Salutations! How are you doing today? I hope that you are well. On this day back in the year of 1792 the then-President George Washington established the U.S. Post Office. Officially, the legislative decision was called the Postal Service Act and it established the United States Post Office Department. This would gradually develop into the U.S. Post Office as we currently know it. (For more historical information about the U.S. Post Office please feel free to check out this article:
This Day in History/Postal Service)
One of the unofficial slogans or mottos of the U.S. Post Office is the phrase, “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” Apparently those words were originally used as a description about the courier service in the Persian Empire some five hundred years before the birth of Christ. (Feel free to take a look here for more interesting tidbits about the U.S. Post Office:
about.usps.com/Who We Are)
Those words are certainly applicable to the kind, courteous, and brave men and women who have worked for the U.S. Post Office. My younger brother worked for the Post Office for a time and his stories about the long hours and challenging situations (including run-ins with not-so-friendly dogs) have caused my admiration and appreciation for the service to grow immensely. If you have the opportunity today or in the coming days please say “Thank you” to the folks that work for the U.S. Post Office. If nothing else, please say a prayer for them and their well-being as it is not an easy job.
As a people of faith those famous words can also be applicable to us since we are called to be messengers of the Good News of Jesus Christ. Regardless of the bitter cold or the blazing sun we have an important task to share the Gospel with others by our words and lives. Some people will only have the opportunity to know and love Jesus as a result of our heartfelt encounter with them. As St. Paul put it so eloquently:
