Brown's Daily Word 9-23-11

Good morning,

Praise the Lord for this first day of Autumn. This is the first day of the awesome Autumn season in the USA. It is a brilliant beautiful season. After the devastating floods the Lord is restoring the area to its beauty and splendor. We are so blessed and privileged to be living in this part of the of this wonderful world.

We read in Ecclesiastes 3 that our Lord makes all things beautiful in His time. He makes all things glorious in His mighty power. It is a great blessing to worship Him and serve Him. On our life’s journey we will face many different situations, have many different experiences, and meet many different people. Sometimes we have gains, and we laugh. Sometimes we have losses, and we cry. Sometimes our feelings are hurt, and we isolate. Sometimes our song is played, and we celebrate. Sometimes we really blow it, and we sink. Sometimes we get it right, and we smile.

The Bible says that God takes these collective experiences and eventually makes something beautiful out of all the loose ends.

God knows all about our unfulfilled expectations. He knows all about our experiences. He knows all about reality. He knows that we don’t always “get it right.” Our timing is off at times. We pluck when we should plant. We kill when we should be celebrating birth. We laugh when we should be weeping. We speak when we should be silent. But God knows the proper time. God knows when it is time for us to be born and He knows when its time for us die. God knows when we need to cry and when we need to laugh. God knows when we need to mourn and when we need to dance. God knows when we need to be silent and when we need to speak. God knows everything about the human experience! God knows all the minute details of our lives and He also knows why everything happens. God sees the little picture of the moments and the details of our lives and He also sees the big picture of how everything unfolds in the light of eternity. He has created a heaven, a place untainted by our missed timings and our lost opportunities.

Life in God creates a longing for something more within us. C.S. Lewis said that the very fact that there’s still a little bit of emptiness inside us even after becoming a Christian argues for the existence of heaven, a place where we long for God to make something beautiful out of all our mistakes and failures in life. C.S. Lewis said, "Our Heavenly Father has provided many delightful inns for us along our journey, but he takes great care to see that we do not mistake any of them for home." There is a longing for home, there is a call deep in the human spirit for more than life, as we know it can provide.

There are some things in life we will never know during our lifetimes. We cannot know all the answers to all the conundrums and enigmas of life. I don’t know why God would withhold perfectly noble dreams and ambitions from someone, but He does. There are times when we have to fly in the dark on some things. We are called to live by faith, not by sight. What I do know is that every moment comes to us pregnant with a divine purpose that we may not be able to figure out this side of eternity. These moments are fully understood by a God who transcends time. Furthermore, we were made for eternity, so we will not understand everything in our temporal world. Living with unfulfilled expectations is a part of life. The issue becomes then, am I going to desperately grab for life or will I humbly allow the Lord, the maker of Heaven and earth and the giver of life, to bring life to me and fulfill my expectations if that is His will.

God makes life beautiful in His time. Those who live surrendered to Jesus, the Risen One, according to God’s time and schedule, will ultimately lead a life of beauty.

Today, let us allow the Lord to begin making something beautiful out of our lives. May we find freedom from life’s expectations and failed expectations? Beauty replaces the beast when life happens in His time. He is the Alpha and the Omega. Though His time not ours, now is always the right time to receive His Son. From there, life begins to get into rhythm with the divine Plan for our lives. We grow up, learning to share, making friends, learning His character and His Truth, values that will guide us into a beautiful life. We enjoy the natural things that God has given us to enjoy, rather than manufacturing a false-sense of joy through the accumulation of things.



Quotation: The great use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.

Remember your possibilities; forget your limitations.

Remember your potentialities; forget your seeming restrictions.

Remember your abilities; forget your disabilities.

Remember your assets; forget your liabilities.

Remember your strengths; forget your weaknesses.

Remember your joys; forget your sorrows. William Arthur Ward (1812-1882)

See you in church,

Brown

http://youtu.be/8x4GC0-Z0ZI

Friday 7PM Television Outreach. Time Warner Cable Ch 4.

We will be back to our Wednesday schedule, including Bible study, fellowship, and prayer, starting September 14, 2011. We meet with a meal at 6 PM, with the Bible study beginning at 6:30 PM. We began a 4 week study on the theme, "Why? Making Sense of God's Will", by Adam Hamilton. Topics include, "Why Do the Innocent Suffer?", Why Do My Prayers Go Unanswered?", "Why Can't I See God's Will for My Life?", and "Why God's Love Prevails". Following the completion of this study we will be using Rick Warren's study, "Forty Days of Love". This will lead us to the beginning of the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons. More information will follow in the church newsletter.

September 24.2011

Praise and worship service:
First United Methodist Church , Endicott
Sponsored by Union Center UMC
6PM Gathering- Coffeee- Fellowship
6.30PM Worship
Music: Jane Hettinger
Speaker: Dave Hettinger

Please mark your calendar for our prayer conference, which will begin on Friday, October 14 and continue through Sunday morning, October 16.

The Keynote Speaker: Kelly Johnson from Memphis, TN.

The Prayer Team will include: Sunita and Andy, Rob and Jenn, and Meredith from Washington, DC.
The tentative schedule follows:
Friday, October 14 at 6 PM - opening session at Union Center UMC
Saturday, October 15, 9 AM - noon - concert of prayer at UCUMC
The Prayer teams will be available to pray for people for salvation, restoration, healing, deliverance...

Saturday, 5:30 PM - banquet at First UMC, 53 McKinley Ave., Endicott
6:30 PM worship service, including an open invitation to pray at the altar following the worship service. I invite you to be a part of the prayer team during that time.

Sunday morning worship at 8:30 and 11 AM. at UCUMC Kelly Johnson will be preaching. There will be a time for prayer / a concert of prayer

Saturday, September 24 at 6:30 PM (Coffee Fellowship at 6 PM) at First United Methodist Church, 53 McKinley Avenue in Endicott.

Our youth will be attending the Word of Life Superbowl at the arena and other sites on November 4 & 5.

Our annual Thanksgiving Banquet will be held on Saturday, November 19.

The Russian Men's Ensemble will be in concert on December 3.

We are planning for a trip to the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Extravaganza on December 6, leaving here at 6 AM, spending the day in NYC, and attending the show at 5 PM. There are optional sites to visit, including the Ground Zero 9/11 Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine. The trip costs $90 per person, including the bus ticket and a ticket to the show. Anyone who wants to reserve a spot on the bus should make their check payable to Union Center United Methodist Church, memo "Radio City Christmas Extravaganza".

Here at Union Center- Wesley- Endicott, we focus on " World as our Parish"., We remind ourselves that we serve under a captain who has never lost a battle. Jesus Christ the Head of the Church is Faithful. We are invited to embrace 7 holy habits of Christian faithfulness. We are called to FOCUS on our prayer life, our relationship with Christ, reading the Bible, faithful worship attendance, financial gifts to Christ and His Church,, serving Jesus with our hands, and sharing the good news of His Great Redemption,with others. May Christ be praised.