10/8/14

From Gary... race, family trees and God


It has been over twenty years since I did any genealogical investigations of my family.  Frankly, it was quite a surprising effort.  There were a few people who where of note, but mostly just ordinary people, with a few unsavory "bad apples" thrown in for interest.  There were people from native America, Germany, England, and Holland and their intermarriage makes me a person of a "Heinz 57" composition.  But, then again, isn't that true of everyone? Consider Paul's comments from Acts, chapter 17...

Acts 17:24-28 NASB
(24)  "The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands;
(25)  nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things;
(26)  and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,
(27)  that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;
(28)  for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we also are His children.'

If you go far enough back, we are all remotely related.  So, why all the fuss over race?  Well, we all look a little different, don't we? We act differently too (just in the U.S., northerners do behave in ways that differ from those in the south). I guess its hard for us to look past the externals and see the hand of God behind everything, but the world is what it is and its up to us to live spiritually!  And speaking of that, read the two verses following the emboldened one above- I get the idea from this that every person should seek God because of who HE IS!!  Remember also, that the world is full of all sorts of people; and some of them will be NUTS! Appreciate them anyway- God put them here!!!!