CARE FOR INDIA

Dear Friends,
As you know, the Care for India ministry has been hampered

since the violent riots against the Christians in Orissa, India two years

ago. Things have calmed down a whole lot since then in that area,
though the needs are still very great. I know that you have a deep love
for the people of that area and we at the ministry would like to give
you an opportunity to share in a special need that we have.

As you may remember, the home that was inhabited by the Naik family
was completely destroyed during the violence. We have been told that the Hindu militants had to burn the
house three different times so it would be completely destroyed, as it would not burn in one strike. For
many years, that home had been used to offer hospitality to the servants of Christ that came to work there.
Missionaries and friends from England, Germany, Switzerland, the USA, Canada and many parts of India
had been housed there, including the first missionary to reach out to the people of G. Udayagiri. There
many lives were touched by the Lord and challenged to go into fulltime ministry as pastors and missionaries.
For many years, there was no church building in the village, so that home served as the church for the
people of G. Udayagiri. Though rustic and primitive by American standards, for many years. the home had
been a place of special hospitality to all who entered.
Brown Naik’s family has been renting an apartment in Bhubaneswar, several hours away, since the fires,
and would now like to return to the G. Udayagiri area to continue their ministry there. Things have calmed
down, and building a new home in a neighboring village is a very real possibility. Brown’s uncle is willing
to give a piece of land to the family for their house; however the cost of building a 3 to 4 bedroom home
will be around $70,000. As soon as it is completed, this home will offer the same hospitality as before to
visiting short term missionaries and friends from overseas whose desire is to continue sharing Christ with
the people of that area.
If you would like to participate in building this home so the ministry to Christians and non-Christians can
continue in that area, please know that any amount given toward this project will be used for materials and
labor. As much of the work as possible will be provided by volunteers.
If the Lord is leading you to help in this way, please send your gift to:
Union Center United Methodist Church
128 Maple Drive, Endicott NY 13760-6303
Memo: Orissa Project

Thank you so much for your prayers, your love, and your support.
In Christ,
Allan Brown
Dr. Allan Burns, Board Chairman       Rev. Brown Naik, Mission Rep Coordinator
allanburns@usa.net                            brownnaik@aol.com

