A video I saw this month reminded me of pleasant memories. It was of a border collie herding sheep. It’s running speed was almost unbelievable.

The memories it triggered was of the collie we had growing in the 60s.

First, when the lady at the kennel was doing the paperwork, she said, “Hazel,” my Dad answered, Yes?”

“No,” she said, “That’s the dog’s name.”

That clenched the deal.

Second, it takes me back nearly 65 years. There was a bunch of kids in our backyard, and Hazel was corralling us. Every now and then she would give me a little nip on the side.

Concerned, my dad called the veterinarian.

“Don’t worry, Mr. Hazel, she’s a collie, she’s used to herding. That’s just the shepherd’s instinct.”

Lent may be seen as a time of shepherding nips.

Ash Wednesday reminds us of our mortality. It reminds me of the old line from Saturday Night Live.

“I’m Chevy Chase and you’re not.”

While we try to be Godly, we’ll never be God. I saw recently a meme that said, “I was saddened when I realized that my Universal Remote Control could not control the Universe.”

Ash Wednesday makes us realize, despite all our knowledge, wealth and advances, we are mortal.

My father told the story of one of his workmates.

A fellow railroad car inspector, who was built like Frankenstein’s monster. But sadly, a sickness reduced him to a frail, Pee Wee Herman. The doctor was perplexed. Finally, he asked him. “Do you work around rats and rodents?”

Being a freight. car inspector, it was not uncommon to do so. Going on the premise that he had laid his cigarette down where a rat had marked its territory, he was treated and, thank God he recovered. Nip!

As menacingly as we wish to present ourselves, spiritually we must realize that sooner or later we’ll all turn from Franky to Pee Wee.

We also, along with our physical weaknesses realize that we have emotional weakness. A pastor friend of mine, years ago, confessed to our group that, being normally as cool as a cucumber, he had lost it a church council meeting and was feeling bad he had raised his voice. Nip!

“Saving Private Ryan” had just come out, and given the final battle scene, I reminded him that even a 55-ton German Tiger Tank could explode if kicked too hard in the derrière. Each of us has a soft spot. Also, people do forget that pastors are called, “To challenge the comfortable and comfort the challenged.” If you are looking for a pastor to be your buddy, remember that a mark of true friendship means at times being honest and candid with one another. Nip!

I had worked a part-time job. It was middle shift and I’d come home dog tired. One night I composed, “Dear Lord, I am home. If I did good, bless my endeavors, if I did not, forgive me my foul-ups. Please grant me a good night’s sleep.”

We all try to be good, but Lent reminds us, that we are all “walking wars,” the carnal versus the spiritual natures are in a constant tension.

I once wrote to a colleague battling an alcohol addiction, that I had been blessed with the fact that most of the stuff tastes like battery acid to me.

However, I have been known, after difficult church council meetings, to absolutely destroy the refrigerator, and for a fellow who has to watch his blood sugar, that as not the smartest move. Nip!

I love the story of behind the constellation Orion the great hunter, a fixture in the winter sky. It seems while on earth he boasted that he was the world’s greatest hunter. He could kill anything that moved on earth.

This saddened Gaia, the earth mother. Mother Nature sent a little, tiny scorpion to sting his heel.

He was placed in the heavens to remind us of our mortality and sinful pride. There will always be a scorpion of sin our lives. Nip!

In our churches just prior to the reading of the Gospel lesson we sing an Alleluia.

During Lent many of our churches “bury it” and replace it with “Return to the Lord your God for he is gracious and merciful.”

It is inspired by the second chapter of the book of Joel. It is such a reminder that Reformer Martin Luther quoted a poem of his era. “Attempting Scylla’s course to shun, we against Charybdis head long run.”

In the ancient world there was an area where ships had to use caution, on one side there was rock and another a whirl pool. We might say today about being between a rock and hard place,

He would also mention “Pride and Despair” as being two poles of sin’s attraction on us. Sinful Pride says, “Look at me!” and Despair says, “Poor me!” They both use the same pronoun. Nip and double Nip!

Perhaps you have met as I have, siblings that display these characteristics. One would never admit weakness and the other would never admit strength. We all have to deal with this. It has been said, “If God is your co-pilot, change seats!”

Helpful to me is Luther’ s concept of “Simul Justus et Peccator.”

The Christian is simultaneously saint and sinner. Think of the Yin and the Yang symbol, the black fish chasing the white.

There was an old Dutchman who would attend a farmers’ market. He took along two crocks, among his many products. One was filled with dark apple butter and the other cottage cheese, “Lattwaerrick und Smearcase.”

They, together, make a delicious Dutch dessert.

He had a problem, he only brought one ladle. At first all went well, but things got so busy, he didn’t have time to clean it. By the end of the day what had been light had turned dark and what had been dark had turned light.

So with us, we Christians are too quick to confuse two important theological terms, “justification and sanctification.”

Justification is when we are saved by God’s gracious love and forgiveness in the blood of Jesus. It is like the Umpire shouting, “Safe.”

God declares us righteous in our baptisms. Sanctification is God’s daily work, in the Holy Spirit, renewing us each day and making us more Christlike.

The problem is that many folks deny that we are all works in progress.

As the Germans would say, the only time we will ever reach perfection is “when we are looking at the radishes from underneath.” In God’s eyes we are cleansed through the merits of our savior. In reality we are “Smearcase und Lattwaerrick.”

We are all walking wars. People sometimes forget that., and as Martin Luther would say, “They act is if they swallowed the Holy Spirit, feathers and all.” Nip!

This Lent, let us be aware of what the Holy Spirit tells us with those gentle nips of conscience. Being “Smearcase und Lattwaerrick,” as we travel our Lenten Journey, may we see our sinfulness, a symbolized by the ashes we’ve borne and worn.

Let us pray that each day God makes us more like his precious Son in our thoughts, words and deeds.

May we see that we confront, daily, our “Walking Warness” and live in the promises of Easter, that there is new life promised to us each day in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

Use your nips to grow in newness. Keep up the God work!