Trip down memory lane

 

In Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.  --Ephesians 1:11

I was feeling nostalgic today, so I decided to dig around the roots of my family tree.  In 1891, during the reign of Kaiser Wilhelm II, King of Prussia and Emperor of Germany, my great-grandfather Wilhelm Heinrich Gustav Kroll immigrated with his family to the United States.  He was only 12 years old when they reached the port of Galveston.  Wanting to fit in, and probably to avoid anyone teasing him about having the same name as Kaiser Wilhelm, he "Americanized" his name and said he wanted to be called Willie Henry.

Texas was a premier destination for many German immigrants, as it had lots of land and relatively few people (as opposed to the port of New York, which had tons of people and very little land for sale.)  The Kroll family bought some land in central Texas and became ranchers.

On Christmas Day in 1904, Willie Henry married Charlotte Pauline Wilke, who was known by the nickname "Lottie".  Lottie was born in Texas after her parents had emigrated from Germany.  Lottie and Willie had nine children and lived together until his death in 1967.  Lottie would live alone until she died in 1981.  

One of Willie and Lottie's children was Leona, who was born in 1916.  Leona, my grandmother, was an impressive woman.  Her name means "lioness", and she certainly lived up to her name.  She outlived three husbands, learned principles of accounting, and made several prudent investments that our family is still reaping the benefits of, even though she died in 2009.

As I was doing my daily Bible reading this week, it struck me how we tend to gloss over the stories of the people involved.  My reading is in Genesis, where I see that Abram and Sarai left the land where they met and married and emigrated, along with Abram's family, to the outskirts of Canaan.  In time, Abram and Sarai took on new names, and became known as Abraham and Sarah, as God had commanded them.

Like my great-grandparents Willie and Lottie, Abraham and Sarah did not go by the names given to them at birth.  Like the Wilke and Kroll families left Germany to take up residence in Texas, Abraham and Sarah followed their families from Ur of the Chaldees to settle in Canaan.   I know about my family history from listening to my grandmother's stories over the years and from talking with my mother (filling in some of the dates from the obituaries posted online).  For example, I know that "Lottie" is short for Charlotte, and "Willie" is short for Wilhelm, and that's why my great-grandparents were known by those names.  I know from history that there was a mass migration in the late 1800s away from Germany.  Reading about Kaiser Wilhelm II, he was kind of a jerk.  So politics and economics probably had a lot to do with my ancestors' decision to move to a different country.

Did you ever stop to wonder why Abram's family moved?  In hindsight, we know it was the will of God.  We even say God told them to move.  If we knew more about the religion, economics, and politics of the region at the time, we might understand it a bit more.  For example, the Chaldeans were known for their practice of astrology and the magic arts.  When Nebuchadnezzar had a dream in Daniel chapter 2, he called "the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans" to tell him the dream and its interpretation.  Abram was called out of Ur of the Chaldees so that he would not be influenced by their culture.  

What about their names?  Why did Abram change his name to Abraham?  When God made a covenant with him, God used Abram's name to underscore His promise to make him the father of many nations.  In Hebrew, Abram means "exalted father", which is a term of respect one might use for a mighty man, whether he had children or not.  God called him Abraham, which in Hebrew means "father of a multitude."  Similarly, Sarai means "princess", which sounds like a term of endearment.  On the other hand, Sarah means "noblewoman; exalted lady".  God told Abraham to call her that after Hagar had given birth to Ishmael.  Sarai was feeling down and depressed.  It was she, after all, who had convinced Abraham to go in to Hagar "so that perhaps God will give me children by her." (Genesis 16:2).  After Hagar gave birth, however, Sarai thought that she made a huge mistake.  God soothed her heart as if by saying, "Listen, Princess (Sarai), you are still number one (Sarah, exalted lady) in Abraham's heart and in My plan."

A generation after Lottie came Leona, who made her mark on the world with lasting benefits for her children's children and beyond.  A generation after Sarah came Rebecca, who manipulated her twin sons' destinies so that the prophecy would be fulfilled "the elder shall serve the younger" (Genesis 25:23; Romans 9:12).  It was Jacob's name, not Esau's, that was changed to Israel.  (Again with the name change!)  Romans 9:13 says, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."  God's will was worked out in Rebecca's manipulations.  I'm not saying that Israel would not have become a great nation blessed and favored by God if Rebecca had been less conniving, but we clearly see how "We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28).

We get so caught up in the day-to-day activities of life that we often do not realize how God is working out His plan in us.  It is only by remembering and reminiscing that we can slow down and see God's hand in everything.  When we look back at our family history, we probably see things a lot differently than they looked when the events were happening in real time.  That's because God's ways are not our ways, but He does use us to accomplish His will.  In the grand scheme of things, God sees the big picture.  That, for me, is comforting.