If you have accumulated lots of papers and decide to look through them in order to throw unneeded ones away, you may find some things that you forgot you had and want to keep. Some papers you may have had for many years and others less than a year. That`s what I discovered this week. I found a paper entitled “It’s About ‘Time’” that was part of a message that Pastor Art Larson gave at our Mission’s conference in 1996. I also found a booklet entitled “1955 – Remember When …” that one of my daughters (and her husband) gave me for my birthday last year.
Here are some of the “nuggets” in Pastor Larson’s message:
“The calendar was invented to help measure ‘time.’ An early Egyptian calendar consisted of 365 days, divided into 12 months of 30 days each, with 5 supplementary days added at the end of each year. The ancient Greeks recorded the year according to real lunar months. At one time the Romans had a year of 10 months!
The last 4 months in our calendar betray their relationship to the numbers 7 to 10. For example, September comes from the Latin ‘septum’ (or seven). October and November mean 8th and 9th, while December stems from ‘decimus’ meaning 10th and also giving our English word ‘decimal.’
Around 200 B.C., Rome’s chief priests of religion held the power to regulate the calendar. When more money was needed in taxes, a month could be shortened here and there – making taxes come due sooner. An official, wishing to serve longer than his political term, could add a month or two to the calendar! If ‘higher ups’ wished to get rid of a bad official, they could knock a few days or weeks out of the calendar and thus shorten his term!
By the time Julius Caesar came to the emperorship, the calendar was so mixed up that in one instance, Autumn began in January! Julius Caesar, taking time ‘by the hair’ and enlisting the aid of an eminent Egyptian astronomer, adopted the Egyptian calendar which he had encountered during his military campaign in that country. Called the Julian Calendar, the year consisted of 12 months, totalling 365 days and every 4th (or ‘leap year’) having an extra day! Incidentally, the month ‘July’ received its name from Julius! Later, Emperor Augustus, after whom ‘August’ was named, wanting his 30-day month to be as long as Julius’ 31-day period, took a day from February and added it to August!”
Getting closer to our day, the booklet “1955 – Remember When …” has the following information:
“In January, in Canada, the opening of Parliament is broadcast on TV for the first time.
In April, Ray Croc opens his first McDonald’s in Des Plaines, IL.
In September, burgeoning movie star James Dean dies in a car crash at age 24.”
When someone dies at a young age, people often say that he or she died “an untimely death.” As we get older, we are saddened when family members and friends die. In the Jeremiah Study Bible, the following heading is given for Psalms 90 – 106: “The Eternity of God, and Man’s Frailty.”
May we determine to make each day count for the Lord.
Steve