"Come
ye that love the Lord, and let your joys be known,
Join in a song with sweet accord, Join in a song with sweet accord.
And thus surround the throne, and thus surround the throne.
Join in a song with sweet accord, Join in a song with sweet accord.
And thus surround the throne, and thus surround the throne.
We're
marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion;
We're marching upward to Zion; the beautiful city of God
We're marching upward to Zion; the beautiful city of God
Then
let our songs abound and every tear be dry;
We're marching through Immanuel's ground;
We're marching through Immanuel's ground;
We're
marching through Immanuel's Ground,
To
Fairer worlds on high, to fairer worlds on high"
Praise the Lord that He is bread for the journey. He
is vision along the way all the way. Praise the Lord that He has called
us to a wonderful pilgrimage. There is progress and there is regress
along our pilgrim journey, but thanks be to Jesus who gives the victory.
Praise the Lord for another beautiful day in His Kingdom. Praise the Lord for
His grace that is sufficient at every juncture, every detour for every step of
the way. Praise the Lord for the wonder working power of His love, His
redemption, and His intervention in the world and in our lives. We
spent some time strolling along Main Street of our town yesterday. When
we got back to the house, we spent some Google time with Jess and Lindy in
Philadelphia and Sunita, Gabe, Addie, and Asha in Washington, DC.
We
are planning to visit our Janice Jeremy, Micah, Simeon, and Ada in Boston
next week. Our dear friend from Vermont is going to visit us next
month. Another young friend from Atlanta is planning to visit in February
as well as Sunita, Asha, and Laureen from Washington. It is always a
treat and thrill.
Please
join me praising the Lord, for the He is at work in the world. His unseen
Hand moves, rules, and overrules. We can be still and know that He
is God. Please join in praying for those in our circles who need the
tender, comforting, and healing touch of Jesus our Savior and Lord.
Pray for our friends: Linda who is suffering with severe sciatic pain for
the last few days.. . for Dionne, who is home recovering from surgery. .
. for Don who is being doctored for a heart condition (He is in his 90s) . . .
pray for Ralph, a 62 year old man who has been taken off life
support.
Thank
you for praying for me around the corner and around the globe. I am
feeling stronger day by day. I will be finishing my treatments by
the end of March. I still get to preach every Sunday. He gives me
grace every day. I experience His power and presence every
day. I have been invited to participate preaching mission in Orissa
India first week of June. This is an annual event similar
to Old Methodist Camp meetings. It is held under huge tents and
people come by the thousands to participate in this annual
event. People stay in the tents, and cook on open fires. The night
scene become brilliant with camp fires. The Lord of fire and wind
sends a spirit of wonder and excitement, a great sense of
community upon His people. At times we feel like
"Heaven has come down and His glory has invaded the earth and sky".
It is like living in booths in Old Testament times.
Thank
you all who have already responded regarding the Retirement party and
celebration for my wife. We are getting beyond excited. I
have spoken with some of my friends who have joyfully agreed to
prepare some bizarre and exotic foods for the event. I am humbled,
gratified, and blessed. Praise the Lord who has allowed us and linked us
in His grace and grip and has given us his gifts serve Him together.
The
day before yesterday somebody stopped by and dropped off 4 gallons of
honey. . . Local, pure and unadulterated. It is one of the advantages of
living out in the country.
For my
city dwellers and urban cowboys, note that the Marathon Civic Center is located
about 100 yards from the river bank. There is local access for canoes and
kayaks,on a rental basis. We are also surrounded by many fishing lakes
and ponds. There are apiaries, Sheep farms, goat farms, Dairy farms..
miles of hiking along the Finger Lakes Trail, Lots of green space and corn
fields. We are just a few miles from Greek Peek Resort where you
will have touch Switzerland. Greek Peak has all kinds of activities in
all Four Seasons.
Our
town is unique, inviting, and nostalgic. On any given early morning
starting at 4:00 AM, tractor trailers come rolling along Main street.
Soon after you begin to l see construction vehicles, along with luxury tour
buses, university buses, and even luxury campers. (There is a huge
camper village up the hill from here.) Then we will be transported to the
simpler days when you see the Amish Buggies roiling along. There is also
a train that passes through town twice a day, and sometimes
more. Praise the Lord for the land, the sea, the mountains, and the
hills. He is our Amazing Lord whose glory never fades.
There
was a man in the second century by the name of Dionysius who wrote about common
life among people in the pagan culture of that time. In those days in the
Roman Empire every town, every village, every city faced a major calamity on
average about once every thirteen years. By calamity I mean an
earthquake, a fire, a plague, or a military conquest. Because cities in
those days were constructed with highly flammable materials, a fire could
sweep across the whole city and devastate it. An earthquake could
bring all the buildings tumbling down. There was no medicine for plagues.
What did the pagans do when these catastrophes hit? Dionysius says,
"The pagans thrust aside anyone who began to be sick and kept at a
distance even from their dearest friends. They cast the sufferers half
dead into the ditches and left them unburied."
If
you read the history of the Peloponnesian Wars written about the second or
third century BC, you will find vivid descriptions of how people in those days
ran whenever there was danger. They didn't care about their
children. They didn't care about their aging parents. They didn't
care about their neighbors. They just ran to save themselves. That
was one of the core notions of a pagan view of life—save myself. On the
other hand, a Christian leader in the third century named Eusebius of Caesarea
wrote, "The Christians were the only people who amidst such terrible ills
showed their fellow feeling and humanity by their actions. Day by day
some would busy themselves with attending the dead and burying them.
Others gathered in one spot all who were afflicted by hunger throughout the
whole city and gave bread to all. When this became known, the people
[that is, the pagan population] glorified the Christian God and convinced by
the very facts confessed that the Christians alone were truly pious and
religious."
Those
words may leave us a bit cold, but in their core is a powerful
statement. The only people in those days who genuinely stood up for what they
believed in and acted out of charity and love and generosity were the
Christians. For centuries the Christian movement expanded in one of
the most dramatic periods of growth in Christian history. The countries
of the Mediterranean world became filled with communities of believers, and the
secret to it all was they were known for their generosity and their service.
Jesus, our Lord, said one day to some would-be disciples, "You have
to understand the Son of Man doesn't even have a place to lay his
head." For a large part of his public life, Jesus only had one piece
of clothing to wear. As Christian writer Amy Carmichael said a hundred
years ago, "We Christians follow a stripped and crucified
Savior." Over three years he burned the message of generosity into
his disciples, so when we see these apostles in the book of Acts three, four,
five years later, they are totally different from the day they met the Lord.
Something transformed them from being compulsive receivers to being
extravagant, generous givers. Indeed we belong to the company of the
Committed. We belong to new breed of this who live life generosity,
sacrifice. We belong to the tribe of Judah, who give themselves
up for the Kingdom causes and purposes .. They commit themselves for
the cause that outlasts this world. "He is no fool. who gives what
he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." Jim Elliot.
In
Christ,
Brown
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