50 Lessons to 50 © In the Old Testament (Leviticus 25), the 50th year was labeled The Year of Jubilee. It represented a year of restoration and blessing. It was declared The Sabbath’s Sabbath. Fifty lessons that I hope I have learned as I make my way to 50 (presented in the 50 days preceding my 50th birthday). LESSON # 36: REMEMBER WHERE YOU COME FROM A fairly common question is “Where are you from?” Even though I have lived in Northeast Ohio for virtually half of my life, I still respond by saying, “Columbus”. If the inquirer is also from Columbus, then they typically want to drill a little deeper and find out what part of town I’m from. This is usually followed up by a bevy of other identifiable questions such as, "What high school did you graduate from or what street did you grew up on?" Yes, I’m from Columbus…Yes, I’m a proud Linden McKinley Panther…Yes, I grew up on Homestead Drive. But in reality, I’m from places far away from the ‘614’…I’m from places that I’ve never been….Places I’ve never seen…I come from ancestors I have never talked to… The 1997 film “Amistad” depicts the 1841 Supreme Court case regarding a group of ‘slaves’ who had been captured in Sierra Leone in 1839 and took over the slave ship, ‘La Amistad’ off the coast of Cuba. The slaves were fighting for their freedom and the right to return to their homeland. In a very poignant scene, Cinque (played by Djimon Hounsou) is speaking through an interpreter to John Quincy Adams (played by Anthony Hopkins) who is defending the Africans. Adams attempts to prepare Cinque for what he and his fellow Africans are going to face during the trial. Cinque puts Adams at ease by informing him that he has called upon his ancestors and that their sole purpose in life was for this moment. He was not calling on these ancestors as in a séance, but calling upon the lessons and the blessings that have been passed down through the generations. Cinque had a profound sense of where he was from and the importance of his family history. In 1 Samuel 7, Samuel places a stone between Mizpah and Jeshanah and called it Ebenezer. He did this so that future generations would remember the blessings that God had bestowed upon their forefathers. In Genesis 50, Joseph, on his death bed in Egypt, makes his brothers and his family, swear an oath that one day when the Lord was ready to take the Hebrews to the Promised Land (Canaan), they would remember to take his bones with them. Several hundred years later, this oath was fulfilled when Moses led his people out of Egypt. A promise made and a promise kept because Moses remembered where he came from and it was not exclusively Egypt. In a tragic biblical contrast to this, Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of stew to his younger brother Jacob. Sadly, Esau did not remember where he had come from and thus saw little or no value in his birthright. I’m much more than me and you are much more than you. Think about it, everyone has two parents, four grandparents, 8 great grandparents…on and on and on… It took an amazing God to line up all of those relationships at just the precise time in history to get me to be me and you to be you, physically, emotionally, and most importantly spiritually. There are things shared between generations that defy understanding. I share a love for reading and writing with my mother who has been directly involved in my life. However, I have never had a meaningful relationship with my natural father and yet we share a passion for business and commerce. The Atheist (fool) says there is ‘no’ God and chooses not to believe. It’s a play on words, but the believer says, I ‘Know’ God and thus, I know my purpose, my destiny, and where I come from. I can only understand where I am from if I first understand who I am in relation to the Creator. CONCLUSION TO LESSON #36 on my 50 days to 50 pilgrimage with Joseph’s bones, I have to remember where I come from in order to have clarity regarding where I am going.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Jun 2013 00:36:08 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015