Brown's Daily Word 4-16-10

Good morning,
Praise the Lord for this new day. I had a long conversation over the phone with one of my daughters last evening. My daughters provoke me to love the Lord and walk with Him with passion and joy. I praise the Lord for my children, who love the Lord and have heart for His Kingdom. Pray for our Friday evening Television outreach this evening at 7 PM on Time Warner Cable Channel 4. We will prepare the food for the needy and serve at the First United Methodist Church in Endicott tomorrow, April 17, at noon. We will gather at 5:30 PM for our monthly gathering at the Grace Cafe at the Wesley United Methodist for food, fellowship, and witness. We invite some of the neighbors who are unchurched to come and join us for time great Christian fellowship. John and his son, Jay, both avid fishermen, will be preparing a fish dinner. ( 2010 crop). There will also be authentic Indian dishes and an assortment of homemade pies. It is a wonderful blessing to share the meal and enjoy the grace of Jesus. Our friend Dave Hettinger will be giving His testimony.
Yesterday afternoon I was asked to conduct a graveside service for a man whom I knew, who had died suddenly in car accident. Two of his children were present along several family members. Because of the Risen Lord we can stand at the face of death and the grave and proclaim the "Sure and certain of resurrection in Jesus Christ ".
Victor Hugo, French novelist perhaps best known for Les Miserables, wrote these words: "I feel within me that there is future life. I am like a forest that has been razed; the new shoots are stronger and brighter. I shall most certainly rise toward the heavens--the nearer my approach to the end, the plainer is the sound of immortal symphonies of worlds which invite me. For half a century I have been translating my thoughts into prose and verse: history, philosophy, drama, romance, tradition, satire, ode, and song; all of these I have tried. But I feel I haven’t given utterance to the thousandth part of what lies with me. When I go to the grave I can say, as others have said, 'My day’s work is done.' But I cannot say, 'My life is done.' My work will recommence the next morning. The tomb is not a blind alley; it is a thoroughfare. It closes upon the twilight but opens upon the dawn."
Romans 6:4-5 says, "We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with Him like this in His death, we will certainly also be united with Him in his resurrection.¨ The resurrection gives us hope for today, hope for tomorrow, and hope for eternity. Jesus’ resurrection forever changed Christians’ view of death. Rodney Stark, sociologist at the University of Washington, points out that when a major plague hit the ancient Roman Empire, Christians had surprisingly high survival rates. How could this be? Most Roman citizens would banish any plague-stricken person from their household. Because Christians had no fear of death, they nursed their sick instead of throwing them out on the streets. Therefore, many Christians survived the plague.
For this reason, for each of us, when the moment of death comes, we have hope. We know that Jesus will be right there with us. His presence right at our side. We do not go through it alone, but rather we go through it with Him.
A missionary in Brazil discovered a tribe of Indians in a remote part of the jungle who lived near a large river. The tribe was in need of medical attention. A contagious disease was ravaging the population and many people were dying daily. The irony was that there was a hospital not too far away, across the river, but the Indians would not cross it because they believed it was inhabited by evil spirits. To enter the water would mean certain death. The missionary explained how he had crossed the river and was unharmed. They were not impressed. He then took them to the bank and placed his hand in the water. They still wouldn't go in. He walked into the water up to his waist and splashed water on his face. It didn't matter. They were still afraid to enter the river. Finally, he dove into the river, swam beneath the surface until he emerged on the other side. He punched a triumphant fist into the air. He had entered the water and escaped. It was then that the Indians broke out into a cheer and followed him across.
This is what Jesus did for us with death. He entered it, made it safely to the other side, and punched a triumphant fist into the air. But Jesus did not stay on the other bank. Rather, He jumped back in, and swam back to our side. He is alive, and present with us. Because of this, when our turn comes to face death, I believe He takes us by the hand and swims across with us, safely to the other side.
1 Peter 1:3 says, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.¨ Because He lives.......

In Him,
Brown

/www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxo9qan6nbY

Brown's Daily Word 4-15-10

Good morning,


Praise the Lord for this new day. It is going to be a brilliant day. Thank you Jesus. The Lord blessed us with a wonderful Wednesday gathering for fellowship and study. It is a great blessing to be together in the name of Jesus and under His sovereign authority.

I love to read stories about missionaries and about committed servants and ambassadors of our Lord Savior Jesus Christ. When I read these living testaments I get provoked to love the Lord more and I am propelled to remain faithful to Him with great passion. Alexander Duff was born in Scotland in 1806 and went to India when he was 24. Along the way he endured two shipwrecks. In India he spent almost 40 years, laboring for Christ and His kingdom. He wrote to his daughter later in life, "Why should I, who have been the child of so many mercies, be faithless or doubting? If any man living should trust in the Lord absolutely, and cast upon him the burden of all his cares . . . I am that man. All my days I have been a child of Providence, the Lord leading me and guiding me in ways unknown to me – in ways of His own, and for the accomplishment of his own heavenly ends." (William Paton, Alexander Duff: Pioneer of Missionary Education, p. 232).

The Lord stood by him, guiding him all is life. He will do that for us too as we offer ourselves up to Him for his use and His mission, but it does not mean that we will be spared terrible losses. It means Christ comes alongside us in all of our trials and troubles. He governs all things, and He helps us, sustains, us and turns all losses into gain as we trust Him.

