CAFE POWDER ROOM

Do you know the name of the fifth emperor of Rome? 

Unless you are a scholar of ancient monarchs, you are

                                                                              Image via Wikipedia

not likely to remember this.  Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, also called Tarquin the Elder or Tarquin I, was the legendary fifth King of Rome from 616 BC to 579 BC.

Tarquin I accomplished many things during his reign.  He established the Circus Maximus, constructed the Cloaca Maxima (great sewer) after a great flood, constructed a temple in honor of Jupiter, Optimus Maximus.

Many of the Roman symbols of war and civil office date from his reign and he was the first to celebrate a Roman     triumph after the Etruscan fashion,  wearing a robe of purple and gold borne on a chariot drawn by four horses.

For all that, you don't remember him, do you?

You see everyone eventually -- given enough time -- is forgotten.  Even the most important, the richest, the most influential, will be forgotten over time.  If you don't believe this, ask any high school freshman if they know about Patrick Henry, John Adams, John Hancock and Thomas Payne.  It is doubtful they will know much about any, and certainly not all of these great names from our American Revolution.

Recently I had the honor of attending a Men's Prayer Breakfast which my father decades ago had helped to begin.  My husband was there to give a devotional and he and I were going to sing prior to his message.  So many of these men remembered my father, who passed away fourteen years ago.  It was so wonderful to be around people who remembered my father and who remembered him so fondly.  Just the thought that he had not been forgotten was so comforting.

While the world, and even our own progeny will eventually forget us, there is One who will never forget us.  In fact, our names are forever written on His hands and feet in the form of  nail prints.  His side bears our names in the form of a spear print, and His brow forever bears our names in the form of thorn pricks.  He is our High Priest who bears our names on His body before His Father as He "ever liveth to make intercession for us".

The world may forget us, but He never will.

"And thou shalt take two onyx stones, and grave on them the names of the children of Israel: Six of their names on one stone, and the other six names of the rest on the other stone, according to their birth. With the work of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a signet, shalt thou engrave the two stones with the names of the children of Israel: thou shalt make them to be set in ouches of gold.  And thou shalt put the two stones upon the shoulders of the ephod for stones of memorial unto the children of Israel: and Aaron shall bear their names before the LORD upon his two shoulders for a memorial," (Exodus 28:9-12).