August 1, 2025 - Good Morning! It’s Friday, August 1.
As we come to the end of the week, we come to the beginning of a new month - August. As a boy, August was a long, hot, slow, last gasp of summer. A last chance for days of freedom and play. It’s still just as hot, but with schools opening, or at least preparation for school beginning, it feels, in a way, like summer has already ended.
August is the only month without a big holiday (think about it). Of course it has many special occasions, like International Beer Day and National Mustard Day. Not to mention the always anticipated Registered Nurses Week and the ever festive Carpenter Ant Awareness Day. August was the month, 80 years ago now, that America dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Marilyn Monroe died in August - Elvis, too. And on August 9, 1974, Richard Nixon resigned, the only president to do that. August has never been my favorite month. I doubt that it’s yours.
The name comes from the Roman emperor Caesar Augustus, who ruled over his empire from 27BC to 14AD. His reign is extensively recorded by historians, but he makes just one appearance in the Bible - a very famous one. In Luke 2:1 we read, “And it came to pass in those days, that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed”. Luke, something of an historian himself, included many details in his gospel about people and places and events. His decision to include the name of the emperor at the beginning of the Christmas story was certainly no accident.
This Caesar, at birth, was given the name Octavian. When he ascended to the throne his name was changed to Augustus, which means “Sublime One”. This acknowledged that, at this time in Roman history, the emperor wasn’t just a ruler, he was a god. Luke’s history reminds us that Augustus commanded a census, in order to record the greatness of his kingdom. And, in so doing, opened the door . . . to an eternal kingdom.
Meet you back here on Monday,
David
cindertex50@yahoo.com
