All in the Family
Today’s scripture selection: First Chronicles 1-5
Key verses: First Chronicles 1:34
Do you know very much about your heritage? Have you ever done much with genealogy? Who were the heroes and the “black sheep” in your family? Are you related to kings, horse thieves, or both?
These are the kinds of questions that roll around in the head of someone who takes his or her family history seriously. And it is such a person as this who would be particularly interested in the book of First Chronicles. It’s all about historical records.
Going all the way back – the very beginning – Chronicles lists it all: the good, the bad, and everyone in-between.
Now, unless you just absolutely love family records – it can be pretty dry reading in places.
But it is worth looking at – especially for this reason:
The Bible is all about a God who is active in history.
The Judeo-Christian God is a deity who operates in real time; real space; with real people. God is not some abstract, shady figure who set things in motion a billion years ago and then went about other business.
The God I worship knows my history; my family’s history; my nation’s history; my world’s history – and is actively, powerfully, lovingly involved with it all.
That gives me some peace. Even when I think the world is spinning wildly out of control – I pause and remember – God knows what has happened; what is happening now; and what will happen in the future that is in His hands.
So maybe I can sleep tonight without too much tossing and turning. After all – I’m not in charge of how history unfolds.
Someone far wiser – and far greater than I – has all that under control. Thank God.
Prayer: Lord, help me to rest easy in the knowledge that it is your universe; your timing; your purpose unfolding – just as it should. AMEN.
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By Paul Simrell
The Reverend Paul W. Simrell has served for over thirty years in a variety of congregational and institutional settings. He is a recognized minister with standing in the Virginia region of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada and is nationally endorsed by the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) for specialized ministry in both pastoral counseling and chaplaincy. Ordained in 1982, he has served congregations in Kentucky, Texas, Florida, and Virginia. He currently serves as the pastor of Elpis Christian Church, a small, historic congregation located just a few miles west of Richmond, Virginia. Elpis is the Greek word meaning “expectant hope.” He also serves on the associate clinical staff of the Virginia Institute of Pastoral Care, Richmond, Virginia, both as a pastoral counselor and a ministerial assessment specialist, specializing in executive, clergy and relationship coaching. He is a graduate of the University of Florida and Lexington Theological Seminary and has done advanced clinical training in chaplaincy and pastoral counseling at the University of Kentucky Medical Center in Lexington, Kentucky, Children’s Medical Center and Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas and the Virginia Institute of Pastoral Care in Richmond, Virginia. He is a Certified Pastoral Counselor, an ACPE Practitioner, and a member of the American Association of Christian Counselors. He is a Certified Facilitator of the Prepare-Enrich relationship assessment and skills-building program and served as a volunteer chaplain for over twenty years with the CJW Medical Center campuses in Richmond, Virginia. His avocational interests include playing the piano and drawing. He is very happily married to his wife Elizabeth Yeamans Simrell, a free-lance writer, who is also a Certified Facilitator for the Prepare-Enrich program.
Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton
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