You Go Billy!

As I was studying the scriptures this morning, I got interested in the word "condescension" as found in 1 Nephi 11. It's really not a very positive word, so I'm sure because it's referring to the Savior that it's meant in the most positive way possible, so I went searching for the most positive definition I could find.

I ended up at the Encyclopedia Brittanica online and for some reason ran across information on Billy Graham (listed under the word "condescension?"), who my mother says is a cousin through my great grandmother, Margaret Elizabeth Graham (a very religious person in her own right). I just thought it was interesting what I read.

"Born November 7, 1918, in Charlotte, North Carolina. Oldest of 2 sisters, 2 brothers. Father: dairy farmer. Parents both lived into his adulthood. Raised Presbyterian. Schooled through college. Childhood distinctions: gregarious, energetic. 1934 answered altar call from revivalist Mordecai Ham."

May not seem like a big deal to anyone but me, but I just thought it was funny how the man who got Billy doing what he does so well is a man named Mordecai HAM. Margaret Elizabeth Graham married George Robert Hamm, whose father was George Ham. Now, Margaret and George and all of them were from Missouri, but the Graham's came out of the Carolina's to get there, so is there some relation between the Graham's and the Hamm's other than mine? Could Mordecai be related to me also? I don't know. It's just funny.

Zan also has a great grandmother with the last name Graham--Mary Ann Graham. She sits in the same spot on his pedigree chart as my Margaret Elizabeth. Don't know if these women are related yet, their backgrounds are so different--mine Presbyterian and his LDS, but I suppose they could be. I'm sure someday we'll find out.

Back when the Nauvoo Temple was being built, we were asked to find if we had ancestors that were there at the time and assisted with its original building. We found that my ancestors, the Riddle's (yes, Harry Potter readers, there is a Tom, but he's John Thomas, so I'm safe, right?) made the shingles for the temple. Zan's ancestors, the Hess', laid the roof. We have laughed about that since, and how they must have known each other, but more than that, how symbolic that is of our current life. I'm at home making the shingles, so he can go out and lay the roof.

It seems that the Riddle and Hess lines are the ones that, when followed back, end up being related again through the Miner/Minor line. There was another Miner descendant, who is also related more directly to Zan's Holmes line that we assisted in learning the Gospel. She joined the Church.

It just all seems to ironic, so coincidental that all these things are so interrelated. It's these things that help me understand that nothing is coincidental. It's all part of a bigger plan. Do you have similar stories to these? I think someday when we understand all things, we'll be surprised just how much our ancestors knew each other and how they affect our lives today.