For the Love of Gobi - June 24, 2017
For the Love of Gobi!
Two weeks ago, I was teaching a Sunday School lesson to a class of one – my granddaughter Emma. The story was The Good Samaritan. If you don’t know the story, go here. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+10%3A25-37%2CLuke+15%3A11-31&version=NIV, or ask Emma.
In a nutshell, the least likely person to help a dying man, helps to save his life. Jesus tells his listeners to “Go and do likewise.” So, when you hear of someone being called “a Good Samaritan” – it normally means that this person went out of her or his way to help another.
Emma pointed out to me, “If I wasn’t here – there’d be no Sunday School.” Very observant little Good Samaritan, that one. There is another part to this story that I appreciate almost as much, but I’ll get to that in a minute.
I was listening to CBC’s The Current as I went for my afternoon stroll on Thursday. (I have a very needy FitBit. No kidding, at 12:01 am it sends me a message, “You only have 24 hours to get your 10,000 steps!” Gah, FitBit, get some sleep!) And the story was about a man, Dion Leonard, who was competing in a five-day race in the Gobi Desert. A stray dog appeared and Dion eventually had to make a decision about what to do with this dog. The dog, who eventually Dion called “Gobi,” had already made up her mind – “I have just met you and I already love you.” (Lovers of the dog Doug, in the Disney movie “Up,” will get the reference.)
Predictably – only predictable because this story in its broadcast on CBC was framed in such a way that you knew it was going to be “heartfelt” – the runner makes some sacrifices and decides to adopt this dog. http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-june-22-2017-1.4171342/how-a-little-dog-named-gobi-changed-an-ultramarathoner-s-life-1.4171376
But two other things about this story really stand out for me. First thing. It was the dog Gobi who gave her human the motivation – the reason – he needed to complete this race. Gobi either ran with him, or waited for him at the race end on days 4 and 5. And Gobi gave the runner a reason to keep on keepin’ on after the run – Dion was not in a good headspace when he started out.
The second thing was not talked about much in the interview but I expect is detailed in the book, which I am going to buy and share. The six-month process of bringing Gobi back to England was at least as arduous (and more expensive, dangerous, soul-destroying, and time-consuming) as falling in love with this dog during the five-day race. (FitBits do have some advantages over dogs.)
And that is what I like about this story. Anyone can do something that makes them feel good. Yeah, it’s a little inconvenient, but you’ll hear the phrase “I got as much out of it as my ____ did.” Life is a balance sheet, is it not?! Doing something short-term, based on emotion – it’s so easy. And too often the more difficult work is dumped into the lap of another. Who hasn’t had things dumped on them by folks who had their brief moment of “Aren’t I wonderful?!” I know I’ve done my share of dumping on others, and I’m not proud of those occasions.
And this is also what I like about the story of the Good Samaritan. He doesn’t just do the “feel good” stuff of patching the guy up and giving him some nourishment and just leaving him there. Though that would still be more than most would do. And Heaven knows G.S. had places to be and things to do. And this victim was, after all, a sworn enemy of his own country.
No, he adopts him.
He brings him to an inn and pays the innkeeper to look after him and promises to return to assist the innkeeper further, if that is what is needed. And may I say, it took a lot of faith for the innkeeper to take on this patient. Who knows what the victim may have been in his former life? Would having this almost-dead person in his inn keep other guests from coming to his place. And what if this Samaritan dude, who the innkeeper doesn’t know from Adam, doesn’t come back. Then what?
Hmm. Maybe on a Sunday that I’m not teaching church school, I’ll be able to give a reflection on this scripture passage to the adults. (I was a Lay Preacher and Pastoral Care Visitor at All Peoples United Church in Sudbury for about 10 years.) Hey, my audience would increase some 60-fold!
I think I know what I’ll use as my sermon title... “The Good Innkeeper.”
(And if I wander around the dais [platform at the front of the church] enough, I may even get my 10,000 steps in before noon.)
