Random Acts of Genealogy

2 Timothy 1:2-3 “Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscience, as my forefathers did, as without ceasing.”

It seems so long ago that my wife got involved with a national program called “Random Acts of Kindness” where she helped others and put together some events that encouraged people to reach out with unconditional love with action that demonstrated godliness and charity with nothing expected in return. The internet describes the popular movement as a selfless act performed by a person or people wishing to either assist or cheer up an individual person or people. The phrase may have been coined by Anne Hebert, who says that she wrote "Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty" on a place mat at a Sausalito restaurant in 1982, and many book have been written with the Random Acts of Kindness title since. It was a popular fad or craze, with a Christian concept and cause. I read that “the practice of kindness is the daily, friendly, homely caring form of love. It is both humble and exalted. Kindness is love with hands and hearts and minds. It is whimsical and deeply touching. And its miraculous nature is such that the more acts of kindness we offer, the more of them we have to give, for acts of kindness are always drawn from the endless well of love. Kindness is twice blessed. It blesses the one who gives it with a sense of his or her own capacity to love, and the person who receives it with a sense of the beneficence of God reflected.”

Matthew 25:34-40 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Today, my wife has taken up the popular hobby of Genealogy and building “Family Trees”. With such memberships in “www.Heritage.com”, “www.Findagrave.com”, www.Ancestry.com and more, she tracts down history on family members and bloodlines back to the original immigrants to America through national Census’ and a network of Genealogist. Let me tell you, she has gotten pretty good at it. Well lately, she has merged these two (Random Acts of Kindness and Genealogy) into a ministry. We love going to Antique store in our “neck of the woods” and when we travel around the country visiting family. We live in a hundred year old (just this year) California Bungalow and, naturally, enjoy the old furnishings. It is just a great way to pass time, browsing through antique stores and malls, searching for ancient items that catch our eye and fancy. It is interesting that we are now seeing items from our childhood showing up there too. Anyway, not so long ago, we noticed that there were quite a few old photos of people showing up at these stores. I couldn’t imagine anyone buying a photo of someone that they didn’t know, framing it and displaying it in their home. I hear that some folks would buy these old photos and cut them up for use in a kind of artwork. In turning these photos over, we noticed that some of them had the persons name and, sometimes, home town penciled on the back. So my wife got the idea of purchasing the photo and, using her genealogy sources, finding this person family tree, then by tracking the person’s lineage forward, finding and contacting a surviving relative of the photographed individual, contacting them and sending the photo to them “free of charge”, as a “random act of genealogy” kindness that puts joy in the heart and a smile on the face of both parties. Cherished lost family photographs of loved ones are returned to their families. Isn't  that a great ministry of blessing others? We have been blessed, to be a blessing to others and love our neighbors. Bring the love of God and the joy of the gospel to someone today.

Galatians 5:22-25 “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

In Christ, Brian