“The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.”
~ Genesis 40:23
Hi James and Ellen,
Have you ever had a divine ‘appointment’? Ask your dad and/or ma if he, she or they have ever had a divine ‘appointment’. A divine ‘appointment’ is to have an unexpected encounter or unplanned experience that completely belies coincidence and which may lead to a life direction change. Your grandpaa believes that divine ‘appointments’ are happening all the time – that God has in constant motion meetings and events that has your grandpaa interacting with a guy, gal or kid in one way or another that only God knows why. Your grandpaa knows that meeting and marrying your grandmaa would not have happened if your grandmaa had not been encouraged by her pastor and her ma to go to Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa where she ended up staying in the same ‘dorm’ house where your dad’s Aunt Caroline was staying. Your grandpaa finds himself often reliving the very first time that he saw your grandmaa, to the two and a half years between meeting your grandmaa and marrying your grandmaa – which had your grandpaa leaving his home on a farm near Volga, South Dakota to travel to Wilmington, Delaware where your grandmaa was living and the very memorable times that he has had with your grandmaa since they were married on February 14, 1964 – which is now over 59 years ago at the time of the editing of this missive. Your grandpaa finds himself also often reliving the experiences that he and your grandmaa had during the two years that they lived in Aberdeen, South Dakota and as members of the Aberdeen Christian and Missionary Alliance Church. Just as God divinely had your grandmaa and grandpaa meet, God divinely led your grandmaa and grandpaa to Aberdeen where He had everything in place for your grandmaa and grandpaa to become intimately involved in the Alliance Church and where your grandpaa responded to a missionary call. Your grandmaa and grandpaa would not have ended up living in Aberdeen if your grandpaa had not accepted a job in the Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania Liberty Loan office. Your grandpaa was hired immediately by the Liberty Loan office manager after he took a Wonderlic Test. Your grandpaa a couple of years later was asked by Liberty Loan if he would manage their Springfield, Massachusetts office. Even though your grandmaa and grandpaa really liked living in Massachusetts, they felt a strong pull to relocate to South Dakota where your grandpaa had a promise of work in the Sioux Falls Beneficial Finance office. Beneficial Finance about two years later asked your grandpaa to manage their office in Aberdeen. At the same time that grandmaa and grandpaa were moving to different places, your dad’s Uncle Craig – who by now was married to your dad’s Aunt Jean, had completed his military commitment to the navy and was living in Aberdeen where he was studying at Northern State College on the GI Bill. When your grandpaa called his bro to ask him about a church to go to in Aberdeen, Craig suggested the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church.
Joseph had divine ‘appointments’. One of Joseph’s divine ‘appointments’ took place after he was put in jail. A cupbearer and a baker were jailed in the jail where Joseph had been jailed. A cupbearer was a guy who tasted wine to make sure that it had not been poisoned before a guy – such as a Pharaoh, drank the wine. A Pharaoh was the guy who ruled over the guys and gals who were living in the land area of Egypt. The cupbearer and the baker were put in the jail where Joseph had been jailed because they had offended the Pharaoh. The wine taster and the baker had been the head guys in the jobs that they had been good at doing. After spending some time in jail, the wine taster and the baker – on the very same night, had dreams. The dream each guy had really scared each guy. When Joseph saw his two jail companions looking really glum, Joseph asked the guys what was bothering them. When the wine taster and the baker told Joseph that they both had had a really weird dream that had them both really scared and because there was not anyone around to interpret the dream for them . . . Joseph told the guys that he would interpret their dreams. Joseph had a penchant for interpreting dreams. Joseph had gotten himself in trouble with his bros after he interpreted a couple of dreams that he had had that had his bros bowing down to him. When the baker heard Joseph telling the wine taster the meaning of his dream – which was that he would get out of jail in three days and that he would get his old job back, the baker was quite ready to tell Joseph his dream – thinking that he would get the same good news that the wine taster got. Joseph had to tell the baker that he too would have something happen to him in three days but in his case, the Pharaoh was going to cut off his head, hang his body on a tree and birds would eat his body. How Joseph interpreted both dreams took place exactly the way that Joseph said that they would take place – which had the Pharaoh giving his wine taster his job back and having his baker killed. When Joseph told the wine taster what was going to happen to him, Joseph asked the wine taster to advocate for him with the Pharaoh – as he really wanted to get out of jail himself.
Genesis 40 recounts a cupbearer and a baker being in a jail with Joseph. Verse 23 says “The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.” Even though this chapter ends leaving a guy, gal or kid thinking that Joseph would be stuck in jail for the rest of his life, the wine taster remembered later – when the Pharaoh had a dream and no one could interpret the dream for him, what Joseph did for him when he interpreted the dream that he had when he was jailed with Joseph. Divine ‘appointments’ to your grandpaa are signs from God that only He could have brought about a meeting or an event in the exact moment or timeframe that a meeting or an event came about.
Genesis 40 (727)