THE MERRY MAILMAN
This takes me back down memory lane to the early or mid 1960s. My dad took me a few times to events at the "County Center" in White Plains, N.Y. This was the "event" place, and you usually could get a boxed lunch for $2 back then.
One event was the "Stamp and Coin Show," where coin and stamp collectors went. My dad and I had a pretty good collection of stamps and coins. The other event was the "Boat Show," where boats went on exhibit, some for sale, and there were fishing gear salesmen galore. I think another was when the Harlem Globetrotters came to play against the Washington Generals. I remember that.
But then, there was an event that included the "Merry Mailman." Now I don't know if that guy was a real, honest-to-goodness mailman, or as they say today, a "letter carrier," who had this sidekick, dressed in his U.S. Postal Service uniform, reciting his special, one-of-a-kind jingle. But I do remember him as if it were yesterday. I mean, I heard it once and still remember the words. I guess that happens from time to time. Well, this is how it went:
"I am the Merry Mailman, ring, ding, the bell will ring. That's a very special thing, and this is what I'll bring: a letter from your grandma, to say she's coming to stay, and close your eyes for the big surprise, there's a letter for your birthday. (and then it repeats).
When I heard that, I told my dad, "If I get a letter for my birthday, I sure hope there's money inside too". Dad just winked and said, "Don't we all." Now, about grandma coming to stay, I mean, all my grandmas were on the other side of eternity, and you have to admit, some grandmas would be welcomed, yet others want to get into everyone's business, and tell sons and daughters how to raise their kids. But anyhow, the event came and went, yet the memory is still there.
The mail service has been around for thousands of years. To have a mail service, we need mailmen to deliver the mail. If you remember back in the time of the Persian empire, in the Book of Esther, King Ahasuerus had "letter carriers" carry letters to all of Persia's provinces with the message that the Jews could defend themselves against their enemies. The Prophet Jeremiah had his servant "Baruch" deliver some of his written messages. "Baruch the Mailman," And who can forget the Pony Express, from 1860 to 1861. Short-lived, but the "FedEx" of 160 years ago. It involved 400 horses and their mail carriers taking "special delivery" letters from St. Joseph, MO, to Sacramento, CA.
For the postal system to work, we need the letter-writer, the letter carrier, or the "Mailman", and of course the recipient. Our Heavenly Father wrote letters, 66 to be exact. He used the prophets of old and the writers of the New Covenant to write his words of life. The letters were letters of love, of poetry, of advice, of wisdom, of warning, of discipline, yet love from a father to his children was the main theme. All the letters were put into one book, the Bible, as we know it. Now, God needs "Mailmen" and "Mailwomen" to deliver these letters of love, compacted into leather and paperbound Holy Books.
God's mailmen can be the Bible Book stores, Salvation Army thrift stores, the Gideons, Campus Crusade for Christ, etc I have even found Bibles in trash dumpsters! Can you believe that? That's when you need to jump in, rescue it, and give it to someone. Yes, YOU. YOU can be God's mailman, or mailwoman. I used to send parts of the Bible to communist block countries through the regular mail, both from here and from Germany. I would be the sender, and a mailman would deliver the letter to someone I would never meet (the Underground Evangelism Association).
You could be God's mailman or mailwoman inside a prison, to give God's Word to inmates. It is easier now through the internet. Be God's mail carrier from your own bedroom or living room. Send His Word out, then, "Yahoo" or "Google" mail would be the actual "mailman."
All in all, the "Merriest Mail Man" is the one who will deliver the letter of Salvation to those who are looking for it.
This takes me back down memory lane to the early or mid 1960s. My dad took me a few times to events at the "County Center" in White Plains, N.Y. This was the "event" place, and you usually could get a boxed lunch for $2 back then.
One event was the "Stamp and Coin Show," where coin and stamp collectors went. My dad and I had a pretty good collection of stamps and coins. The other event was the "Boat Show," where boats went on exhibit, some for sale, and there were fishing gear salesmen galore. I think another was when the Harlem Globetrotters came to play against the Washington Generals. I remember that.
But then, there was an event that included the "Merry Mailman." Now I don't know if that guy was a real, honest-to-goodness mailman, or as they say today, a "letter carrier," who had this sidekick, dressed in his U.S. Postal Service uniform, reciting his special, one-of-a-kind jingle. But I do remember him as if it were yesterday. I mean, I heard it once and still remember the words. I guess that happens from time to time. Well, this is how it went:
"I am the Merry Mailman, ring, ding, the bell will ring. That's a very special thing, and this is what I'll bring: a letter from your grandma, to say she's coming to stay, and close your eyes for the big surprise, there's a letter for your birthday. (and then it repeats).
When I heard that, I told my dad, "If I get a letter for my birthday, I sure hope there's money inside too". Dad just winked and said, "Don't we all." Now, about grandma coming to stay, I mean, all my grandmas were on the other side of eternity, and you have to admit, some grandmas would be welcomed, yet others want to get into everyone's business, and tell sons and daughters how to raise their kids. But anyhow, the event came and went, yet the memory is still there.
The mail service has been around for thousands of years. To have a mail service, we need mailmen to deliver the mail. If you remember back in the time of the Persian empire, in the Book of Esther, King Ahasuerus had "letter carriers" carry letters to all of Persia's provinces with the message that the Jews could defend themselves against their enemies. The Prophet Jeremiah had his servant "Baruch" deliver some of his written messages. "Baruch the Mailman," And who can forget the Pony Express, from 1860 to 1861. Short-lived, but the "FedEx" of 160 years ago. It involved 400 horses and their mail carriers taking "special delivery" letters from St. Joseph, MO, to Sacramento, CA.
For the postal system to work, we need the letter-writer, the letter carrier, or the "Mailman", and of course the recipient. Our Heavenly Father wrote letters, 66 to be exact. He used the prophets of old and the writers of the New Covenant to write his words of life. The letters were letters of love, of poetry, of advice, of wisdom, of warning, of discipline, yet love from a father to his children was the main theme. All the letters were put into one book, the Bible, as we know it. Now, God needs "Mailmen" and "Mailwomen" to deliver these letters of love, compacted into leather and paperbound Holy Books.
God's mailmen can be the Bible Book stores, Salvation Army thrift stores, the Gideons, Campus Crusade for Christ, etc I have even found Bibles in trash dumpsters! Can you believe that? That's when you need to jump in, rescue it, and give it to someone. Yes, YOU. YOU can be God's mailman, or mailwoman. I used to send parts of the Bible to communist block countries through the regular mail, both from here and from Germany. I would be the sender, and a mailman would deliver the letter to someone I would never meet (the Underground Evangelism Association).
You could be God's mailman or mailwoman inside a prison, to give God's Word to inmates. It is easier now through the internet. Be God's mail carrier from your own bedroom or living room. Send His Word out, then, "Yahoo" or "Google" mail would be the actual "mailman."
All in all, the "Merriest Mail Man" is the one who will deliver the letter of Salvation to those who are looking for it.
