Brown's Daily Word 6/23/17

     Thanks be to Jesus, the Bright and Morning Star, for the gift of all seasons from His powerful and kind hands.  We are recipients of His matchless love, celestial beauty and the fathomless grace.  I talked to one of the dear saints of Jesus yesterday, who has gone to Salt Lake City to be her granddaughter who has gone through major surgery and due for more surgery.  This friend of ours is in her 80s but full of life and faith in Jesus.  We are praying for full recovery for her beautiful granddaughter.  

     Praise Lord for this Friday.  The Lord has blanketed the region with cool and comfortable morning sun.  Alice and I drove around the countryside of the neighboring counties  yesterday afternoon.  It was gorgeous in every way.  We drove through some of the breathtaking hills, mountains, meadows and fields, pastures and farmlands.  The farmers were still planting, the  livestock were grazing.  People old and young were crowding around the ice cream stands in the country.  Praise the Lord once again for the beauty of the Earth and for the glory of the sun.  Today is the last day of schools in New York State.  Students, faculty members, and families are ready for sweet summer. 

      The Schools and colleges are full swing for another season and session.  Today is the last day of teaching for my wife. She has been teaching in aggregate for over 20 years.  Praise the Lord for the gifts and talents with which He endows us so that we can use them bless others and honor Him.  Alice has been blessed by the Lord to impact hundreds of young people over these years.  

     Life consists of giving and receiving, inhaling and exhaling, loving and being loved, sowing and reaping, investing and  receiving back hundred-fold and sixty-fold.  Life is filled with blessings and battles, mostly blessing I must add.  Praise the Lord for the journeys we take on earth, the pilgrim's path upon which we walk and for the promise and assurance of the Eternal City.  "I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me" Psalm 13:6 

     I spent  part of the summer a few years ago attending a summer school in Oxford, England.  I had a blast.  I made some time to visit cathedrals, abbeys, and churches, including some very historic sites in Oxford.  One afternoon I walked by the building where C.S. Lewis wrote some of his treatises and books.  C.S. Lewis wrote two books dealing with suffering.  The first was a philosophical treatise on suffering called “The Problem of Pain”.  In it he discusses pain from an intellectual perspective.  But then, at the age of 59, C. S. Lewis married Joy Davidman Gresham, an American who was 16 years younger than himself, divorced, a Jew, a Communist, and an atheist before she became a Christian by reading Lewis’ books.  When they married she had been diagnosed with cancer and even called their marriage “a deathbed wedding.”  She was in remission for awhile and they had four years together before she died. After her death, Lewis wrote his second book on suffering entitled, “A Grief Observed”.  This second book about pain however, was a personal expression of his pain and anguish over the death of his wife.  In writing about pain, Lewis made the famous quote you’ve probably heard: “God whispers in our pleasure, but He shouts in our pain.”  But there’s another quote that is also powerful but less familiar. He wrote: “Pain removes the veil; it plants the flag of truth within the fortress of a rebel soul.”  (The Problem of Pain). In other words, when things are going great in our lives, we tend to major in the minors.  It’s only when pain comes that the veil is removed and God gets our attention.  Suffering makes us focus on the real issues of life and death.

“Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead.”

In Christ,

 Brown

https://youtu.be/4PvMvFIxlMQ

Brown's Daily Word 6/22/17

The Lord blessed with His great abundance and joy yesterday, the first day of Summer.  The summer season has made great debut with blazing sun and heat in the southeastern states of  America the beautiful.  The temperature reached 120 F in Arizona, Nevada, etc.  The temperature here in the Northeast reached into the eighties, but it was cool and comfortable, buffeted with gentle breezes.  It was great day to be alive and to enjoy the beauty and blessings of  the day.  I took some time to drive in the country where the cows "on a thousand hills" were out in the pastures and fields, grazing unafraid and unhurried.  I visited a man who was deployed in Iraq during Operation Desert Storm.  He said he has traveled to 82 countries, including India.  He loves Indian food, the hotter the better.  He and his family lived in North Dakota for several years.  He moved his family back to the area where he was born and raised.  He and his wife, along with their two sons, live on a farm where they raise sheep.  He shared that He is grateful to Jesus for life, for the land, for this great nation, for the church, and for his family. 

     Alice and I worked in the garden in the cool of the afternoon.  We then took a long walk in the evening.  We were visiting with some of her former students, one of whom is finishing her nursing degree from Hartwick College, Alice's alma mater.  Another student is working on a computer sciences degree from RIT where he will be finishing in three years of study.  A third is doing his engineering studies at Alfred State.  We had face time with our granddaughter Lindy (in the Philadelphia area).  She is growing so quickly, and is very interactive and talkative.  We also had some face time with Gabe, Addie, and Asha (in Washington, DC).  They are all excited to come to Grandma and Grandpa's house in a few days.

