MEMORIES OF LIFE by Robert Soto

MEMORIES OF LIFE by Robert Soto

February 18, 2010

Genesis 42:8-9 "Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him. Then he remembered his dreams about them and said to them, "You are spies! You have come to see where our land is unprotected."

It is funny what triggers memories. A word or two in the right order brings back memories. A story told around the campfire brings back memories. A book you read in the privacy of your home brings back memories. Maybe a bird in the air or a mountain bring back memories. A song sung on the radio brings back a lot of memories. But today as I started to put old photographs back into a photo album, it brought back a lot of memories of a person who once was happy and another person who is no longer with us. They brought memories of an Indian mother and son in the land of Peru and their desire to come to America to do ministry and work among their Indian people. The smiles on the faces of the city Indian, the jungle Indians and the mountain Indians as I, along with a team of four women, danced for the Indian people of Peru. By the way, you heard me right, I was assigned to take a team of five dancers including myself, four of them being women, with two women translators.

Today was a day full of memories. Remembering the good days of the past along with the bad days. Remembering the happy times I spent with friends and remembering the bad times we had. Remembering a life that affected not just one person, but many before she took her last breath on earth. As Joseph greeted a few strangers that had come for food, he recognized their faces and he remembered. Moses wrote, "Then he remembered his dreams about them and said to them, "You are spies! You have come to see where our land is unprotected." Memories bring back the past. Memories bring back the good days and the bad days. They bring back the good thoughts and bad thoughts. Memories are God's way of reminding us that He is in total control of our lives and the lives of those we come in contact with each day of our lives.

Robert Soto, Lipan Apache and pastor of:

McAllen Grace Brethren Church
The Native American New Life Center
Chief of Chiefs Christian Church