We’re back home now. Our whirlwind 24 hour trip is over. My wife is nesting happily, and I am waiting for a tv show to download. Sitting back on my sofa, with my cat sitting on top of the pad near my right shoulder, I am grateful for the opportunity to see my grandparents.
Not everyone feels this way, I know. If you did not know your grandparents or if they were cruel or emotionally unavailable, I am sorry. My father’s parents were always extremely supportive and caring even when we didn’t see eye to eye. Getting to show off my pregnant wife for the first time to them was a pleasure. They’ve known she is pregnant, but living five hours away means that we don’t see each other often. But when I do see them, I experience this overwhelming sense of gratefulness wash over me.
This visit was great. Out of the blue, my wife started bragging about me and how she thinks I am a wonderful husband. She told them all kinds of stuff about how well I treat her, and it felt really good. My grandparents were an amazing comfort to me as a child, and they blessed me even when I was a rebellious and idiotic teenager. They’re different from me, yet they are a spiritual and emotional rock in my life.
My grandfather told me how unusual I am for appreciating and craving family history the way I do. For the past five years, I’ve asked them all sorts of questions about the past, and asked them to write down some of their memories from childhood.
I never cared much about family history until my mom’s father and stepmother passed away. My grandfather was a preacher. I discovered more than 400 sermons recorded on tape and volumes of sermon notes. It was only once I acquired these that a vision began to form inside me of knowing my family heritage and history.
Since then, I have encouraged everyone of my family members to record their thoughts, experiences, and memories for posterity. I have no idea how long Jesus will tarry, but until he returns, I want to paint a vivid picture of my family for my children and any future generations.
Each child is different from his or her parents and grandparents. But some things are hereditary. Some things are passed down through experience. Some things are gifts or callings of God upon an entire family (see Abraham and David’s families as examples). We don’t tend to think that way anymore, but that doesn’t mean God has changed his ways. He blesses and rewards faithfulness (and by faithfulness, I mean hearts that faithfully want to know him).
I want to look back on my family history and see patterns of blessing I can experience and possibly even curses which might need to be broken. Faith comes by hearing. You can only ask God and expect him to come through on things you know he will do. Knowing family history is essentially what God commanded the children of Israel to do after they fled Egypt. It was through family history that each generation were taught who God is and what he has done. And it is through knowing what God has done that we learn what to expect from him and how to approach him.
History is our map. Our guide. Our introduction. The relationship with God must continue… must deepen and mature… but our path is defined largely by how much we are able to expect from him and know about him from the start. He can break through our preconceived ideas and re-teach us who he is, but a faithful account of his interaction in our family’s lives will help to form a more accurate picture of him which will set us up to know him more fully from the beginning.
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