Brown's Daily Word 2-9-10

Good morning,
Praise the Lord for this new day. Please keep us in prayer for this week as we prepare for Jess and Tom's wedding on Sunday. I came down with an upper respiratory infection and went to the doctor yesterday, so for today I am taking antibiotics and resting. Pray for all the family and friends who will be traveling in for the weekend. The ceremony will take place at 3 PM Sunday, Valentine's Day. Alice and I would love to invite those who live in the area to join us for the wedding celebration and worship at 3 PM, followed by a light reception at the church. The wedding ceremony will be at Sarah Jane Johnson Memorial United Methodist Church, located in Johnson City, near Wilson Hospital, on Main Street.
We are excited to have the whole family coming in for the wedding. Micah called the other day and asked if the swimming pool was still set up on the back patio. When I told her no, she said, "It's okay Grandpa. You can just fill it with hot water." She had been swimming the week before in a well-heated outdoor pool on a 20 degree day. She and Simeon have been taking swimming lessons every week this winter, and are loving the water. Janice and Jeremy are planning to drive to NY after this week's snow stops falling in Boston, perhaps coming in on Friday. Jessy and Tom must also wait for the storm to stop pummeling Philly before they journey in, and Sunita and Andy may have to "enjoy" another 12 to 20 inches before they can shovel out (again) in Washington.
In India, where I grew up, news of an upcoming wedding goes out by word of mouth only, and hundreds of people show up for the wedding. When my sister, Bana, got married in 1997 over two thousand came for the feast. Our Lord must love weddings. He showed up for a wedding at Cana of Galilee, where He performed His first miracle with grace, super abundance, and spectacular generosity.
The Gospel reading for last Sunday was taken from Luke 6:1-11, when Jesus showed up "at the beach" with sandals on, preaching and teaching the Word of God. The crowds pressed in upon Him to hear every word He uttered. Just picture Jesus walking through the press of the crowd over to Peter's empty boat, climbing into it, sitting down, and continuing to preach. Jesus did not ask permission. . . He just got into the boat. Christ has a prior claim on all of our lives and on all of our possessions. As we read the account, Peter and his fishing partners had worked all night, catching nothing. Peter confessed his frustrations and disappointments to Jesus. Yet, we know that in Christ our disappointments can become Christ's appointments. He turns our futilities into His fullness for our good and for His glory. He turns our failures into His fruitfulness. He proves His faithfulness in our times of frustration.
Michael D. Guinan, a Franciscan priest defined Christian life as "our life in the Spirit of God" or "the art of letting God’s Spirit fill us, work in us, guide us." It refers to the whole person, body and soul, living under the influence of God’s Spirit. Karen Sue Smith, a theologian said, Christian life, refers to one’s conscious relationship with God. It refers to the way we exercise our Christianity, our discipleship. Life in Christ, is our lifestyle in its broadest sense, affecting everything we do and all we are. Nothing—not our family, not our job, not our intellectual life, not our political or civic life, not our social life, and not our interior prayer or religious life—is left out of it. Alister McGrath, of The Kings's College, Londom, said, "Spirituality arises from a creative and dynamic synthesis of faith and life, forged in the crucible of the desire to live out the Christian faith authentically, responsibly, effectively, and fully."
In Christ,
Brown

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nEtq28x5EQ