Thirty Years

Does the name Arphaxad mean anything to you? It didn't to me until I found it listed in the Genealogy of Jesus in Luke 3:23-38 (MSG). Apparently Arphaxad was the son of Shem and nine generations before Abraham in the list that goes from Son of Joseph all the way back to Son of God. That genealogy begins with the statement that when Jesus entered public life he was about thirty years old, the son (in public perception) of Joseph...

We know very little about Jesus' pre-ministry existence. We do know of a trip at age eight to Jerusalem during which he annoyed his parents and baffled the Jewish teachers. From then until age 30...nothing! We don't know how much of that time he spent in the carpentry trade with his dad or up on a mountainside alone with his Father. During his teenage years, did he hang out with his siblings or any BFFs in Nazareth? Did he have any hobbies or interests that helped him pass the time in the last 22 years until his public life began? Nothing is even hinted. All we can do is imagine or conjecture.

By 1978 and age 30 I had graduated college, been married for seven years, and had one child with our second due the next year. I had taught high school English for six years, gotten a Masters degree, and officiated sports for the first decade of 25-years in that avocation. My wife and I had already traveled to most of the 50 states (completing all 50 by 2013).

Much has happened since my 30th birthday including learning to play racquetball, publishing two books, Let the Redeemed Sing So and Dare To Teach Teens, four different positions in school administration, 16 years as a college professor, two more children, 11 grandchildren, and retirement nearly three years ago. My retirement hobbies have continued to include travel, scenic and wildlife photography, and a new heightened interest in blogging.

photo by Jonathan Saleh/unsplash.com

All of the accomplishments of those 41 years since I was 30 are insignificant when stacked against the three years of the life of Jesus from age 30-33. His life of teaching, healing, and loving people spanned a very brief time, yet is was the most important three years in the history of mankind. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son! That was the single greatest event in the annals of Creation from "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" until today. I know one thing for certain: I need to spend more time alone on the mountainside with OUR FATHER! How about you?

Creation: In the Beginning

Genesis 1:1-2 (MSG) states, "First this: God created the Heavens and Earth -- all you see, all you don't see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God's Spirit brooded like a bird above the  watery abyss."

One of my favorite hymns about Creation is The Spacious Firmament on High. Joseph Haydn composed the music in 1798. Joseph Addison added the lyrics in 1812. Ponder the verses and the photos that follow as they aptly describe what was In the Beginning.

The spacious firmament on high, with all the blue ethereal sky,

And spangled heav'ns, a shining frame, their great Original proclaim:

Th'unwearied sun from day to day does his Creator's power display,

And publishes to ev'ry land the work of an almighty hand.

Soon as the evening shades prevail, the moon takes up the wondrous tale,

And nightly to the list'ning earth repeats the story of her birth;

While all the stars that round her burn, and all the planets in their turn,

Confirm the tidings as they roll, and spread the truth from pole to pole.

What tho in solemn silence all move round this dark terrestrial ball?

What tho no real voice nor sound amid their radiant orbs be found?

In reason't ear they all rejoice, and utter forth a glorious voice,

Forever singing as they shine, "The hand that made us is divine."