Family Tree - Part 1

Ever since I returned from Scotland, I’ve noticed that everyone I meet has Scottish roots. It doesn’t matter who I talk to, the second they hear that I lived in Scotland it’s, “My family is Scottish! My mom’s dad’s cousin’s husband’s dog’s veterinarian came over on the ship back in 1880!” Apparently there was only one ship that ever came to the US from Scotland and it was full of vets. It used to annoy me when people would say that. My last name is a common, Scottish surname, we have our own tartan (plaid) and everything, but I couldn’t tell you who came over on that boat in 1880 and I think the people who could have long departed this world. Why does it matter anyway?

It’s important, though, for people to know their heritage. For me, lately, it’s become even more important to know my spiritual heritage. I grew up going to church. I heard all the Old Testament Bible stories: Noah, Abraham, Joseph and the coat of many colors, Moses and the plagues, David the shepherd boy, David and Goliath, David the king . . . there was some smatterings of prophets throughout, but I never really knew or felt connected to them. I knew they were real people. I knew they were important people in their generations. Another time, another place, not all that relevant to me unless it was Bible Bowl season. And there was my time in AIM and on the mission field. Most of my adult study has focused on the New Testament. There in Hebrews, the “Hall of Faith”. The spiritual giants of all time—“men of whom the world was not worthy” (Heb 11:38). That’s about when the anxiety set in—What am I doing? I don’t belong here!—and I’d check out. What has plagued me most recently is the realization that for the last decade, I have read books and watched movies over and over, analyzing them and gleaning the truths of life from them. I love getting lost in a good story. I love seeing something new the second or twenty-second time around. I love observing and identifying with the complexity of characters and their relationships. The one thing I neglected to pursue with equal or greater intensity was the study of the Bible, the ultimate of stories, characters wrought in chaos of complexity and who actually walked this earth, THE truth . . . the thing I needed most.

A couple of years ago I had decided that I needed to get serious with my spiritual walk . . . again. I thought the best way to get back on track was to get back into regular Bible study. I went to the Bible-mart and picked up a couple of books by Jim McGuiggan, “Genesis and Us” and “The God Who Commands the Impossible”. I started with “Genesis and Us” for obvious reasons, endeavoring to understand just how relevant Genesis is to us. It was pretty amazing. I began to feel connected to this time and place so long ago. Suddenly, Abraham wasn’t such a distant figure of heroism. Jacob was not the “good guy” in his own story. And Judah the man hardly behaved like the child of the Holy One. It took me a year to complete “Genesis and Us”. (Not because it was a particularly voluminous work, rather I’m a voluminous procrastinator who gets easily distracted.) I began to feel a renewal in my heart. It’s amazing how perspective can have so great an influence on our thoughts; a little tweaking and pieces of the puzzle start falling into place.

Don't worry, there is a point to this. Stay tuned . . .