The postal delivery was a little late – actually very late.  The postcard was delivered 121 years after it was sent!  Yet, the postcard from one sibling to another brought some of their descendants together for the first time.

The Swansea Building Society, a mortgage loan business in Swansea, Wales, received the postcard at 11 Gradock Street early last month.  It was addressed to “Miss Lydia Davies” and was dated August 3, 1903.  The card was sent by Miss Davies’ brother, Ewart Davies, while he was spending the summer at his grandfather’s home.  Miss Davies was known to collect postcards, so her brother sent one to her.

Descendants of the Davies siblings became aware of the correspondence when it was posted on social media.  Family members of both the sender and the receiver were reunited at 11 Gradock Street.  Two of Miss Lydia’s great-nieces and a great-granddaughter were introduced to a grandson of Ewart Davies.  Ewart’s grandson, Nick Davies, told the BBC that the experience was "like a family reunion where the only connection you have is a common ancestor dating back to over 100 ago." *

The Bible is an old book.  Actually, it is a collection of 66 books written over a period of approximately 1600 years with the last book written late in the 1st century A.D.  It contains several types of genre, and the books were written to different people in different settings – geographically, culturally, linguistically, and chronologically.  Yet, there is one central theme to the Bible: the salvation of man through Christ to the glory of God.

Although the Bible was written many years ago, it is extremely relevant for you and me today.  In fact, it can connect us to people in the past and present and future in a very unique way.

For example, Jews who had assembled in Jerusalem on Pentecost Day after Jesus Christ was crucified (see Acts 2) were told by the Apostles that the One they had crucified was the promised Messiah.  God had made Him both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36).  Many in the audience were convicted of their sins and of the deity of Jesus, and they cried out, “What shall we do?”  Peter responded: “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).  “So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls” (Acts 2:41).  Added to what?  Added to the body of believers, the church, the family of God (Acts 2:47; Galatians 3:26-27). 

You and I can relate to that audience on Pentecost Day.  All of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).  Because of our sins we are separated from God (Isaiah 59:1-2).  But God loves us so much that He gave His Son to die on the cross to pay the price for our redemption from sin (Ephesians 1:7; 1 Peter 1:18-19).  If we will accept His offer of salvation and life just like those 3,000 on Pentecost Day, we will also receive the forgiveness of our sins, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and we’ll be added to the family of God, the church.  Thus, we can be connected to Christians in the past and the present, for we are all a part of God’s family.

Because of Jesus, we can be connected to one another, with a glorious past and a wonderful future: eternal life in heaven (1 Peter 1:3-5).

Won’t YOU accept His offer of salvation and eternal life through your trusting obedience?

-- David A. Sargent

* Information gleaned from “Family meets for first time after ancestor's postcard is delivered 121 years after it was sent” by Brittany Kasko of Fox News, www.foxnews.com.

David A. Sargent, Minister

Church of Christ at Creekwood 
1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama  36695

Archived issues of Living Water can be viewed and accessed from our website at: www.creekwoodcc.org