Peace Lutheran Church

Last month, I wrote about timing. This month, I am going to expand on timing but in a somewhat different direction. I hope you will bear with me as I set the stage.

Here is what I wrote about Joseph last month: Joseph was 17 when he was given his robe of many colors and had his dreams about his family bowing down to him. His brothers sold him; when Joseph was thirty years old, at God's timing, Pharaoh placed Joseph as second only to himself.

I now want to expand on Joseph. Joseph was one of several brothers. Joseph was disliked by his brothers because Joseph could interpret dreams. Because of that, their parents liked him more than the other brothers - or, at least, that is what the brothers thought. One day Joseph went out looking for his brothers, and could not find them. He walked down the road, and a man told Joseph, 'They went that way'. Joseph followed the man's directions, and found his brothers. His brothers decided they had had enough of Joseph and sold him off into slavery. He became a slave in another country, and wound up in jail, and while he was there, he interpreted the dreams of his cell-mates and one of the prison guards. The leader of that country started having bad dreams, and he did not know what they meant. One of the prison guards got himself promoted and he was working at the palace now, and he told the leader that he knew this man in jail who could tell him what the dreams meant.

Eventually, Joseph was freed and made an advisor to the leader. He predicted a famine that would come, so the leader was able to stockpile food against it. Back home, though, his brothers were not so lucky, and they were starving - until Joseph invited them to where he was.

Joseph and his brothers had a really big family, and their descendants eventually made up an entire race of people on earth. Two of the biggest religions have the story of Joseph as part of the history. None of that would have happened, except for this one guy who said, 'They went that way.'

And yet, people still doubt the idea that one person can make a big difference .

We are all part of history. Everybody has a part to play. Everyone takes part in history, whether they know it or not. As a matter of fact, most of us do not know it at all, since we are to busy living it to pay much attention. Becoming famous is not the only way to be part of history.

Everything we say or do has an impact on history, regardless of how insignificant we may think our actions or words may be. Everything we say or do also has an impact on the people around us. This may be even more important - are we saying and/or doing those things that Christ would have us say and/or do?

Peace to all.
Patrick

See also the Deacon's Newsletter article on the Deacon page.