September 17, 2015
Today my fraternal twin brother Mark and I turned 52. We were born in Flushing Hospital (above)
in Queens NYC and mom says they did not know she was having twins. I imagine
ultrasound technology was not as sophisticated then as it is now.
Mark and I shared the same small bedroom growing up. We had bunk beds. I had the bottom bed and he
had the top. Not sure why he had the top
and that’s just the way it was. We
shared the same clothes. Times were
tough and our parents did the best they could.
Both of us graduated from Upper Merion HS, King of Prussia,
PA in 1981. We walked in the graduation
line together, played football together, wrestled in the recreation league and
played baseball. It was the generation
where kids played outside from sun up to sundown. Face Book friends like Brian
Ross, our back door neighbor, still remind me of pick-up games like tackle
football and ghost-in-the-graveyard.
No one from the Upper Merion High School class of 1981 would
have ever guessed that the Rossi twins (Mark and George: he is a few minutes older) would end up being Baptist ministers and pastors, now 34 years later after high school
graduation. Mark and I both found
salvation in Jesus Christ and we were called into the ministry by God. I think that some people still wonder if it
is really true! Mark is a full time pastor in Cheyenne, Wyoming
and I serve as a clinical chaplain at MUSC Hospital in Charleston.
The Apostle Paul said that the gospel came to him from Jesus
Christ and it was not the work of any man or woman (Galatians 1:11-12). I can’t answer for Mark but I know for sure
that salvation and Christian ministry were God’s will for my life. Looking back it is an unbelievable story;
something that could not be scripted nor improvised. It’s been a great ride so far for me and I
look forward to sharing more birthdays with him.
