Now that I’m retired I have some time to work on some of my
hobbies. I’ve been researching my family history for quite a few years, but recently
I’ve put a lot of effort into investigating my roots.
It’s been interesting, I’ve found that I have family members
who fought on both sides of the Civil War, including a great uncle whose nephew
was Abraham Lincoln. I have family who are doctors, lawyers, and even the
Attorney General of Arkansas; as well as auto mechanics, barbers, and tons of
farmers.
There is of course the weird side of exploring history. I’ve
seen records of blatant voter fraud with family who lived on the east coast
being registered to vote in California, I found a distant cousin who was
murdered by a telephone repairman in her home. There are lots of cousins
marrying each other, and even someone who, as a teenager, gave birth to two
sons, only to find that their father was her father.
What I’ve come to realize is that the brokenness we feel each
day isn’t by chance. We’re all broken in our own way. The sin of Adam and Eve
runs deep, and the enemy takes advantage of our free-will whenever possible to
exploit our faults.
But even in finding all these things in my family history
there is one truth that doesn’t change: Jesus loves them all. Every single one
of them.
No matter how much I research my family tree, I truly
understand that we are all from the same root. Whether you believe in God, or
in evolution, we all had to come from the first entity that spawned men and
women. We’re all connected, and we should treat each other as family.
“Be excellent to each other” -Theodore “Ted” Logan
-God, help us to show the love of Christ to others in everything we do and say. Amen.
