My grandmother would make bread. I doubt she ever bought bread in a store.  Nothing fancy, just the same standard loaves that she would use every day.  When we were at her house, she’d invite my brother and me to knead it.  She told us to “find the mice” because when you did find a bubble, it would kind of squeak. Then that wonderful aroma of freshly baking bread would fill their little house. Mmmm – you know what I mean!  Then came the freshly baked bread, still warm, it almost didn’t need butter. But there was butter, real butter. What a joy!

Bread smells so good to us because it is a staple of life.  For most of history and in many places right now, bread isn’t part of the meal, it is the meal.   Even for us today, breaking bread is short for sharing a meal.

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By any measure, Thomas Jefferson, our third President, was a brilliant man.  Despite being only 33 when he wrote the Declaration of Independence, his leadership was integral as those 13 colonies were breaking away from the mightiest empire in the world and shaping a brand-new nation and brand-new form of government. He also had many flaws, including his involvement with slavery. But let’s set all that aside and hone in on his faith.

Remember that from the moment Jesus began his ministry, people doubted him, even those who witnessed his miracles. That has been true in every age since.

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A few years ago, Meg and I visited our son Rob and his family in Frederick, Maryland. We were less than 30 minutes away from Harper’s Ferry, which was a key city in colonial days and is brimming with history. It is now a national park. No one lives there, but it has lodging, lots of shops and restaurants and sites to see. I could go on at length about why to visit it, I loved it, but we’ll focus on just one thing we saw there.

On the east, Harper’s Ferry comes to a point. If you stand on that point, you are in West Virginia. To your left is the Potomac River, and across it is Maryland. To your right is the Shenandoah River and across it is Virginia. In front of you, those two famous rivers come together. They do not continue as Potomac and Shenandoah. No, they come together and the Potomac continues to our nation’s capital, Washington D.C.

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