Family

Jacob – the Prodigal Son

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Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. Luke 15:13 ESV

Of all the parables that Jesus told, the one we call, “The Prodigal Son’” is likely everyone’s favorite. We love this story because at some point in our lives we have been (or maybe still are) that prodigal son. And though this wonderful story seems unique to Jesus, I was surprised recently when I began to see parallels with another young man, in the Bible whose name was Jacob. We usually think of Jacob, wrestling all night with an angel, or of His tricking his father into blessing him, by pretending to be his older brother Esau. But I have rarely thought of how, just like the prodigal, Jacob ran away from his family at a very tender age. Though, Jacob got to feed sheep while the prodigal was feeding pigs, Jacob still ended up doing hard and thankless work. Instead of the good life that Jacob had hoped for when he lied to gain his father’s blessing, Jacob ended up a thousand miles away herding sheep.

Photo by Quang Nguyen Vinh on Pexels.com

Why does any of this matter? Because, while the prodigal’s problems seem to be solved quickly in Jesus’s parable, our real-life prodigal problems take a lot longer to fix. Children run away and decades latter we are still praying for their return. Maybe we are the ones who have been running from God’s calling, and half a lifetime has passed us by. Jacob’s story of redemption spanned twenty-years and eight long chapters in the book of Genesis. From the very beginning though, God was watching over Jacob, long before Jacob was looking for God. While Esau, loved pleasing their father by bringing in fresh game from his hunting, Jabob stayed closer to home, working on pleasing his mother. When Esau came in from a hunting trip exhausted, Jacob showed no mercy and bargained for a better place in the family by selling his own twin brother a bowl of stew. Jacob was devious, willing to lie and unconcerned about the welfare of his brother, yet, the Bible says that God loved Jacob and didn’t give up on him. In that same way, If you have wept tears, and given up on praying for a prodigal in your family, know that God is still at work. God has ways of breaking through stubbornness, our pride and sin, not with harsh punishment, but by grace. Stay tuned for a surprising meeting in the desert, where Jacob first begins to hear the voice of God!

Memories

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What happens to our memories
When tomorrow comes to call?
Do they sit around discussing
If we remember them at all!

Or do they gently fall asleep
And doze off in their dens
And dream of days when we may come
To wake them up again!

Memories
By Peter Caligiuri
Copyright © 2026
All rights reserved

What do you think about your memories? If you are a seasoned citizen like me, have you tried to preserve them in some way for your family and friends? If you are young, have you taken time to ask the older folks in your circle if they will tell you theirs? I had the privilege in my own case to sit down with my Great-grandmother as she opened her scrap books and showed me pages filled with memories including a visit to the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair! With my dad, I often listened to him telling stories of growing up in New York in the 1920′-30’s. My favorite was of the time he was about eight and my aunt Helen who was seven at the time, were sent to the butcher to pick out a live chicken for the Sunday dinner. Then they waited as the man ushered the chosen bird into eternity, plucked its feathers, wrapped it in butcher paper and put it in a sack to carry it home. They each held one handle keeping the bird dangling in between, so no one had to touch it! In the last ten years of dad’s life, I came across a wonderful book titled, “Letter’s From Dad” by Miles Everhart. After reading the book, I bought three copies; one for each of our sons and one for my dad. This book gives the story of the author’s realization of the value of family memories, and he gives a nice template to use for either yourself or others. I am sure that there are other great resources out there that do similar things, so if you have any other suggestions, please leave them in the comments. Have a blessed and memorable week everyone!

The Least Important Thing

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And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall diligently teach them to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise. Deuteronomy 6:6-7 ESV

Though I am retired, I continue to manage a large farm, which has been converted into a weekend rental. Among my duties is paying the various contractors, one of whom is a young mailman named Jesse, who along with his wife, clean the place in their spare time after work. The many hours they put in, remind me of myself at their age. Back then, with two teenage boys at home, a mortgage, and a car payment, it seemed we were always short on money. But looking back now some 50 years later, I now realize that the least important thing I did during that time was to make money.

I am not saying that working or paying bills doesn’t matter. In fact, we learn in the Bible that before Adam sinned, and even before God created Eve, Adam had a job. You are probably shouting right now. “What job was that?” Now, if you are wondering, about Adam’s entry level job, it was to name the animals that God brought them to Him. Maybe Adam started with Aardvark, and worked his way through the dolphins, lions, and whales, as one by one, Adam named thousands of animals. Finally, he was so exhausted that he fell into a deep sleep and while he rested, God created Eve. Yes, work is good and a gift from God, but sometimes we begin to juggle a growing collection of tasks in the way that a circus performer sends plates spinning on a variety of different sticks. It is all very impressive until the moment that they all come crashing down. Often the crash that we hear in our lives is the sound of a door slamming shut behind a close friend, a lonely teenager, or an angry wife, who have felt ignored, abandoned, or undervalued. We have forgotten God’s command to not just rush back and forth to church on Sundays and then hurry on to our next activity. God calls us to take time to talk about His words and find ways to weave them into our everyday lives. Those words which created planets, formed the glaciers and waterfalls are more than simply lines to be remembered: they are holy and pure and above all they are words that give us life. Have God’s words stirred your heart today? Then, pause for moment, bow your head in prayer and remember that what matters most of all is that God loved us and sent His only Son, so that we could spend all eternity with Him!