Dear Friends:

We have a tendency to overlook the genealogies and logistical inventories of the Bible, but we can always learn something if we reflect on them for a while. The genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1 tells us that the Christ came to us through the great and very ordinary, adulterers and murderers, the desperate and the long forgotten and thereby gives us hope in his saving grace.

The Old Testament Book of First Chronicles contains a remarkable listing of what it takes to build a nation or an organization that I think is well worth our reflection.

These are the numbers of the men armed for battle who came to David at Hebron to turn Saul’s kingdom over to him, as the LORD had said:

-from Judah, carrying shield and spear­ 6,800 armed for battle;

-from Simeon, warriors ready for battle ­7,100;

-from Levi­4,600,  including Jehoiada, leader of the family of Aaron, with 3,700 men, and Zadok, a brave young warrior, with 22 officers from his family;

-from Benjamin, Saul’s tribe­ 3,000, most of whom had remained loyal to Saul’s house until then;

-from Ephraim, brave warriors, famous in their own clans­ 20,800;

-from half the tribe of Manasseh, designated by name to come and make David king­ 18,000;

-from Issachar, men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do- 200 chiefs, with all their relatives under their command;

-from Zebulun, experienced soldiers prepared for battle with every type of weapon, to help David with undivided loyalty­ 50,000;

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Dear Friends:

They came to Bethsaida. Some people brought a blind man to him and begged him to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village; and when he had put saliva on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Can you see anything?” And the man looked up and said, “I can see people, but they look like trees, walking.” Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he looked intently and his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. Then he sent him away to his home, saying, “Do not even go into the village” (Mk 8:22-26)

My mind is frequently and notoriously absent without leave–meaning it’s off wandering in more pleasant environs than the current circumstance in which I am physically pleasant.

This aggravates my spouse, son, friends and colleagues when they hear me answer their “either/or” questions with a mumbled “yes” or a “maybe.” It isn’t funny to them. It isn’t really amusing to me either because I am very serious about what I am thinking and it is often a hard jolt back to reality.

A financial executive with one of my clients “has my number” on this. When she observes the tell-tale signs of my staring off into space, she points with her index and middle fingers at first her eyes and then mine. Then she says, “Hello, Planet You, focus, focus.”

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