and he was the meanest man who ever walked the face of the earth. I knew that he was mean. My friends knew that he was mean. My Mom knew that he was mean. Even my Dad knew that he was mean.
My whole childhood was spent with the knowledge that Mr. Pyatt did not have red blood coursing through his veins. We were convinced that his body was fueled by sour pickle juice. But one day, something happened that gave me a slightly different impression of Mr. Pyatt. Maybe he wasn't completely rotten after all. It happened like this ...
It was Father's Day and I was about 9 years old. My buddy Gussy and I were on our way home from Sunday School. We were both beaming because, at Sunday School, we had made our Dads Fathers' Day cards out of construction paper, glue and magic marker. We were so proud of them - the kind of proud that you get when you make something very special for someone very special - the kind of proud you get when you make it all by yourself and you know that the special someone is just going to love it. You just can't wait to hear what they have to say, "Oo! Ah! Oo! Ah!"
Gussy and I both knew that our Dads were going to love their Fathers' Day cards. Mine was made of blue construction paper. I had cut out an airplane in yellow paper and placed it on the front above the words, "To the Nicest Man in the Whole World".
When it was opened up, there was a cut out of an red bird flying under white fluffy clouds. I had added the words, "You make me want to fly. Happy Fathers' Day". I thought that it was kind of catchy.
Gussy's card was something like mine. It was also blue - all of the Fathers' Day cards were blue just like all of the Mothers' Day cards were pink. It went with the times.
Gussy's card had a picture of a German Shepherd on the front that he had cut out of a magazine. He wanted a picture of a big dog because the only dog they had at home was a poodle that was always clipped in such a way that it sort of looked like a garden shrub. Gussy thought that was embarrassing. We guessed his Dad thought so too so the German Shepherd was a nice touch.
On the front, Gussy had written, "To the Nicest Man in the Whole World" and on the inside it said, "Happy Father's Day," beside a cut out of a great big red heart.
We had no doubt that these were the best cards that had been made in our Sunday School class. We seriously considered that they might be the best cards that had ever been made anywhere by anyone.
Walking along the road, we came to my house. We were giggling as we opened the back door, anxious to see my Dad's reaction. We went up the few stairs and through the kitchen door. There was Dad sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee. He had walked home from Church with my Mom because we were a little late getting out of Sunday School on account of letting the glue dry on the construction paper.
I walked over to him and held out his Fathers' Day card. I imagine that I was bursting the way that children do when they know they have done something wonderful.
"What have we here?" Dad said as he reached out and took the card from my hand. He read the front. Then he opened it up and smiled. It was the kind of smile that said, "I'm proud of you, Son." Then he said out loud, "This is the finest card I have ever received."
I could see that he was getting watery in his eyes. He looked away and reached into his pocket. Out came two quarters. "Here," he said, "why don't you and Gussy go to the store and buy some jaw breakers." Back then, 50 cents worth of jaw breakers was good for a whole week even if you did have to share them.
A minute late, Gussy and I were out the door and heading for his house. We were laughing and giggling the way boys sometimes do. What we didn't notice, however, was how the wind had come up. I guess Gussy wasn't holding his Dad's card very tightly because a gust of wind blew up behind us that snatched the card right out of his hand and hoisted it up into the air. We tried to catch it but the wind blew it away. We ran after it but everytime we thought we just about had it, it blew in another direction and we missed it.
Can you guess where Gussy's card finally ended up? It blew onto Mr. Pyatt's precious green grass and up into a shrub that grew right in the front if his house.
I looked at Gussy. Gussy looked at me. What were we going to do? We both knew that Mr. Pyatt was the meanest man in the world. If he caught us on his property, he'd call the police and have us arrested. But we had to get the Fathers' Day card for Gussy's Dad. Just then, Mr. Pyatt came out the front door. He saw the card resting on the shrub and reached over to pick it up.
THE BLOWING WIND
Today's Gospel reading is one of the most famous passages in the Bible. It is the story of Nicodemus' visit with Jesus. Jesus told the Pharisee that, if he wanted to see the Kingdom of God, that he had to be born again.
