When I sold parts of the company back in 2001, I moved my office into our home. Ever since that time, my office in our house has been my base of operations. Usually, I am out on the road and I don’t have people visit every day, or even every week for that matter, but I wanted to make sure that I kept our business separated from our personal stuff. So, I rented a P.O. Box almost twenty years ago at the Carmel, IN post office.
Back then, kind of like with phone numbers, there were a number of boxes available for rent and I was given a list of numbers that corresponded with the size that I wanted to rent. As I scanned the list of available numbers open, I immediately chose P.O. Box 1711 in Carmel, IN 46082.
I know why I picked that particular box, but I don’t think that I have ever shared the reason with anyone – until this week-end, that is. Our youngest grandson, Drew, and I were going by the post office to check and see if I had any mail on Saturday. Drew and I were spending part of the day together and he likes to run errands with me. Anyway, although he has gone with me before to check for mail, he couldn’t remember the box number.
He kind of knew which aisle to turn down, but let’s face it, there are a lot of boxes and there must be an easier way to remember our number. So, I shared with him the story of why I picked the box I did – 1711.
I was getting ready to start seminary at the time and really involved in reading the Bible as well as my biblical studies in preparation for school. Aside from that, Genesis is my favorite book and I always get excited when I read the first several chapters of that great book written my Moses.
So, and I had Drew’s rapt attention by this point in time, I shared with him that God created the heavens and the earth in seven days, with the help of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Get it? God the Father (1) created the earth in (7) days, with the help of Jesus (1) and the Holy Spirit (1) – if you put it all together, it’s 1711. I could go much deeper with all this from a theological perspective but suffice it to say that each time I stand in front of our box, I think of the Trinity and the little story that popped into my head the day I signed the papers from the post office.
I’m sure that this sounds a little campy to some of you, but it is one of the little ways that I try to keep God front and center in almost everything I do. As a bonus, a little known fact is that God actually blessed the last day of creation, the 7th day – the day He rested from all His work.
Anyway, our verse for tonight is the verse from Genesis that lets us know that the work God had done in creating everything was finished on the seventh day. Moses tells us, in Genesis 2:2-3, “By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.”
We also know from the first verse of Genesis that the Holy Spirit was present at creation and in John 1, we are told that Jesus was also there. My encouragement this evening is that we have a remarkable God who wants us to be in communion with Him. And He wants us to remember the care He took in creating the perfect place to be in relationship with mankind.
My prayer is that this Christmas season, we will all take time to make sure that we worship Jesus and the rest of the Triune God, the creator of everything that we read about in Genesis – and even more. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…