Generational Faith

Posted on March 13, 2013 by Margaret

Since the Garden of Eden, God’s heart has been filled with love for humankind, unshakeable, unmatched, supernatural love. He loves as if we are worthy of it, despite knowing full well the details of why we’re not. But through the generations his love hasn’t wavered. He’s given us his very best by offering his own Spirit to us, not just to live with us but to live within us.

This is a love-gift beyond measuring or, for that matter, beyond understanding.

In studying my family history, I’ve seen this practical gift lived out in the lives of one Spirit-filled generation praying for another, someone somewhere being sure God was listening and would answer.

As my father, Carl Johnson, grew up, his father Carl Johansson, was praying for him (yesterday’s blog). Reading further, I saw evidence that Carl Johansson’s father, Johannes Andersson, had prayed for his son, too. The notes attached to his genealogy say, “He trusted God and bent his knees praying to Him every day.”

Johannes’ son remembered listening to his father sing hymns and read psalms aloud, as well as watching him study a calendar with biblical passages ascribed to every day of the year. Toward the end of his life Johannes helped plan an evangelistic outreach in Sweden called Mission-house but was able to attend only one meeting before “he left his life on earth” at the age of 62.

This man had two children by his first wife, who died shortly after giving birth to their second child. With his second wife he had six more, and these children testified that as their father aged, he told them, “Take care of your house, because you will have to die.” Of course he was referring to the house of personhood, that they ought to live uprightly, because one day they’d have to give an account of themselves to God.

Johannes Andersson was living for the Lord even after he’d encountered intense sorrow in losing his young wife to death and later two of his other children as well. His faithful servanthood was evident to the end, however. After entering into his final illness, he had been attending a prayer meeting one night when he didn’t come home on schedule. His family was worried, knowing he was close to death, until he finally walked in after midnight.

Instead of going directly home, he’d walked to a relative’s home to work at reconciling two extended family members who hadn’t been getting along. Apparently he succeeded, because the genealogy notes mention the two women taking his advice and calling it “good.”

One week later, his son said, “My father’s life ended in peace,” and we know why. He’d embraced Christ as Savior while still a youngster, and why was that? Because one more generation back, someone had been praying for him in the power of God’s Spirit… just as someone has lovingly prayed for you and me.

“Know that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations.” (Deuteronomy 7:9)

Continuity of Christianity

Posted on March 12, 2013 by Margaret

The Bible tells us God has never changed, not all the way from before Creation through to this day. That’s the reason his salvation plan saved souls in centuries past in the same life-changing ways it does today.

In the past few days I’ve been studying my family tree by way of two 3” thick albums chock full of pictures and data about those who came before me. Yesterday I mentioned my paternal grandfather, Carl Johansson, whom I’ve been getting to know through these pages.

Having been born in Sweden in 1866, he boarded a ship for America while still a teenager of 19. Five years later, after becoming a citizen of the United States, he Americanized his name from Johansson to Johnson in an effort to become “thoroughly American.”

But whether in Sweden or America, he testified to having aligned with Jesus as personal Savior during childhood and holding onto that spiritual citizenship both as a Swede and as an American. He told his family he had made sure of that on confirmation Sunday at the Swedish Evangelical Free Church before the ceremony. Early that morning, as a 12 year old, he’d climbed to the attic and “gotten right with God,” figuring he’d better not stand among the confirmed without first confirming his faith in a one-on-One meeting.

My dad, the second Carl Johnson (above), remembered his father praying at his bedside in Swedish: “God, who loves the little children, look to me, a little one.” Young Carl asked older Carl whether or not he prayed that way in his own prayers, and when he said he did, little Carl asked why. His father said, “Because in God’s eyes we are all little.” I like that this godly father was at his little boy’s bedside for a prayer time, and also that his spiritual instruction was both simple and accurate.

In the many photographs I’ve seen of my grandfather, his serious expressions mask the fact that he had a much lighter side. A business man and property owner, he suffered badly during the Great Depression of 1931-32. But in an effort to cheer a friend who had also lost he said, “Can’t we still sit on a bench and enjoy each others company just the same?”

Such levity (and common sense) during financial hardship is evidence that his faith was the bedrock of his life, not his real estate holdings or other possessions. But his beliefs showed in other ways, too. After losing his footing while swimming as a teen, he had a close call beneath a series of big waves. Once safely back on shore a friend said, “Did you pray while you were down there?”

His answer was revealing. “It was too late then. Praying should to be done before that.” Wise words by a young man who prayed.

Surely someone of strong belief in God had been praying over Carl Johansson, but who? I found my answer in ancestor data referencing my Swedish great-grandfather, Johannes Andersson, born in 1819….

“To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” (Romans 8:6)

Spirit-filled Ancestors

Posted on March 11, 2013 by Margaret

All of us have heard testimonies of people with difficult pasts who’ve somehow, against all odds, turned their lives around. They might have had a history of dreadful choices or even a rap sheet a mile long, but for many of them the turnaround came after connecting with Christ.

As often as not, their testimonies include a statement like this: “My grandmother prayed for me for decades, and God finally answered.”

If we could piece together our family trees for many generations back, all of us would probably find that God’s representatives had been placed in strategic places all along, to pray for their families. Some even prayed for “those yet unborn,” which would include us.

My sister has done an excellent job as our “Family Historian,” keeping memorabilia safe and well categorized in labeled storage bins. She’s amassed everything from diplomas and photographs to wedding gowns, jewelry, infant-wear, and letters.

Several years ago a family friend, Sally, offered to go through Mary’s bins and condense everything into two 9” x 12” albums, one for Dad’s side of the family and one for Mom’s. She scanned or photographed everything so that even bulky items morphed into crisp, flat notebook pages. She also typed up old hand-written letters, some over 100 years old, to place alongside originals, which in some cases included translations from other languages.

Sally also added official census records rewritten from hard-to-read official documents to legible charts. These pages take account of birth dates and all known addresses, emigration and immigration dates, occupations, marriages, children’s birth and death dates, causes of death where known, burial locations, and an all-inclusive family tree.

Recently I’ve spent time with my distant relatives via these two family albums, going on a hunt for God-sightings through the 5 generations represented. And what I learned is God establishes his Spirit somewhere in every family tree.

For example, my paternal grandfather (Carl Johan Johansson) came to America in 1886 as a 19 year old laborer with a homemade wooden box of tools, and he brought Jesus Christ with him. By the end of his 68 years, he’d married, fathered four children, had become a building contractor and finally the vice president of a Chicago bank. He died 10 years before I was born, so we never met, except through these albums.

Taking in the details of his life, which of course include my own father’s 1899 birth, has been a satisfying exercise that’s made me grateful for God’s involvement in this “old world” family, my family. Sally’s charted numbers have told a non-numerical story of personal lows and highs similar to the lives of today’s families. And God is in the details.