Praise the Lord for summer days. Yesterday, the Lord blessed us with a beautiful day in His House with His people. It is always a great blessing to gather before Jesus the Risen Lord in worship, in witness, and in fellowship. Some of our young leaders organized an Ice Cream fest Saturday afternoon. It was a great time of sharing and fellowship. Some of our young leaders are gearing up for our upcoming Vacation Bible School, August 8-12.
Alice, with our niece Sharon, spent last few days in Boston, caring for the Micah, Simeon, and Ada. They drove back home yesterday afternoon.
It is expected to be a very hot day today here in New York. It will be in the low nineties. It will also be in the nineties in Bhubanswar, Orissa, India today.
Sunita called last Friday. The Lord is blessing their time in the Balkan States. She has posted some of pictures on her Face Book page. You can visit them via their post. The photos are brilliant. Sunita and Andy will be flying to New Delhi , India this Wednesday. They will be staying in New Delhi for a few days. They will be staying in the house that belongs to one of their friends, an attaché for the US Embassy in New Delhi. They will have use of a car and driver for their visit in Delhi. Their friends Rob and Jen from Washington, DC will be flying to Calcutta this Wednesday. They will be staying at the Monica House in Calcutta and working at the Mother Teresa mission for few day before flying to Bhubaneswar this Saturday to meet up with Sunita and Andy there. Laureen and I will be flying to India this Friday evening. Jess and Tom will be joining us. Thank you for praying for us.
We love to sing the hymns of the church, and we love to sing songs of worship and praise. I also love to listen some classical music. One hymn I love is, "There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's vein". It was composed by the English Poet William Cowper. The story and testimony of William Cowper is a remarkable and compelling story of a man coming to the end of his rope and finding God. Cowper found himself so deep in discouragement and despair that he tried to put an end to it all, first by drinking poison. But God graciously led someone to find him. His stomach was pumped, and he was spared.
As soon as Cowper recovered, the despairing writer hired a carriage to take him down to the Thames River in which he intended to plunge himself into the dark, swirling waters. The driver of the carriage, however, would have none of it.
He restrained Cowper, got him back into the carriage, and drove him home.
Frustrated with that attempt, he found a knife in the privacy of this house and attempted to fall upon it, but the blade broke. Still not deterred, he rigged up a rope in the basement, put his neck in the noose, and dropped into thin air.
But someone found him before he strangled and took him down. He couldn’t even kill himself. Finally, in the depth of sorrow, he turned to the Bible, to the book of Romans. In the pages of that book, he found a passage that brought him to his knees and to faith in Jesus Christ. It was Romans 3:23-25: There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood." Years later, as a mature man of God, Cowper penned the now familiar hymn:
"God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform;
He plants his footsteps in the sea, And rides upon the storm.
Deep in unfathomable mines, Of never-failing skill,
He treasures up his bright designs, And works his sov’reign will."
Cowper wrote many other hymns including, “Oh for a Closer Walk with God”. The Lord, our Lord, is stubborn and obstinate in loving us. He is the "Hound of Heaven, always in Holy Pursuit towards us. James wrote "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. (James 1:2-5)
In Christ,
Brown
http://youtu.be/JoC1ec-lYps
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