Letters From Grandpa #571

• LETTERS FROM GRANDPA
• 571

Dearest grandchild,

Today’s letter will be about “fathers” and “children”. Malachi wrote: “See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse." (Malachi 4:5, 6)

There you have it! Turning the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers would not only prepare God’s people for the coming of Christ, but also help prevent a curse to their nation. We need both the old and the young to do the work of God! At the present time we have 14 grandsons, 11 great grandsons, 12 grand daughters and 12 great grand daughters. If God permits these young men and women will someday be fathers, and mothers. I pray that all of you will train your children to achieve their full potential in Christ.

• Moses was 80 years old when he was called by God to deliver his people from slavery. His

sister Miriam, however, helped saved his life when she was but a small child (Ex. 2:7).

• Eli was old and failed to restrain his sons from wickedness. That’s why God called Samuel

to be His prophet when he was but a small boy (1 Sam. 2:22 ff.)

• God used Anna when she was about 100 years old (Lk. 2:36 - 38), but God also used a little

boy’s lunch to feet 5,000 men besides women and children (John 6:9).

• When the disciples of Jesus resented babies, Jesus rebuked them and said that the Kingdom

of God belonged to such little ones (Lk. 18:15 - 17).

• Paul, the aged (Philemon 9), wrote to Timothy that no one should despise his youth (1 Tim. 4:12).
• Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in his late 80's, but Alexander the

Great took command of an army that conquered the world when he was only 20.

• Benjamin Franklin served as our Ambassador to France from the age of 70 - 79, but George

Washington had surveyed a wilderness and become a county surveyor at age 17.

• John Wesley was preaching every day at age 88 but John Quincy Adams at age 14 served as

Secretary and official translator for our U. S. Ambassador to Russia.

• Julia Ward Howe, author of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, was still writing music at 91, but

Mozart was composing beautiful music before the age of 10.

• Thomas Edison received his 1,033 patent at 81, but Shirley Temple received a special

Academy Award at the age 7.

• Henry Lytton, President of Chicago’s HUB, was still active in business at 100, but Sunny

Sanwar was fluent in 6 languages at 8, and completed 4 years of High School in 8 months.

• Grandma Moses did not begin her career as a painter until age 70, but Pablo Picasso was

painting beautiful pictures at the age of 8.

• Stradivarius was still making violins at the age of 93, but Sho Yano graduated summa cum

laude from Loyola University in Chicago at the age of 12.

• Tennyson published “Crossing the Bar” at 83, but Thomas Chatterton wrote the first of his

literary mysteries, “Elinoure and Juga” before he was 12.

• Thomas Jefferson was active in public life at 83, but Frankie Michaels received praise and

a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical at age 11.

Well, you get the point! For the church of our Lord Jesus Christ to flourish as God intends, the hearts of the fathers must be turned to their children, and vice versa. The stereotypical barriers between the old and the young must be broken down. The task will not be easy! How different history would be if only Rehoboam had heeded the advice of his elders and lowered taxes (1 Ki. 12.). How thankful we should be that King Saul had the wisdom to let young David fight Goliath. (1 Sam. 17). So, we too will be wise indeed to face the future as a team. Both young and old drawing from the strength of the other because we think more of Christ than we think of ourselves.

David said it like this: “I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.” (Ps 37:25)

I love you,

Grandpa Boyce