Sunday, May 20, 2018

GROWING SEEDS: The Greatest Gift





Last weekend, my Dad's side of the family gathered together at a Riverwalk hotel in San Antonio for a Family Reunion.....a reunion that hadn't taken place since 1991.  My dad and his brother, Ray, are the last surviving siblings from a poor Alabama family of seven.  But what made this reunion even more special was.... it was the cousins of this family of seven siblings that reconnected last weekend after 27 years.  Last time we saw each other we were young.....and now we're old.

It was an amazing Gift bringing our common DNA thread under one roof. 

"On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place".  
Acts 2:1

As I was reading today's scripture on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2, I couldn't help but think about its similarity to last weeks Calloway Family Reunion.  The early Christians received the unfathomable gift of the Holy Spirit as they gathered together under one roof in Jerusalem....and so did the Calloway family on the 15th floor of the La Quinta.

We didn't see tongues of fire hovering over our heads or feel the rush of wind through our hair as they did in Jerusalem that day, but what we did see and feel were non-Christians sharing a pizza with Christians.....and what we felt was a merged love as we cried together watching old family videos.  

We felt the common thread of family that connected us as one....even with our many differences.  

And just as the early Christians spoke in languages unknown to them that day so others could understand, I pray I spoke in a way to my non-Christian family that they could understand my Christian language. 

The significance of Pentecost......what a powerful gift!

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