Joseph's Song - Part I

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When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the

Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.

But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son.

And he gave him the name Jesus.

Matthew 1:24-25

His name was Clancy.  Actually, his name was Clarence Abbott Poulson, but he had been known as Clancy for as long as I can remember.  He grew up in the small town of Prescott, Arizona, married a little redhead straight out of high school, then moved down to Phoenix to work for the newspaper, eventually becoming head of the composing room.  During World War II, he worked at Luke Air Force Base for Goodyear, manufacturing the parts needed to support the war.  He signed up for the Naval Reserves, serving in the aeronautics division as an Aviation Machinist’s Mate until he was 64 years old.  Year after year he passed his flight physical, often when younger men failed.  He rigged up a chin-up bar outside the backdoor of our house, and did what was necessary to insure that he would continue to surpass those younger “whippersnappers”!  Clancy was many things to many people, but his greatest work was as my adoptive father.  He was a huge influence in my young life, despite the fact that my mother was determined to wear the pants in the family.  Dad was the hardest worker I have ever seen, with interests as varied as his talents.

I’ve always imagined Joseph to be similar to my father:  strong, hard-working, a common man doing trade labor.  He was insightful enough to be willing to take the word of an angel over his manly common sense, and humble enough to accept and care for a child that was not his.  The angel never came to him to get his OK at the start of all of this; the heavenly messenger arrived after the deal was done and Mary was already pregnant.  One does not sense in the scriptures any belligerence on Joseph’s part, however – only tender, loving care for his wife and the babe she was carrying, conceived “from the Holy Spirit.”