Lately, I have brought my attention back to working on the genealogy of my husband's family. The reason why I am researching his, and not my own is because several people in my family have researched our family, but no one in his family has. I can call someone in my family up, and get a copy of my history, but we cannot do that for my husband.
My father-in-law, is actually the best resource I have found in researching both sides of my husband's family. He is like a walking history book. He can tell you so many things that date so far back. He also remembers the actual dates like no one I've ever know. And, aside from the statistics, he is also a wealth of funny facts and stories. He knows some pretty good tales on several family members.
A few years ago, George and I went around to the family cemeteries that we knew of to try to record birth and death dates. My father-in-law went with us to a few places, and I found myself jotting down more of what he was saying that what I was actually seeing on those tombstones. It is definitely more interesting to hear than to read.
So, during the last week, I have been on Ancestry.com clicking on all those little leaves that I could find. I am so interested in this, and it makes me wonder. You know, on some level where we came from is important to all of us. We all have a desire to learn of our heritage. How many times have we watched shows where they find someone's biological parent or siblings. We cry as they make that connection. Well, as a child of Almighty God, how can we overlook our Christian heritage?
We know that the Bible is our greatest resource. Not only does it help us to learn of God our Father, and Jesus who we are joint heirs to the throne with, but all of life's lessons can be found in this great book. We learn where we came from as well as where we are going.
I think one of the greatest things we think of when we think of genealogy in the Bible is found in the Christmas story.
And it came to pass in those days, there went out a decree from Caesar
Augustus, that all the world should be taxed......And all went to be taxed,
every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out
of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is
called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
Luke 2:1, 3-4
Right there, between those parentheses, is the heritage of our Lord. We see that Jesus was a descendant of David, a man after God's own heart. Why do you think this is important? Why does God want us to know this?
I'm not really sure myself. I just know, that it is nice to find out where we come from, to know that we belong to a certain group of people, how their name came about, and where they first landed when coming to America. It is fun to sit and wonder how far back my brown eyes go, and were there others who had the same tendencies that I do? What was their language of birth? What was their profession? Were they saved by the grace of God so that I may see them one day in heaven?
One thing is for certain, we may all have different relatives, we may have different skin tones, and quirks, but we do know where we came from. We came from the Creator of the Universe. We were intricately formed by The Almighty God for His glory. And one sweet day, to Him we will return.
My heritage:
Aris begat Corbett, and Corbett begat Rick, and Rick begat Nathan (& Erin-but it typically lists the boys).
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