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b'I don\\u2019t know much about my great-grandfather. His last name was Kirchner, and he died long before I was born. I only know what my parents told me\\u2014 that he was born in Germany, was a member of a Lutheran church, and came to America sometime in the 1870s. There were no Lutheran churches in the area, so he joined a nearby Baptist church.\\nYears later, I ended up spending a semester in Germany as an exchange student. \\n\\xe2\\u20ac\\u0153Wouldn\\u2019t it be neat if our families were somehow related?\\xe2\\u20ac\\x9d I asked my host family. \\nIt was possible but not probable. I knew so little about my great-grandfather. I didn\\u2019t even know what part of Germany he had come from. I researched the Lutheran denomination in Germany and, based on that, found out he was probably from the eastern part of Germany. I was a little disappointed he wasn\\u2019t from the same area as my host family, but it was even more crushing to learn what I found next.\\nFor several years, the government of the eastern portion of Germany was communist, and it discouraged religion. After years of putting God in the background, that same region of Germany is now mostly atheist. I felt sad that the region my great-grandfather came from now has so many people who don\\u2019t know God. His heritage is my heritage.\\nThen it occurred to me: I am not my past. It doesn\\u2019t matter where we\\u2019ve been; it matters where we\\u2019re going. If we\\u2019re following God, it makes no difference if we\\u2019re sitting in the middle of nowhere or in our own living rooms. Our heritage is with Him. As a child of God through Christ, I know He loves me and He loved my great-grandfather. It doesn\\u2019t matter where my grandfather came from; the most important thing is that he loved Jesus and shared the good news with his family, allowing that truth to be passed down to me.\\nWhere are you going? Are you walking with God? Do you know Him as your Savior? If so, your past doesn\\u2019t matter. You are an heir to a rich heritage in Christ! \\u2022 Rebecca Linam\\n\\u2022 What about your family\\u2019s heritage are you proud of? What would you rather change and why? \\n\\u2022 Reread today\\u2019s Scripture passages. What does it mean to have a heritage in Christ? \\n\\u2022 To learn more about having a heritage in Christ, check out our \\u201cKnow Jesus\\u201d page.\\nIf you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham\\u2019s seed, and heirs according to the promise. Galatians 3:29 (NIV)\\n\\xa0\\nRead Verses:\\nRomans 8:14-17; Galatians 3:26-29'