Pass It On!

My grandfather whom we called Paw Paw Mac and my grandmother, Granny Mac, produced eight offspring. The three remaining siblings are now all in their eighties. My mom is the only girl left out of four, and she has an older and a younger brother. They all have been retired from their regular jobs for many years but none of them have retired from the ministry God has given to them.

Often when I call my mom she has just finished putting together a meal for a former pastor who is practically disabled with rheumatoid arthritis. She also consistently shares prayer requests with me about those she is concerned about. Week before last her younger brother sent me an email and asked us to pray for him because he was preparing to speak to a group of forty who were preparing themselves to serve others in a special way. My wife and I were privileged to honor his request as we prayed for him before his meeting. Mom’s older brother sends out many emails each day, many have scriptures or spiritual truths, words of encouragement, and things that might bring a smile. My point is this: they are all still active in serving in their own special way.

I recently heard a sermon talking about Caleb, Joshua’s lieutenant, from the Old Testament. The preacher talked about how that Caleb at age 85 was still ready to go to war to possess the lands that God had given to His people. Caleb’s particular challenge was on a hillside and he proudly announced that he “wanted that mountain”. As I listened, I thought about my mom and dad, my two uncles and their wives. Retirement from one walk of life never means a retirement or retreat from the calling that God has on our life. The preacher I heard went on to say that old people who have been faithful have something that distinguishes them from others, they have an old faith that has continued to mature and grow even in their golden years.

The elder Uncle sent out an email about how the Easter holiday falls early this year and I wanted to include it today as a follow-up to my blog from last Friday. Here’s what his email said:

Have you realized how early Easter is this year? As you may have heard, Easter is always the 1st Sunday, after the 1st full moon -after the Spring Equinox (which this year is March 20). This dating of Easter is based on the lunar calendar that Hebrew people used to identify Passover, which is why it moves around on our Roman calendar. Based on the above, Easter can actually only be ONE day earlier (March 22) than it is this year, but that is pretty rare. Here's the interesting info. This year is the earliest Easter any of us will ever see the rest of our lives! And only the most elderly of our population have ever seen it this early (95 years old or above!). And none of us have ever, or will ever, see it a day earlier!

Here are the facts:

1) The next time Easter will be this early (March 23) will be the year 2228 (220 years from now). The last time it was this early was 1913 (so if you're 95 or older, you are the only ones that were around for that!).

2) The next time it will be a day earlier, March 22, will be in the year 2285 (277 years from now). The last time it was on March 22 was 1818. So, no one alive today has or will ever see it any earlier than this year! Isn't that interesting!

I received several comments about my leap day/year blog concerning the amount of details I included, but I must tell you that I love this kind of stuff. Most people don’t and I know that but it does fascinate me (and it's my blog, etc., etc., etc.). My folks along with my uncles represent a generation that will soon be passing from our ranks. They have been there and done that, and because of their desire to hand down and pass on their wisdom to us, I feel very privileged to receive their words and their example. May God help me and others who make up the next group in line to be the kind of example these have been to us. Amen. ….More later.