Two weeks ago, I was teaching a Sunday School lesson to a class of one – my granddaughter Emma. The story was The Good Samaritan. If you don’t know the story, go here. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+10%3A25-37%2CLuke+15%3A11-31&version=NIV, or ask Emma.
In a nutshell, the least likely person to help a dying man, helps to save his life. Jesus tells his listeners to “Go and do likewise.” So, when you hear of someone being called “a Good Samaritan” – it normally means that this person went out of her or his way to help another.
Emma pointed out to me, “If I wasn’t here – there’d be no Sunday School.” Very observant little Good Samaritan, that one. There is another part to this story that I appreciate almost as much, but I’ll get to that in a minute.
I was listening to CBC’s The Current as I went for my afternoon stroll on Thursday. (I have a very needy FitBit. No kidding, at 12:01 am it sends me a message, “You only have 24 hours to get your 10,000 steps!” Gah, FitBit, get some sleep!) And the story was about a man, Dion Leonard, who was competing in a five-day race in the Gobi Desert. A stray dog appeared and Dion eventually had to make a decision about what to do with this dog. The dog, who eventually Dion called “Gobi,” had already made up her mind – “I have just met you and I already love you.” (Lovers of the dog Doug, in the Disney movie “Up,” will get the reference.)
Predictably – only predictable because this story in its broadcast on CBC was framed in such a way that you knew it was going to be “heartfelt” – the runner makes some sacrifices and decides to adopt this dog. http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-june-22-2017-1.4171342/how-a-little-dog-named-gobi-changed-an-ultramarathoner-s-life-1.4171376
But two other things about this story really stand out for me. First thing. It was the dog Gobi who gave her human the motivation – the reason – he needed to complete this race. Gobi either ran with him, or waited for him at the race end on days 4 and 5. And Gobi gave the runner a reason to keep on keepin’ on after the run – Dion was not in a good headspace when he started out.
The second thing was not talked about much in the interview but I expect is detailed in the book, which I am going to buy and share. The six-month process of bringing Gobi back to England was at least as arduous (and more expensive, dangerous, soul-destroying, and time-consuming) as falling in love with this dog during the five-day race. (FitBits do have some advantages over dogs.)
And that is what I like about this story. Anyone can do something that makes them feel good. Yeah, it’s a little inconvenient, but you’ll hear the phrase “I got as much out of it as my ____ did.” Life is a balance sheet, is it not?! Doing something short-term, based on emotion – it’s so easy. And too often the more difficult work is dumped into the lap of another. Who hasn’t had things dumped on them by folks who had their brief moment of “Aren’t I wonderful?!” I know I’ve done my share of dumping on others, and I’m not proud of those occasions.
And this is also what I like about the story of the Good Samaritan. He doesn’t just do the “feel good” stuff of patching the guy up and giving him some nourishment and just leaving him there. Though that would still be more than most would do. And Heaven knows G.S. had places to be and things to do. And this victim was, after all, a sworn enemy of his own country.
No, he adopts him.
He brings him to an inn and pays the innkeeper to look after him and promises to return to assist the innkeeper further, if that is what is needed. And may I say, it took a lot of faith for the innkeeper to take on this patient. Who knows what the victim may have been in his former life? Would having this almost-dead person in his inn keep other guests from coming to his place. And what if this Samaritan dude, who the innkeeper doesn’t know from Adam, doesn’t come back. Then what?
Hmm. Maybe on a Sunday that I’m not teaching church school, I’ll be able to give a reflection on this scripture passage to the adults. (I was a Lay Preacher and Pastoral Care Visitor at All Peoples United Church in Sudbury for about 10 years.) Hey, my audience would increase some 60-fold!
I think I know what I’ll use as my sermon title... “The Good Innkeeper.”
(And if I wander around the dais [platform at the front of the church] enough, I may even get my 10,000 steps in before noon.)