Alexander Duff founded a college, called Scottish Church College of Calcutta. It is well-known for its beautiful campus, renowned faculty, robust intellectual milieu and its English Palladian architecture. Its students and alumni call themselves "Caledonians" in the name of the college festival, "Caledonia". Scottish Church College, Kolkata is perhaps the only college of India which can boast of producing a large number of extraordinary personalities most of whom are not only famous in the country but also havae earned international repute. The very impressive and a very long list of alumni of the college includes the names of Governors, Chief Ministers, Ministers, Vice-Chancellors of some eminent Universities of India, Jurists, Administrators, Ambassadors, Speakers, Educators, Historians, Scholars, Doctors, Authors, Poets, Dramatists, Novelists, Political Leaders, and Christian Leaders.

Another man who answered God's call to serve as a missionary to unreached people was William Carey, the father of modern missions. Carey left for India from England in 1793 and never came home. Through the witness of William Carey and those came after him, my grandfather came to know Christ, and later I came to know Chist, and millions have come to Christ in India now. William Carey labored 40 years without a furlough. He lost two wives in death. Once, when he had a fever, 110 leeches were attached to his thigh.

On March 11, 1812—after almost 20 years of hard work—a fire broke out and destroyed years of irreplaceable work, the draft of the great polyglot dictionary, ten prints of the Bible that had been going through the press, and the translation of the Ramayana which he and his partners had been working on for six years. Carey was out of town in Calcutta. When Marshman told him of the fire, tears filled his eyes, and later he said, "In one short evening the labours of years are consumed. How unsearchable are the ways of God! I had lately brought some things to the utmost of perfection of which they seemed capable, and contemplated the missionary establishment with perhaps too much self-congratulation. The Lord has laid me low, that I may look more simply to him." (Mary Drewry, William Carey: A Biography, pg. 154).

Carey knew, and Carey learned painfully to know better, that the mission of Christ goes forward by looking more simply to Him. "I will be with you, I will help you." In all Carey's losses, the Lord stood with him. He never forsook him nor could he have endured as he did without him. His watchword was "Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God." First trust him, then trust his promise, and He will stand with you. He will give you strength. Then . . . THEN . . . "attempt great things for God." You will open your mouth and the nations will hear and be glad.

This is the call of the Risen Lord to all of us today. Let us put your lives in His hands and trust Him to be there as we venture something new for Him. It's time that we take Grace to another place!

In Christ,

Brown

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fawtIF-SPM4

Brown's Daily Word 4-14-10

Good morning,

This is going to be one of the brilliant days of April. I talked to some of my family members yesterday, who are in Orissa, India. They are experiencing a sizzling summer. The temperature reading 44 C, that is 111.2 F. The Schools have been conducting morning sessions only due to the extreme heat. Children go to school at 7 and are dismissed by 11.00 AM. They are also experiencing water shortages and frequent power outages.

Praise the Lord for this wonderful Wednesday. We will gather for our Mid-Week gathering this evening with a sumptuous meal at 6:00 PM and Bible study at 6.30 PM. Choir Practice will begin at 7:30 PM.

I am reflecting on Luke 24. Have you ever noticed that some of the saddest words in the English language begin with the letter D? For example, the words include disappointment, doubt, disillusionment, defeat, despair, depression, and death. All of these are summed up in the words of Cleopas and his companion as spoken to the stranger who joined them on the Emmaus road. They had left the dispirited and confused band of disciples with the events of Good Friday fresh in their memories. We can sympathize with their bewilderment and deep disappointment. In keeping with ancient Near Eastern rules of extravagant and generous hospitality, the two followers then invited the “stranger” to stay the night. Jesus accepted their offer, yet did not disclose His identity, in order to complete the lesson He had begun teaching them just outside Jerusalem.

According to 24:16, their eyes were prevented from recognizing Jesus. He revealed His identity only after taking great pains to explain to them “the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures” (24:27).

