This past weekend I received a rather serendipitous gift in the mail, the 1915 North Georgia College yearbook Cyclops.   It came from an antique store and was acquired by fellow Presbyterian minister Cheryl Gosa.  She noticed a prominent name over many pages, W.P. Huie, and thought it might be kinfolk.  It happened to be my grandfather, Wade P. Huie, Sr., who was an insurance salesman from Elberton, Georgia, a quiet, dignified Presbyterian man who died when I was 10 years old.

I know very little about my granddaddy, which made this discovery so absolutely cool.  Looking through the yearbook, I discovered that he was the editor-in-chief, manager and catcher on the baseball team, offensive tackle on the football team, first lieutenant in their military program, class poet, president of the literary society, and a member of the rifle team.  He was also voted "Best Student" and "Deepest Thinker" by the student body.  I love finding out new things about my family, especially the good stuff, even stuff that happened over 100 years ago.
 
I posted this discovery on Facebook this weekend with an overwhelming response.  Funny how we are so prone to post the things for which we are proud, and normally not the things for which we might be even a little ashamed.  Admittedly, I likely would not have posted this information had my grandfather been a C student and served time in jail.  I suppose that is human nature.
 
And that is why I have such a deep reverence for scripture, God's word.  It is not like Facebook or any other social media.  It does not sugarcoat the human condition.  Rather it tells the human story in ways that are real and raw.  Take King David, for example, the most revered person in all the Old Testament.  Yes, we see David as a man truly "after God's own heart," and yet we also hear about his frailties and foibles, his shortcomings and sins.
 
Just read 2 Samuel 11, David's affair and cover-up with Bathsheba, where we see David in clear violation of perhaps half the Commandments, from adultery to murder.  The Bible does not flinch from even the darkest side of the human condition, but deals with it in all its nuances.  We are made in the image of God, and yet we all still sin.  We witness both sides of that reality so clearly as we engage God's word.  After all, even the greatest king could slip and fall, and did he ever!  To me, the inclusion of this story is one of the clearest signs of the inspiration of scripture.  Meanwhile I will likely continue to post mostly just the good stuff about my granddaddy and all else in my world.
  
But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.   
-1 Samuel 11:27b

Prayer for Today

O God, we thank you for our family trees, and especially the generations who have preceded us.  May we learn from their stories, just as we learn from all the great stories of the Bible.  Amen.