     We are getting ready for Alice's reception and party.  It will held on Saturday, July 1, 2017.  We will start gathering at 4:00 PM, and the Buffet dinner will be served at 5:00 PM.  The venue for this gathering is the Marathon Civic Center, located at the corner of Brink Street.  You do not need any reservation - just show up.  This an "Indian Thing"; You are part of the family.  Family members do not need an invitation.  You all just show up.  The Lord will make you joyful.  There is plenty of room, plenty of foods, and lots of love and grace.

     The Word of the Lord is poignant, powerful, life-giving and always relevant to our life situations in all seasons and in all predicaments.  It is written, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”  2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (NKJV)  Five times in these two verses Paul uses the word "comfort."  Paul tells us that God comforts us, not simply to relieve our distress but also so that we may be able to comfort others.  This means we are all called to encourage one another.  I think of what the Paul says in 1 Thessalonians: " Therefore comfort (encourage) each other (one another) and “edify (build up) one another up…" 1 Thess. 5: 11 (NKJV)

     Bruce Larson, in his book, "Wind and Fire", points out some interesting facts about sand-hill cranes: "These large birds, who fly great distances across continents in a "V" formation like geese, have three remarkable qualities.  First, they rotate leadership.  No one bird stays out in front all the time.  Second, they choose leaders who can handle turbulence.  And third, all during the time one bird is leading, the rest are honking their affirmation."  This is not a bad model for the church: we all should be honking encouragement to each other.

     The writer of Hebrews links mutual encouragement to worship attendance: “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Heb 10:25)  There were many encouragers in the New Testament Church.  However, one character stands out.  He helped and encouraged people so much he was given a new name by the apostles; that name was Barnabas, which means "Son of Encouragement."

     The early Jerusalem church had many poor people.  Some of the poor were widows.  Some were working men who could not secure or hold employment after confessing Christ.  Others were pilgrims from other nations who were converted on Pentecost and stayed there for fellowship and teaching.  Local believers had to help these poor.  Barnabas responded by selling property, probably on his native island of Cyprus, and bringing the proceeds to the apostles to be used for the poor (Acts 4:37).  He not only talked encouragement but he also did concrete encouraging acts.  Barnabas played a vital role in welcoming and encouraging Paul, who had been a "rebel with a cause".  Once the "hound of heaven" captured Paul's heart, the Lord propelled him into His kingdom with a new cause and a new vision.  Because Paul had so recently persecuted them, Christians were suspicious of him.  Even the disciples were leery. The situation was touchy.  Paul was rejected by all and accepted by none.

     It was Barnabas who cleared the way.  “But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles.  And he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.” Acts 9:27(NKJV)  Barnabas was so successful in promoting Paul that Paul "stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem" (Acts 9:28).  Not only did Barnabas reach out to Paul, but we also see this in how Barnabas was among the first to accept the new Gentile believers.

     When I look into the life of Barnabas I realize just how far I have to go as an encourager. Each of us would like to be remembered as the sons and daughters of encouragement.  Ignatius, one of the early church fathers, once wrote of the church that was in Rome, “It was a church worthy of God, worthy of honor, worthy of congratulation, worthy of success, worthy in purity, preeminent in love, walking in the law of Christ and bearing the Father’s name.”  May Jesus the Lord of the church ferment each one of us as part of His Church to be that Church in the world today.

Brown's Daily Word 6/21/17

   Praise the Lord for the advent of sweet summer.  The Lord blessed us with some beautiful pillars of clouds.  It was pleasant and invigorating.  I drove down to the Triple Cities to visit my siblings yesterday.  All of them have big gardens.  They have started harvesting the early crops.  I went to examine some of the fruit trees we have planted through the years.  The pears, cherries, peaches, and plums are abundant.  I was pleasantly surprised that all trees are bearing fruit.  Thank you Jesus.

     My nephew and his bride, who live in Grand Junction, Colorado, came for dinner last evening.  The Lord blessed us with a beautiful evening with them.  Alice and I flew to Grand Junction, Colorado last October so that I could officiate in their wedding.  My nephew, who is a law Enforcement Officer, and his wife, who is a Public School Teacher,  They both love the Lord and are involved  in large Vineyard church. They both  are out door zealots. They love hiking in some of the National parks hiking over 20 miles. They are planning to spend some of their summer  in Yellowstone National Park.  We had a beautiful time of visiting and a sweet time of prayer.

     May Jesus draw all of us closer to Himself this summer season in our going out and in our coming in.  May we all pause and ponder.  May we all take time to drink from the cup of His blessings.  May we take time to dwell in His presence, surrounded by His glory.  May we take time sing, "How Great Thou Art".

•      “I heard a story of a man who was riding on a subway.  It was quite crowded and he had to stand with his face to the door.  He was prone to motion sickness and he began to get quite sick.  The train raced into the station, the door opened, and the man became violently ill.  The doors closed and the train sped on into the night.  There happened to be a man standing on the platform waiting to get on the train at this particular door. In utter dismay he turned to the man behind him in line and said, "Why me?"  I think that is often the way we feel.  "Why me, Lord?’  But we shouldn’t be surprised.  Suffering is no accident.  It is the normal experience of every believer.” [David Roper. “Suffering Successfully.”  It is written, "Blessed is the man who endures trials, because having been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.”

