“Religious and social tradition has been replaced with current fad and the opinion that the past isn’t needed. We have become a people from nowhere in particular and disconnected from each other. In gathering the past, we remember ourselves and can forgive the members of our history for their shortfalls.” ― Eric Overby, Surgical Technologist, Newspaper Columnist, Book Author

Hello there. Today. Yep, that's the one we have to deal with. Today, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. This is the day that is commonly called April Fools' Day. (While April Fools' Day is devoted to jokes, pranks, and hoaxes, there are many theories how it came about, but the exact origin is pretty much unknown.) The above copy of newspaper comics came from the Texas paper, The Hemphill County Newspaper, published on the day of my birth, August 16, 1946. Finding things like this ring my bell. Not you? That's okay. I was born in Sabine Parish, in the town of Many, Louisiana, and local information about the goings on in and around the time of my birth are not that easy to find. Hemphill, Texas is only 30 miles from Many, Louisiana, therefore, as we are wont to say, "Close enough for government work." A number of years ago I became absorbed in family genealogical research. It started out because my youngest, Rodney, wanted to know more about his grandad, my dad, Cecil Sr., who passed away in 1954. At any rate, as with many others who begin this trek, the more we looked it was the more dead ends and mysteries we encountered. We talked to as many family members as we could, that is, to those who would talk to us. The older folks, all gone now, didn't want to dredge up old memories because they believed in letting sleeping dogs lie. (FYI: Where does “Let sleeping dogs lie” come from? This old saying has been around for centuries! It first appeared in English in Geoffrey Chaucer's poem “Troilus and Criseyde,” written in 1374. Chaucer wrote, “It is nought good a sleping hound to wake,” which basically means the same thing.) I would almost guarantee that none of those who used that slang a lot had any idea where it came from.

 

I must have put in at least a couple of years of research and I do have most of the stuff I found captured in digital files as well as printed documentation. Without rehearsing any juicy details, I want to quote something from the well known and respected Pastor/Teacher Dr. Ed Young, "All families are dysfunctional, however, some are more dysfunctional than others." I don't know about skeletons in our family closets but I will tell you our family has had it's fair share of what I will term, 'all of the above'. I'll let you conjure up just what that might include but I will say I don't think I found any instances of murder although as with all family research there were plenty of deaths, tragedies, and that which makes up the fabric of life. I'll never forget a conversation I had with a long lost first cousin. He was on the phone with me and two of his sisters were there too. They soon gathered that he was talking to me and I could hear them in the background, "Hey, tell him about, see what he thinks about that, and oh yeah, did you mention......?" Let me put it this way. Our family has a colorful history. Most families do. One thing is clear from my research: "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God..." (Romans 3:23) Another thing I learned was how we as a family have a rich history of those who recognized their sinful condition and called on Jesus to save them. That, my friend, is a heritage worth remembering. Those who did respond to the Gospel actually laid the groundwork for their progeny, including someone just like me.

 

The results from one of my cousin's analysis.

Yep. Count me in. I am part of the family God saw fit to put me in with all of its stuff, but, more importantly He saw fit to call me to His family that I would deal with my sin by calling on Jesus to save me. "Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." (Romans 10:13) I did. He did. And, now I can add my name to those who, though flawed in so many ways, became a part of the heritage of faith. Thank You Jesus. Amen.