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Friday, January 11, 2008

Life In The Past Lane

I have not posted in over a week because I have been living life in the past lane. Before Christmas, I started writing an article on the Mennonite Powells of Lancaster County. I showed it to the editor of the Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage journal when I visited the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society on Tuesday. She said she would be interested in publishing the article and gave me some advice on how to set up the genealogy section. I have been slaving over it the rest of this week, trying to get everything set up to her specifications. I am not finished, but it is coming along nicely.
The article tells about three descendants of Edward Powell who were Mennonites---Peter, Isaac, and Emaline. I am including four generations of each one in the article. The first two do not have as many descendants, but the list of Emaline's descendants fills 12 pages. (If I went on to the seventh generation which is living today, it would fill a book.) Each of these people needed to be numbered in such a way that more people can be added. I finally finished it yesterday. My number is EP767a43.
As I was numbering people, I thought about the "Hall of Faith" in Hebrews 11. Verse 13 says, "These all died in faith." I wish the same could be said about the list I typed this week. The lives some of them lived make it obvious they did not all die in faith. I am thankful no one in the line from Emaline to me dropped the ball and failed to pass on the legacy of faith. It is the most valuable inheritance I have received from my ancestors.
Maybe next week I'll get back to life in the present lane!

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