Reported on AOL news (Dec. 1) - "What do you say to a brother you didn't know existed for 80 years?" So asked Jack Shore of Lew Manilow in March, The Chicago Tribune reported. The two men had recently learned they were brothers -- and that they happened to live right down the street from each other in Chicago. Manilow was born Irvin Inger in August 1927 in Wayne County, Mich., to Gussie and Sam Inger. The couple already had a 13-month old, Jacob (Jack Shore), and four children from Gussie's previous marriages. Overwhelmed financially and with their marriage on the rocks, the couple gave Irvin up for adoption. A year later, Irvin was adopted by Minette and Nathan Manilow of Chicago and became Lewis Manilow. He found out in 1955 that he was adopted and had a brother named Jacob, the Tribune reported, but he didn't track him down until this year. Shore didn't know that he had such a brother at all. It turns out the two men were not only neighbors but that they had met once when Shore visited a previous home of Manilow's. Now the two men are meeting each other's families, taking things slowly. "I didn't just find a brother," Manilow told the Tribune. "I found a new family. Digesting that, relating to that is going to take time."
Can you imagine?! A brother you never knew you had living just down the street...and you were both unaware. It makes me wonder how much history or valuable information or life-changing insight is within reach of all of us...and yet we are oblivious to its existence.
We have entered the season of Advent...the coming of Christ to earth, and all around us are the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of Christmas. From trees to cookies, from presents to bells, from eggnog to mistletoe, from nativity scenes to advent wreaths, Christmas beckons. Even more so...Christ beckons. For many, He is the brother that lives in their shadow. He is the sweepstakes they long to win. He is the love they hunger to experience. He is the grace they crave to receive. He is the hope on their horizon. He is breath of their existence. And yet so often...He is the unknown on their radar screen, always overseeing but often overlooked.
I love Christmas. It is unquestionably my favorite time of the year. As a result, I tend to burrow into the heart of the season in search of fresh insights and fresh fodder that I can feed my always-expanding curiosity. I don't want to miss the obvious. I don't want to be dazzled by the colors of the season and miss the Light of the World. It would be almost criminal to receive gifts from others and bypass the gift from God...His son, Jesus. I don't want to fill myself up with the culinary delights of the yuletide and miss the importance of the admonition of God's Word to "Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him." Psalm 34:8
How about you? What hidden, unknown reality is residing just down the street from you? What great gift might you be overlooking? Take the time to explore the gift of Jesus. Know Him. You'll discover a whole new family.
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