Brown's Daily Word 2-26-09

Good morning,
Praise the Lord for this last Friday of February. We are all pretty much snowed in here in Southern Tier of New York. Praise the Lord that Spring is not far away. I talked to some of family members in Orissa, India this morning, where it has almost Spring-like weather now. The mango trees are in full bloom. Some of the perennial wild flowers with divergent brilliant colors decorate the hills and the mountains. The bird cuckoo is the harbinger of Spring season in India. Spring birds serenade the hills and the valleys with their sweet music, thus praising the Lord God, the maker of heaven and earth. Praise the Lord that He is the Lord of all seasons and He is the Lord in every season.
A story was told by Dr. Calvin Miller. His story follows:
Once upon a time, a traveler, walking through the night, saw ahead of him in the dim, rainy mist a monastery with the lights on rising above the horizon. Cold and inclement was the weather, so he stopped and knocked on the door. When the abbot came, he said, “May I come in?”

The abbot said, “Not only may you come in, but you may eat with us.” The food was wonderful; the monks were warm; it was a beautiful evening, safe and dry and warm inside, but because the weather was so bad outside, they asked him to stay the night. He agreed provided that they would supply him with a few things. “What is it you want?” they asked.

He said, “If I spend this night with you, I must have in my own room for myself alone this night a pound of butter, a pair of rubber pants, a poker, a cricket bat, and a bass saxophone.” It was an unusual request, but they scurried around the monastery and found it all. Then as they went to sleep that night, they heard the most awful progression of halftones and squeaks and squawks coming from his room. The next day, the weather continued to be bad, so the monks invited the traveler to stay another night. He agreed to do so, again provided that they let him have that mysterious list of the same things he had the night before: a pound of butter, a pair of rubber pants, a poker, a cricket bat, and a bass saxophone.

Each night the traveler requested those same things, and each night the monks heard the awful noises, until finally it was time for him to leave. The old abbot walked him to the door and said, “We were glad to supply all of those things, but would you mind telling me why you asked for them?”

The stranger said, “Well, it is a family secret. It has been in our family for years and years, but if you promise not to tell another living soul, I’ll tell you.” And so he told the old abbot all his heart, and the abbot, being a man of his word, never told another living soul. And so we shall never know. (Calvin Miller, “The Mind of a Servant,” (I was with Dr Calvin Miller in a conference a few years ago in Birmingham Alabama. It was great blessing to be with him. He has an adopted grandson from Orissa, India.)
It is like this with life itself. We don’t always know the reason why the Lord works the way He does, but Christ calls us to follow Him, serve Him and serve one another. The best way to live in uncertain and dangerous times is simply to trust Christ as our Savior. Follow Him as our Lord. Obey Him as our Sovereign.

‘Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just to take Him at His word,
Just to rest upon His promise,
Just to know “thus saith the Lord.”
Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!
How I’ve proved Him o’er & o’er!
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
O for grace to trust Him more! --Louisa Stead
In Christ,
Brown

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd3YG6VZ0WQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSw7CcAXPWk