It's Who You Know

I started the the book of Matthew and dutifully read in the first chapter down through the line of Jesus. I was struck by the many big names in his ancestry - Abraham, Issac, Jacob - the "Big Three", and Boaz and Ruth (everybody's favorite girl) and Rahab (everybody's favorite bad girl gone good). But it doesn't end there! There was of course David, who was like the person in the Bible everyone would most like to be and his "oh yea, I'm the smartest" son Solomon. I wasn't really surprised by such a stellar lineage, I mean, after all, we're talking Jesus here.

But then the last entry in this family tree hit me.

Joseph!

Joseph?

Wait a minute, there wasn't a drop of this great line of people in Jesus' blood. All those good genes gone to waste on Joseph.

Then I got it. All those people of faith, all those blessed and brilliant and beloved people were poured into Joseph so he could raise Jesus.

Foster and adopted kids don't often have a lot of "Who's Who" in their background. You might find their great grandparents on a prison roster more often then on a commemorative plaque.

But God gives us an incredible spiritual heritage so that we can raise these kids. We can give them more than status- we can give them more than security or privilege or things. We can give them a hope for an eternity with God.

And their names can be added to a long spiritual family line as they tell their kids, and their kids and on and on.