THE TWINS

When I was kid I was fascinated with twins. I had several close friends who were twins and an uncle who had an identical twin brother. It might interest you to know that my uncle’s identical twin was not my uncle. Can you figure that one out?

My life-long curiosity with sibling doubles greatly multiplied sixteen years ago when my wife called from her doctor’s office. Yes she was pregnant, no it wasn’t a pony and yes it was twins. That same year we had taken in two teenage girls as our own and that’s how we went from 2 kids to six kids in 1993. That’s also the year this preacher struggled with drinking –just kidding.

Now Leanna and I were in our mid-twenties when we took in those amazing teenage girls. They greatly helped us with the newborn twins -and our three year old -and our six year old. This should explain how I got to be a Grandfather when I was only 30. Don’t worry; I’ll still explain how my uncle’s identical twin wasn’t also my uncle. The point is, twins get my attention.

Double the trouble
Did you hear about the twins that were born in Rochester Michigan a few weeks ago? Tariq Griffin entered the world at 12:17 a.m. on New Year's Day and his twin brother, Tarrance, was born 26 minutes earlier. This means the boys have the unique distinction of being identical twins born on different days, months and years. That’s cool in the Brewer’s book.

Their dad, Tarrance Sr., is also a twin but oddly enough actually has the same birthday as his twin brother. Go figure.

Two steps forward
What about the twins of different races born in London last week? Dean Durrant's newborn daughter Miya has dark skin and brown eyes like him. Her twin sister Leah has fair skin like her blue-eyed, red-haired mother. Their older siblings Lauren and Hayleigh, born in 2001, also have strikingly different skin tones and eye colors. I love it!

The phenomenon is so uncommon that there are no statistics to illustrate its probability but its somewhere in the gazillion jillions*, I imagine. Yes, I know it’s not a number. No need to write.

A Tale of two kingdoms
In Genesis 25, the Bible records a story of twins. Rebecca was pregnant and after sometime she began to suspect something was wrong. Every first time pregnancy comes packed with anxieties but this was past hormonal imbalance and drastic body change.

Rebecca can’t go to her mama for reassurance or explanation. Her mama lives in Syria and she is in what will be called Israel. She can’t go to Isaac’s mama, because Sarah had died four years ago at the age of 127. Remember, this is not last week. This is four thousand years ago in the ancient Middle East.

So Rebecca goes to the greatest specialist of all. Verse 22 says, “And the children struggled together within her; and she said, if it be so, why am I thus? And she went to inquire of the LORD. And the LORD said unto her, two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people…”

The struggle within
All of us deal with internal struggle and at some point wonder, “Why am I like that?”

When you love your kids and plan on a peaceful evening then because of some little thing, or for no apparent reason at all, you loose your cool. You may have wondered afterward “WHY AM I THUS?”

If you’ve ever ruined your marriage, failed a business, hurt somebody you loved or did what you promised you would never do, you might have asked that 4000-year-old question, “Why is there this struggle within me? Why is it so hard for me to be the person I want to be?”

I think God would say to both you and me the same thing he said to our friend Rebecca. There are two separate nations within you. There are two different kinds of people and make no mistake about it, they are at war. Then I think He would give you the cure.
We are at war and the worst enemy you and I actually have is in-a-me.

Christianity has so much life to offer but on the top ten lists for me, is an answer to the struggle within. Being saved is from the inside out. Since I now have Christ living in me I paraphrase the saying, Greater is he within me than (me) within the world. Just one more reason the Brewer highly recommends you check out this Jesus so many of us are crazy about.

By the way, my uncle isn’t blood kin. He married my aunt Sandy. That’s why his twin brother isn’t related to me, silly.

Contact the Brewer @ www.FreshFromTheBrewer.com