·

Linked

When my life is through,
And the angels ask me to recall
The thrill of them all,
Then I shall tell them
I remember you…..

When I read these lyrics, sung by Nat King Cole, as a love
song, I see more in the lyrics.  I see a
life nearing the end, living for thrills without answering the great questions
we all must face, The Why of Life.
Be still, and know
that I am God.  I will be exalted among
the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” 
Psalm 46:10
It is difficult to ‘hear the
soft whisper’ of God when the clamor of the world beats a crescendo.  And the clamor reaches a fortissimo of
voices, the competing gadgets of technology that eat up time.  I can hear my Mother’s voice as the radio
spun another Frank Sinatra song, “Turn that music down.”  As a teen-ager I wondered why.
Now mothers ask their
children to ‘unplug’ from video games, wii’s, x-boxes, ipods and ipads.  And I know why.  But unless there is a purpose, the need to
escape reality is still there.  We have
become a nation of spectators and not a nation of doers.  Our ‘doers’ have become ‘outsourced’ to other
nations.
While reading Cold-Case Christianity by K Warner
Wallace, I found a time line at the beginning of Anno Domini (
nostri Jesu Christi ‘the year of our Lord Jesus Christ.’) The
time line ended with the Council of Laodicea (AD 350-360).  The author named this Scriptural Custody
Links.
·     
Jesus – AD 1
(Bethlehem) – 33 (Hill of Golgotha)
·     
John – AD 6
– 100 (died at the age of 94, exiled on Isle of Patmos)
·     
Ignatius   AD 35-117 (Greek, 2nd Century
Bishop of Smyrna)
·     
Polycarp –
AD 69 – 155 (Disciple of John. Burned at stake, then stabbed)
·     
Irenaeus –
AD 120 – 202 of Lyons France
·     
Hippolytus –
AD (Rome) 170 – 236  Sardinia
Jesus taught John, John
taught Ignatius and Polycarp. Ignaius and Polycarp taught Irenaeus and Irenaeus
taught Hippolytus.  This spanned 236
years.  If one in the list stumbled and
fell away, the link would have been broken.
Wallace continues with the
links that connected with Paul the Apostle from (AD 5-67) to Linus and Clement
of Rome.  Clement passed the truth from
Evaristus to Pius.  Pius I and Justin
Martyr guarded the accounts of the scripture. 
Justin taught Tatian and again, the Council of Laodicea. (AD 350 –
363)   Peter communicated through Mark,
who taught Anianus, Avilius, Kedron, Primus and Justus.  Justus passed the truth to Pantaenus who
taught Clement of Alexandrai.  Clement of
Alexandria taught Origen and Pamphilus of Caesarea adopted Origen’s work.  Pamphilus of Caesarea taught Eusebius (AD
263-339).
Since my grandparents, Jacob
and Emilie Siemens and Gerhard and Anna were links through their children
Herman and Anna Daisy to me. Will the link continue through me?   I wonder what stories span through the ages
so that the Story of Jesus and faith in Jesus remains unbroken.  The time between 1867 – 2013 is in my
understanding.  What happened between 363
(
Council of Laodicea (AD 350-360) and 1867.
Since my ancestry came from the Mennonites, I
found more information from http://pad39a.com/gene/men1.html.   The time began in 1762 and it began a season
of travel.
·     
1772 – 1763 –
Queen Catherine II, Czarina of Russia extended an invitation.
·     
1786 – Catherine
II extended another invitation promising religious freedom for 100 years.
·     
1788 – First
Mennonites left West Prussia for Russia
·     
1789 – 1833 –
Chortitza Colony had difficulty because the land was rocky, but ended with 228
families
·     
1803 – The
second wave of Mennonites, settling along the Molotschna River
·     
1855 – A third
colony was established along the Volga River.
·     
1874 – A wave of
immigrants left Russia between 1874 and 1885 for United States
Siemens                              
·     
Jacob I – West
Prussia(Germany)  b.1764 – d. 1832
·     
Jacob II –  West Prussia b. 1795 – Buhler KS – d 1881
·     
Jacob III – West
Prussia b. 1823– Buhler KS  – d.1896
·     
Jacob IV –
Molotschna b. 1849 – Corn OK – d. 1930
·     
Jacob B. – Buhler
KS b. 1867 – Corn OK – d.  1930
·     
Herman B. – Buhler
KS b. 1903 – Watonga OK – d. 1979
·     
Emily Siemens
(Combs) – Hooker OK – b. 1929 – Champaign IL  
Suderman
1.    Daniel – b. about 1784
2.    Heinrich – Prussia – 1806 – South Russia – d-1842
3.    Jacob P. – Molotschna Russia 1841 – Ebenfeld KS d. 1907
4.    Gerhard – Pordenau Russia 1874 – Hillsboro KS d. 1950
5.    Anna Daisy – Hillsboro KS 1907 – Rogers AR d. 1998
6.    Emily Siemens (Combs) – Hooker OK b. 1929 – Champaign
IL ?
The question of
faithfulness, the question of steadfastness arises.  And I see the crowd of witnesses that came
before me.  And I want my life to count
for an eternity. 
 Therefore,
since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every
weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race
that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy
that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated
at the right hand of the
throne of God.

Hebrews 12:1-2

Therefore, my beloved
brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding
in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in
vain.  I Corinthians 15:58

Who am I passing my link of faith to? When I take
my last breath, will Jesus remember me?

Comments? eacombs@att.net