A few years ago a friend and I stopped at the local hospital to visit some patients. We checked in at the volunteer desk to check the patient list and see if there were any of our church members that had requested a visit. We were on the church staff together at that time and both had our name tags on. The auxiliary volunteer that was working that day commented on our names, saying "oh, two nice Irish girls". I replied that I actually was very German and that my father was first generation born in the states, and that my mother also had German ancestry. The kind lady asked where my Dad was from and I gave a very odd reply - I told her the actual town! You see, when I would usually tell people about my Dad I would mention the larger city near where he grew up because the tiny village where he lived in Nebraska was really no larger than a 'blink'. But that day, for some reason, I mentioned the little town of Winside, NE. Her eyes got a little larger and she asked my Dad's name. (by this time my friend had gone on to do the patient visits, I was so involved in this conversation with the stranger!)
When I told my new friend, Pat, my Dad's name I even pronounced it the way I grew up pronouncing Koplin (coplin) and she said "we knew it as "co-pleen". I knew that too.. but after the Navy in WWII Dad always went by Koplin. Many wanted him to change his name to Copeland or some other spelling, but he refused. Anyway...... back to the story! As Pat and I visited more it turns out that her mother and my Dad's father were related. The reason we didn't know about them is my grandfather died when my father was a young boy. When his mother remarried, my Grandma Sydow, they really lost any touch with the Koplin side of the family. Pat and I have since visited several times, and she brought me a family history book. I was able to see on paper the family connection. One of her sons is even named after my grandfather, Paul Koplin, and our family never knew.
Remember earlier in the week when I wrote about Tamar and Rahab? Their names are written in the family tree of Jesus for all to see. I wonder how many people, when they look at the long list of "begats" in the first chapter of Matthew look beyond the hard to pronounce names and wonder about the people and their stories? You learned just a snippet of these women's stories, and there are so many more people listed in Matthew 1:1-17. Their stories are also recorded in the Bible and sometimes it takes some digging, and there may only be a passing mention of some of them, but they were all in the family tree of our Savior. What parts of your story are you missing? I have visited with my new relative, Pat, several times. Who would have ever thought that a girl from the mountains in California would meet a much older lady from a tiny town in Nebraska in a hospital in Fredericksburg TX!? Yet because we had a brief conversation we learned that we are family.
In our world of electronics and instant communication it is so sad that we rarely talk anymore - but I am so glad I did that day several years ago. Though many are no longer living, I did learn a little bit more about some members of my family. What are you feelings about being able (or not) to trace your family ancestry? Do you consider it important to know things about those in your lineage? How about your faith family, which people have been important in teaching you about God? Why do you think Jesus' lineage is included in the Bible, is it beneficial to you in any way to read about those people?
This is Paul Koplin and Anna Kant Koplin (later Grandma Sydow as I knew her). They were very young, she was only 16 when she came from Germany to settle in Nebraska. He died when my Dad was only 4. I never knew him or much about him - but I can see how my Dad looks like him. I don't imagine that young Anna expected to lose her husband, leaving her with 2 children, so very young. But her story continued. Whether we know about all the 'branches' or not, our tree tells a story. Ponder yours today, bring to mind 2 or 3 people that have nurtured you and give thanks for them. Maybe even reach out and tell them! My "why Jesus" today is because I am aware of the odd branches in his life, I'm more interested in finding out about mine!
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