Luke concluded this story with another bit of irony. The disciples had been staring into the face of the risen Jesus, yet they were prevented from seeing Him until they buried their faulty expectations. Then, a careful review of the Scriptures gave them a divine perspective on what they once saw as dismal circumstances. Once their eyes were opened to the reality and implications of the Resurrection, Jesus became visible to their physical eyes. The Greek phrase ophthalmos dianoigo epiginosko, translated “eyes were opened and they recognized Him,” literally means “their eyes were completely opened” and “they came to fully comprehend Him.” This action was more than a mere recognition of His features. They came to recognize Jesus in all His significance as the Messiah, the Son of God, and their risen Lord! Then Jesus literally became “invisible”—aphantos—meaning that He suddenly vanished from their midst once their eyes were open. Now, their new, resurrected hope carried them back to Jerusalem to bear the good news to others (Luke 24:33–35).

As Luke told of the two despondent disciples on the road to Emmaus, we cannot help but identify with their pain. We, too, are pilgrims on a journey through life. We, too, despair of life’s circumstances from time to time. We, too, lose heart when our expectations come to a tragic end. We must, however, remember every trial is an opportunity to discover what God wants us to see.

Our disappointments are His appointments. Our extremities are His opportunities. He is our Eternal Contemporary. Jesus, the Risen Lord, is the bread for our journey.

Blessed be His Name.

Brown

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45y3gX2szKg

Brown's Daily Word 4-13-10

Praise the Lord for this beautiful day. The Lord is unfolding His endless beauty as He manifests it in and through the garb of Spring. Laureen and I drove through some of the countryside yesterday, gazing at the beautiful flowering trees and countless daffodils all around us. It was John Keats one, of the Romantic Poets of England, who wrote "A thing of beauty is a joy forever. Its loveliness increases; it will never Pass into nothingness".
Max Lucado, in his book, "No Wonder They Call Him Savior," tells the story of a beautiful Brazilian girl named Christina. "Longing to leave her poor Brazilian neighborhood, Christina wanted to see the world. Discontent with a home having only a pallet on the floor, a washbasin, and a wood-burning stove, she dreamed of a better life in the city.
"One morning she slipped away, breaking her mother’s heart. Knowing what life on the streets would be like for her young, attractive daughter, Maria hurriedly packed to go find her. On her way to the bus stop she entered a drugstore to get one last thing. Pictures. She sat in the photograph booth, closed the curtain, and spent all she could on pictures of herself.
"With her purse full of small black-and-white photos, she boarded the next bus to Rio de Janeiro. Maria knew Christina had no way of earning money. She also knew that her daughter was too stubborn to give up. When pride meets hunger, a human will do things that were before unthinkable. Knowing this, Maria began her search.
"Bars, hotels, nightclubs, any place with the reputation for streetwalkers or prostitutes. She went to them all. And at each place she left her picture - taped on a bathroom mirror, tacked to a hotel bulletin board, fastened to a corner phone booth. And on the back of each photo she wrote a note.
"It wasn’t too long before both the money and the pictures ran out, and Maria had to go home. The weary mother wept as the bus began its long journey back to her small village.
"It was a few weeks later that young Christina descended the hotel stairs. Her young face was tired. Her brown eyes no longer danced with youth, but spoke of pain and fear. Her laughter was broken. Her dream had become a nightmare. A thousand times over she had longed to trade these countless beds for her secure pallet. Yet the little village was, in many ways, too far away. As she reached the bottom of the stairs, her eyes noticed a familiar face. She looked again, and there on the lobby mirror was a small picture of her mother.
"Christina’s eyes burned and her throat tightened as she walked across the room and removed the small photo. Written on the back was this compelling invitation. ’Whatever you have done, whatever you have become, it doesn’t matter. Please come home.’ She did."
WHEN WE MEET JESUS ON OUR ROAD, OUR EYES WILL BE OPENED AND OUR HEARTS WILL BURN WITHIN US! Here we are, each on our own road heading somewhere. Jesus has one desire, and that is to meet us on our road to somewhere and make something very clear. He died and He rose again to set our hearts on fire. He is our Eternal Contemporary and He is our Faithful and compassionate Companion here on earth and beyond. Blessed be His Name.

