Amongst the many pieces of family memorabilia that I've been going through the past few years this leather postcard appeared. Mailed a little over one hundred years ago! I found it so fascinating that for the past year or so it has been sitting on the end of the grand piano awaiting an inspiration for it's use. This is it! The time has arrived! My wife seems to think the card may bring a good piece of change on Ebay, but I think it holds much more than that for all of us. It teaches me many things. 1st, it puts me in mind of all the E-mail funnies we send to folks all over the world. Times haven't changed so much that people's sense of humor isn't evidenced by the ways they communicate thoughts and feelings. 2nd, it was one of my ancestors who wrote it to another of that literate crowd. Interestingly enough my great grandmother's Bible that accompanies me would have been in daily use back when this card was mailed. Those New Testament letters are just as relevant today as they were then! 3rd, people cared enough to truly stay in touch even when they knew that the recipient was a long ways away(maybe a little less than a thousand miles, but 100 years ago that was a "fer piece"). There are many ways I could run with these thoughts right now, but the one that I really want to share is about staying in touch. You see, our faith keeps us in "touch" with our Savior everyday. We don't need a piece of mail to remind us how much He cares, after all, He gave His life for mine and provided me with His Word. That little "Holy Bible" is the one that packs the best on my Harley, so it now travels thousands of miles every season bringing God's Word to the lives of others. It's an 1895 King James Version printed in Philadelphia by the A. J. Holman Co. Here's the connection: God's Word such as I carry it is doing many of the same tasks that the postcard accomplished 100 years ago. 1st, it tells me many stories about life that I would never have known if it were not for God's provision. 2nd, as one of God's children it is a constant reminder that He cared so much for me that He made certain that His "love," His "humor," and His truths would reach me wherever I was at in this world. 3rd, He cared so much that no matter how far I have ever traveled, His Word for life is never far from my reach. That includes hundreds of motel rooms, thousands of miles, and even out here on the net He is with me. Each of us is a product our ancestors that stretch all the way back to the very beginnings of God's influence in creation. Isn't it wonderful that we can stay in touch with one another and know for certain that we can share all of our thoughts and feelings with our loving, caring Creator and all of those who have believed and gone before us. Incidentally, I've got some questions about some of the jokes in the Bible that I haven't caught on to, yet! In Christ's Love, Preacher.
