I.
"I feel it. The blood of ancestors rests in my chest. The power is so great" --Propaganda, "How Did We Get Here?"
Jean-Jacques Arnal came to America from France in 1910, 20 years old. Then came World War I and France called all her sons back to fight. He survived some amazing events--another story. He met 4 brothers in his unit, and after getting to know him decided he was an ok guy and they told him about their sister, Maria. It was a bit strange-- they were fighting in Northern France, and Jean had been living in America, but Maria's town in the far south of France, Mauleon-Licharre, was not 40 miles away from his little village, Laruns. He travelled halfway around the world twice and fought a war to meet a woman who lived forty miles away! He was French, she was Basque; I suppose the language and cultural differences were ridiculously huge compared to 40 miles... They married and Jean made it back to San Francisco in 1920. He was my mother's grandfather, and I loved him dearly. He died when I was 10. Meme died when I was 4, and I still remember a lot about her... like how she was so small she had to sit on the Los Angeles phonebook to drive. And how I could do no wrong when she was around!
II.
"I get a feeling I can't describe,
I see this place when I close my eyes,
Wake me up if we ever arrive
Tell me, how did we get here?"
--Andy Mineo, "How Did We Get Here"
Eva Zoellin was born in 1880 in Bitterwater, California. Middle of nowhere. Used to be the right in the main range of the California condor. She was my dad's great-grandmother, and she died when I was 4. I remember her, too. She was an old pioneer woman, raising cattle on huge tracts of scrubby California hillsides. As a child, she remembers making tamales for a gang of bandidos who "protected" her family's cattle.
She went to the Baptist church in King City, CA. When my dad was a boy he asked her why she was a Baptist (he and his family were Episcopalians). She said quite emphatically, "I'm not a Baptist. I'm a Methodist." But there was no Methodist church in King City.
And yet, there was some kind of Methodist work way out in Bitterwater when she was a girl. All I can figure is some circuit-rider headed out into the middle of nowhere, because he heard there were some people living out there. Whoever it was, I am glad he took the effort to go where few would be interested in going! I have her Bible, and I try to get a sense of her spiritual life--her son Ken was in the Navy in World War I, and World War II. Her daughter, Joy, was a nurse in World War II. She died in Belgium in 1945. There had to be years of worry and grief, and some of the notes or scraps of paper in her Bible, I can't help but think they were related to her prayers in those times.
III.
"How did we get here? In a dream-school, now when I swim here, God planned it, I'm one of the fish here" --JGivens, "How Did We Get Here?"
Last night, I woke up thinking that even where things seem improbable and accidental--like, how did I get here?-- God has a purpose. Everyone I meet is someone God wants to save--perhaps He already has, but it is good to check and see! No matter how many twists and turns there were in all your generations meeting so that you might be here, "God does not want anyone to perish, but all to come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9), and "God wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:4).
There is also great freedom in this! It does not depend on me, but on God! We are not called to save anyone. God does that! We introduce people to Jesus. We wait, pray, and trust that His Holy Spirit has prepared the ground, and when the time is right, His action in Jesus Christ will save them, the same way He saved us.
Let these thoughts motivate and encourage you! You can step out and tell a friend about what you have found in Jesus. You will eat 21 meals this week. Tithe them! eat two of them with someone who does not know Christ. You will talk about things important to you-- your kids and grandkids and favorite football team. They won't shut you down (unless you're a Tennessee fan...). They may see that Jesus is as precious--even moreso-- to you than your children. If you are in a church that reliably preaches the Gospel, invite a friend so they can hear the message. If you are not in a church that reliably preaches the Gospel, well, go somewhere else.
ALSO: go to jdpayne.org and subscribe to this email Missiologically Thinking. He keeps focus on the main thing in our gospel work. He will challenge you to look around at what you see, and get into mission!