Nicodemus asked Jesus some very good questions about what he meant by that statement. Jesus told him that he had to be born of water and the Spirit. And then Jesus used an illustration to explain what he meant. He said that the wind will blow where it will. We don't know from where it comes. We don't know where it is going. We cannot predict the wind. All we know is that it is on the move and active in the world in unexpected ways.
In both Greek and Hebrew, 'Spirit' is the same word as 'wind'. To say that the wind will blow where it will is the same thing as saying that the Spirit of God will blow where it will. Just as we don't know where the wind will go, we don't know where the Spirit will lead us through life. Our faith journeys will be full of surprises.
The person who is born again of the Spirit must walk in faith. Jesus told Nicodemus, in fact, that if he truly wantedto follow God and offer his life over to the work of the Kingdom, that he would have to expect the unexpected. The Spirit would blow in his life where it would and he would not know where it would take him.
That's an uncomfortable thought for some of us who like to know what's going on and like to have life all planned out like an appointment book. But life's road is full of curves around which we cannot see. All we can so is step out in faith.
The wind will blow where it will and we must be prepared to expect the unexpected.
THE WIND BLOWN FATHERS' DAY CARD
The wind had blown Gussy's card right into Mr. Pyatt's yard. We certainly had not expected that. Mr. Pyatt reachedout and took the card in his hand. Gussy and I held our breath, waiting to see what the old geezer would do. He justopened it up and read what it said.
After he had finished, he noticed us for the first time standing there on the street looking at him. "This belong to one of you?" he asked.
Silence.
"I said, 'Does this belong to either one of you?'"
"Yes sir," I heard Gussy say in a tentative voice, "I made it." I gained new respect for Gussy that day. That took guts.
"Then come over here and get it," said Mr. Pyatt with a snarl, "but come up the driveway. I don't want your grubby shoes messing up my grass."
Mr. Pyatt stood there waiting for us as we slowly approached him, careful to stay off of his grass. When we got right up to him, he handed the card to Gussy. "Nice card, kid," said Mr. Pyatt. It almost sounded as though he was trying to be nice. No one had ever heard Mr. Pyatt try be nice. "Father's Day, eh. My wife and me never had any kids. Just as well really. Can't stand the little brats. Here take it home and give it to your Dad. He'll like it."
It was then that Gussy surprised me again. "Actually," he said, "it's not for my Dad."
"Whose it for?"
"Ah, it's for you Mr. Pyatt." I couldn't believe my ears. Gussy had spent all morning making his Dad a Fathers' Day card and now he was going to give it to the meanest old geezer in the world.
Mr. Pyatt was quiet for a moment. It was like he'd forgotten how to talk. "Thanks kid," he said, "I've never had a Fathers' Day card before." Then he kind of got watery in the eyes the way my Dad did. He reached into his pocket and pulled out two quarters. "Here kid, take this and go buy you and your pal a bag of jaw breakers." What a haul, $1 worth of jaw breakers. It was as good as life got for a nine year old.
"Thanks, Sir," said Gussy, "Oh, and happy Father's Day."
We were gone in a flash heading to the corner store. That's when Gussy had one more surprise up his sleeve. Instead of using his 50 cents to get jaw breakers, he bought his Dad a Fathers' Day card. It was the best card on the rack and his Dad liked it just fine. He shook his hand and got all watery eyed just like my Dad and Mr. Pyatt. I guess it was allergy season or something.
You might be wondering what I did with my 50 cents. I used it to buy jawbreakers, just like my Dad had told me. I had a few. Gussy had a few and, on the way home, we dropped two off at Mr. Pyatt's house, one for him and one for his wife. We didn't actually hand them to him. We thought that would have been pushing our luck just a little. Instead, we left them on the front step in a little brown bag with Mr. Pyatt's name on it.
The wind blew Gussy's Fathers' Day card right into Mr. Pyatt's yard and I gained a new insight into the old guy that day. I saw a tender side of him that I didn't think existed. I also saw a new side of Gussy. I didn't know he could be so brave and compassionate. I guess that I learned something that day too. I learned never to judge people to quickly. Sometimes you have to expect the unexpected.
Jesus said that the wind blows where it will. He was right. When we live in the Spirit, we learn to see things in a whole new way. One of the most important things that we can learn is that we are all children of God. On Father's Day, we remember that God is the best Father of all.
