Genealogy

A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham: Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David. Matthew 1:1-6

Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him. Isaiah 64:4

A record of Jesus’s genealogy is in Matthew 1 of our Bible. It continues and names the generations until Jesus was born. As we get older, we become more interested in who came before us. My father was 88 years old when he asked me to take him to Sweden so he could see southern Sweden where his grandmother was born. He had a Swedish friend named Sixten that we could also see. We arrived at Sixten’s home and ate the reindeer stew he had made for us.

From there Sixten took us to the largest Immigrant Museum in Europe. Bryce and Sixten’s brother Gert went up into the microfiche records and found my dad’s relatives and their descendants. Sixten said he could call and see if they wanted to see their American cousins. This was more than my dad had ever thought possible. They said, “Yes, we want to see our American family!”

God had a hand on behalf of us which you can believe by what happened next. Sixten told the relatives we could be there in 3 hours. We (my granddaughter, my father, Bryce, myself and Gert) headed out in Sixten’s Volvo while it was raining. About three hours later the sun came out and a beautiful rainbow shown in the sky. Under the rainbow were about a dozen people with cars blocking the road.

We were able to enter four relatives' homes and had many days with relatives who looked like us and were so excited to see us. It helps me understand the importance of Jesus’s genealogy.

Prayer: thank you, Lord for showing your blessing of this reunion with the beautiful rainbow. Amen.

Sandra Hilsabeck