In Him,
Brown

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J95rAr0gOFU

Brown's Daily Word 4-12-10

Praise the Lord. He is Risen. He is with us at work at worship and even during the disappointing, disheartening, times of lives. The Lord blessed us with a wonderful day in His house yesterday. We had Witness Sunday; several people gave their testimonies during both morning worship services. I came home blessed, filled, and challenged to love the Lord with deeper passion and serve Him with obedience and zeal.
I was reading this morning from Luke 24, where the account is given of two whom Jesus encountered on the way to Emmaus. These two disciples of Christ were going through Post-Crucifixion trauma. Something happened on Easter Evening. . . the Risen Lord met them. Their herats began to burn within them as the Risen Savior expounded the Scriptures to them.
Life has many distractions - hard work, routine, tiredness, ill health - which can so grind us down to the point that we carry on mechanically, never lifting our eyes or minds from the dust of the earthly road we travel. We become unaware of the glory and strength of His presence with us. Life loses its meaning and leaves us washed out, but the story of the encounter on the Emmaus road gives us hope.
Regardless of how we are feeling at the moment, Jesus is still there with us. He is the unseen "stranger" walking with us, listening to us, and, if we are willing to hear his voice, revealing himself to us.
As the two disciples spoke of the Cross, Christ took hold of their bewilderment and sorrow and gave them a heart-warming experience. How did He do it? He pointed them to God’s self-revelation in the Scriptures. Luke tells us, "And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, Jesus explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself. As we fast forward the drama that was unfolding, the stranger was invited by the two to spend the night with them.
There, as we know, the guest became the host. In Luke 24:30 we read about how, as they sat down to eat, Jesus played the part of the host, for the host would break the bread at the beginning of the meal. It says, “… He took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them.” Perhaps it was in doing this that their eyes were opened. For verse thirty-one reveals, “Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight. (32) And they said to one another, "Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?"
Mark Buchanan wrote of his own experience in his book entitled, “Your God Is Too Safe”. He wrote that when he was saved, “I hit the ground running. Immediately, I volunteered for everything, anything, that I felt vaguely interested in and marginally qualified for. I led the youth group; I helped with the music, I taught Sunday school; I wrote the church newsletter; I became a camp counselor; I served as a mentor to several young men. But something, somewhere, went awry. The zeal fizzled. The fire in my bones became only an a ache in my joints. My running became plodding. My lightness became heaviness. My joyfulness became jadedness. I joined the ranks of the murmurers and faultfinders – those that did not like the music or the sermon or the color of the azalea’s behind the church – and I found their number legion.” [Mark Buchanan. Your God Is Too Safe. (Multnomah, 2001) p. 9-10]
The truth is that the Risen Lord wants to set our hearts on fire. He wants to give us a burning passion for life. We all long for the eternal but are two easily contented with the temporal. We all want to be a part of something worthwhile but waste our time, our talents, and even our treasures on the trivial. When we invest in the things that charm us most we miss out on the eternal treasures. In 2 Timothy 1:6, Paul told Timothy, “Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you..” This verse can be summed up in three words, Again,… Alive,… Fire. Perhaps this same direction is what we need.
The Lord gave these Emmaus disciples a passion and a purpose where all there had been was pain. It emanated from spending time with Him in worship, in study, and in fellowship. In these things a burning heart is found. The result in the lives of the two disciples was that, although by this point it was had a burning need to tell someone what has happened. They had to share their experience and no one in Emmaus would understand. (One of the best signs of recovery from depression is a desire to be back among other believers.) They had to go back to where the other disciples were gathered. Verse thirty-three tells us that they decided that they must return at once to Jerusalem. “So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem…” The long, discouraging, walk to Emmaus now became a joyous run to Jerusalem, with renewed strength, vigor, and encouragement.
We are reminded of the story of the two lepers in 2 Kings 7:9, “Then they said to one another, 'We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, and we remain silent. …. Now therefore, come, let us go and tell…'" Their grief had blinded them. Their attention to their own loss and sorrow had prevented them from focusing on God and finding out what God was doing for them at that very moment.
In Christ,
Brown


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