During my Sabbatical, I have spent considerable time on my genealogy. I suppose I reflect a growing interest in many across America. For decades I have had a nagging curiosity to find out who my ancestors were. That interest continued to build after I saw the PBS series "African American Lives" several years ago and was also fueled by the current PBS series "Faces of America" and an NBC series "Who Do You Think You Are?"
Contrary to the NBC series title, I really don't trace my lineage to find out 'who I am'. To root my self identity in my family tree would yield a weak and man-centered, idolatrous sense of identity with very little hope. It would be a broken cistern, a leaky cup which would fail to satisfy my need to know who I am. Rather, I do this research with a settled sense of my identity in Christ and the gospel. God is my Heavenly Father (Galatians 3:26). I belong to his chosen people in Christ (1 Peter 2:9). My hope for my family and my descendants is in God's steadfast love to a thousand generations of his people (Deuteronomy 7:9).
So, as I hope in the redeeming steadfast love of the Lord for my life and my generations to come, I am on a quest to document my ancestry. A great tool has been the website Ancestry.com. And in looking back, I am hoping— even expecting— to discover breakthroughs of the steadfast love of Christ at work among others in my family tree.
I know who I am. I just want to find out who my ancestors were.
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I love Jesus. I love my wife and four children. And I am on the pastoral staff at Bethlehem Baptist, Minneapolis, MN (click photo for my bio on the Bethlehem website)
O LORD, "... you in your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness." Nehemiah 9:19 (ESV)
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Kenny Stokes
I love Jesus. I love my wife and four children. And I am on the pastoral staff at Bethlehem Baptist, Minneapolis, MN (click photo for my bio on the Bethlehem website)
The Purpose of this Blog
The theme, "wilderness mercies" simply is a metaphor for how I think about the journey of the 'normal' Christian life. That is, our lives are made up of several wilderness experiences in which God works his great mercy over and over again for our joy and his glory. The deepest experiences of GOD's grace, and breakthroughs in knowledge of Christ, self, others and the world— are gained more often in the 'wilderness'.
One of the main impulses behind this blog was born when my eldest son urged me to write thoughts down for his benefit and for my benefit— and for the benefit of the rest of my children and others.
Therefore, my aim is to post content that in one way or another encourages our hope in God's steadfast love and mercy to us in Christ. I need such encouragement and I know others do too.
Kenny Stokes
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