Grains of Sand

Genesis 48 is a chapter of blessing. Jacob, or Israel, has come to the end of his life. Joseph is called to see his father. He brings with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. Jacob recounts the promise that God had given to him and to his ancestors. Then he formally includes Joseph’s two sons in the blessing of the nation that God is going to form. In fact, Manasseh and Ephraim will eventually replace Jacob’s own sons, Simeon and Issachar, as heads of two of the 12 tribes that would make up the nation of Israel. Then Jacob blesses the two sons of Joseph just as his own father had blessed him and his own brother, Esau. Oddly, he blesses the younger with the older son’s blessing. In his own case, Jacob had received the older son's blessing by deceit. In this case, Jacob makes the switch quite deliberately. Stock.xchng photo But what sticks out for me today is the blessing itself. How many of us verbally bless our children, or our grandchildren. We might bless them with...

Ham probably didn’t notice much change in his status as a result of his disrespect of his father, Noah, as recorded in Genesis 9. The punishment for Ham’s crime was actually directed against his son and his son’s descendants (9:18, 24). But even the grandchildren and great grandchildren didn’t feel the effects of their forebear’s sin. That would come a lot later. Canaan was to be a slave to his brothers. Now Canaan was the son of Ham, but Canaan would also become the name of a nation of people who would settle in the land that God would eventually give to His people, Israel. The prophecy would come true, generations later, as Israel took control of the land God has promised them and subjugated the Canaanites. But before the time for Ham’s crime was served by his descendants, the fortunes of his family were quite impressive. Genesis 10 describes Nimrod as a mighty warrior and, “ a mighty hunter before the Lord ” (10:9). Ham’s branch of the family was to become a fierce lot. They...

I've been reading this morning from 1 Samuel 17-20. In summary, the passage concerns the complicated family relationships between David, Saul, Jonathan, and Michal. It's not often that your father-in-law tries to kill you, not once but several times, as was David's experience. But the truth is that sometimes family life can be challenging. My family relationships are not nearly as tricky as David's were. So for my post today, I am including a picture of some of those uncomplicated people who share a blood relationship with me. We may not see eye to eye on lots of things, but they haven't tried to kill me yet. In fact, we get along just fine, for which I thank the Lord.  

Christmas Memories 2 I'm baking for Christmas. Though the recipes don't turn out the same (chalk it up to substitutions I have to make living here in Venezuela) Farmer's Cookies and Stained Glass Window Cookies always remind me of Christmases past. These two cookies were standard Christmas fare at our house. Storage was no problem for mom. We had an enclosed, unheated, porch. When the cookies were cooled and packed in their respective cookie cans, mom took them out to the porch. It was as cold as a freezer out there! Of course, being in the porch, within easy access of all of us, made temptation a huge issue—I love both those cookies! During my growing up years, eating cookies was not a problem. Unhappily times have changed. As a kid none of those cookies ever went to waste and I never put on an ounce. As an adult, they all go to waist (you know what I mean!) and we aren't talking ounces anymore. Oh well … Christmas comes but once a year and if I can hold out, most of t...