Brown's Daily Word 2-25-10

Good morning,
Praise the Lord for this new day. Praise the Lord for the world we live in. Praise the Lord for the Beauty of the earth. Praise the Lord for the way our Lord makes all things beautiful. We are anticipating lots of snow here in New York, perhaps 10 to 20 inches. It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas on this 25th day of February. The schools are closing for the day (my wife is loving this) . . . and possibly for a second day tomorrow if the storm continues through tonight (as predicted), with wind causing drifting and white-out conditions.
In the midst of life's tragedies we see the redeeming presence of Jesus. I read about Richard and Rowena Pet, a young Dutch couple who wanted to adopt Arno from Haiti. They had struggled with infertility for years before deciding to adopt. As they awaited the adoption of Arno, Rowena became pregnant. Last August she gave birth to Jim, who was left in the care of relatives as Richard and Rowena flew to Haiti in January to claim Arno and complete the adoption process.
The story of Arno's adoption is movingly told by reporter David Charter of The Times [London]. As he reported, "Arno was shy at first but within 30 minutes of meeting his adoptive parents he reached for Rowena’s hand and took the Dutch couple on a tour of the orphanage in Port-au-Prince where he had spent most of his short life. He began to call them Mummy and Daddy." They took him to one of the hotels in the district of Port-au-Prince. That is where they were when the earthquake came. And that is where they died together.
The three bodies, (were) found intertwined together, as if Rowena and Richard had tried to put protective arms around Arno as the masonry began to fall. The disaster cruelly destroyed the new family, creating its own orphan back in the Netherlands. Jim, just five months old, will be brought up by Rowena’s sister, who already has her own three-year-old boy.
The bodies of Richard and Rowena and Arno Pet were taken to the Netherlands together, just as they had been found together in the rubble of the Hotel Villa Therese. They had been a family for a few hours, but a family all the same. Arno had a tragically short life, but he ended that life in the arms of a mother and a father, who already loved him dearly as their own.
Who can read such an account without heartbreak and a heart warmed? Is there a heart so cold that it does not feel the pathos of this report, and sense the sentiment of this family's tragedy? At the same time, this is not a tragedy in the classic sense. The love of Richard, Rowena, and Arno Pet transcends tragedy. That is why The Times published this report, and why it stays with you so long after you read it. Of course, for the Christian there is far more to this story. In the story of Arno Pet we find a picture of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As the Apostle Paul wrote to the Galatians: "But when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a virgin, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying 'Abba! Father!' Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God." [Galatians 4:4-7]
Adoption is one of the most powerful depictions of the Gospel found in the Bible. We are all orphans, born under the curse of sin. By the sheer grace and mercy of God, those who come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ are adopted as sons. Redeemed sinners are adopted as sons "through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise and glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved." [Ephesians 1:5-6]
Arno Pet began life as an orphan, but he ended life as a son. He was abandoned at his birth, but he died in the arms of his parents. He did not die as Arno, he died as Arno Pet. In that rubble, we find a picture of the Gospel of Christ. The Bible declares with great audacity" As many as received Him( Jesus Christ) to them He gave the power and the authority to become the sons of God,even to them,that believe on His Name. John 1:12
In Christ,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJGx_-ygNmY
Here is a link to some of the preparatory pictures of the wedding, taken by our daughter, Janice
www.achildsnature.com/jess_and_tom