     Malcolm Muggeridge, one of my  favorite theologians and authors, an atheist who became committed believer, once said, “Contrary to what might be expected, I look back on experiences that at the time seemed especially desolating and painful with particular satisfactions.  Indeed, I can say with complete truthfulness that everything I have learned in seventy-five years in this world, everything that has truly enhanced and enlightened my existence, has been through affliction and not happiness.  In other words, if it were to be possible to eliminate affliction from our earthly existence…. the result would not be to make life delectable, but to make it too dull (banal) and trivial to be endurable.” [Malcolm Muggeridge. A 20th Century Testimony.  As quoted by Charles Swindoll.  The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart and 1501 Other Stories.  (Nashville: Word, 1998) p. 582]

     Again, it is written, "Blessed is the man that endures trials."       This is a declaration of the blessedness for one who passes the test. “Blessed” means happy.  Better yet, it means satisfied.  Better yet, it means fulfilled with inner joy.  In fact, in chapter 5 of James and verse 11, he says the same thing, "Behold, we count them happy who endure."  Let it be understood that this is not happiness due to freedom from trial,  but rather due to victory over trial.  This is a Big difference.  It’s not the ordinary happiness of someone who never knew conflict, but rather the exhilaration of one who fought and won.  Not the happiness of the spectator, it is the happiness of the participant.  Happy, satisfied, and fulfilled with an inner state of joy is the man who endures testing.  The person who claims to be a Christian and who goes through trials and comes out a winner which means he never gives up his faith, and he never abandons God.  He is shown to be the genuine Christian, who will receive the crown of life which the Lord will give to those that love Him. 

     We all experience trials, but the Lord of the victory, has something great in His purposes and plans for us, and we are invited to explore and discover it.  We walk through the valleys of darkness, dismay, distresses disease and even death, knowing that Jesus has overcome this world, overwhelmed death and the grave, and is with us.  In Him and through Him we are more than conquerors.  He prepares a banqueting table before us in the presence of our enemies.

  In Christ,

https://youtu.be/P9NkuQHUta4

Brown's Daily Word 6/20/17

This is the day the Lord had made we will rejoice and glad in it.  Today is the longest day as the Spring season makes way for the debut of the sweet Summer 2017.  The Lord has showered us with some pleasant and friendly rains.  The gardens and the farms are full of life and laughter.  It is all beautiful.  I drove towards the country settings and scenes yesterday afternoon.  The meadows are studded with spring and summer flowers that are both wild and glorious; the bees at their hives were buzzing sweetly at work.  Our garden is coming along beautifully although it was planted less than a week ago.  Thank you Jesus.

     The Lord blessed us with an extravagant weekend. The Saturday banquet was served to a "Full House".  The banquet was delicious and the fellowship was sweet.  Kudos to our chefs Denny and Lynda.  We had impromptu sharing and laughing and even crying with tears of joy.  Many gave testimonies of the Lord's unfailing faithfulness and never failing mercies.  Some shared how they grew up in a time when there was no central heating and no central air.  Many were born on small farms  and with fewer possessions, yet the life was very rich and beautiful.  Some shared about the centrality of Jesus in their homes and families.  One young woman shared that  a little over a year ago their family lost their house in a fire.  They almost lost some their children.  The Lord miraculously rescued all of them though some children  suffered some severe burns.  The Lord has fully restored them and blessed them with a very spacious house.  They are blessed with six beaiutful children, aged from 11 years to a few months old.  The mom home school their children. She was praising the Lord for His wonders and miracles.

     The Lord blessed us in His House on Sunday, the Lord's day.  The church was full of laughter, praise, prayer, and even tears.  We had some special time to honor the dads who were there.  During the day I heard from all four of our daughters.  Janice shared that they all attended their morning worship, where Micah and Simeon have joined the children's choir   The Children's choir  sang during the morning worship service. After their Father's Day Sunday dinner they went to spend some time at  Walden Pond.  Sunita and Andy took their children the National Zoo in the morning and attended the evening worship service.  Laureen shared that she spent time with her friends and led the worship in the evening at her church in Washington, DC.  Jess shared that she and Lindy took Tom for Father's Day breakfast and attended the morning worship at their church.

     I spent some time visiting in person and over the phone, conversing with a dear friend.  She was sharing that her grandchildren are teenagers now.  She and her husband, who is an Orthopedic surgeon, go to Africa on Medical missions.  This is their thrill and joy during their retirement years.   Another friend was sharing that he and his wife are blessed.  Their lives are centered around their grandchildren.  He and his wife recently spent over a month in the West with some friends visiting seven National Parks.  They came  home "Soul Full". 

     The other day I was visiting a  local man who is a business man and entrepreneur who own several local business concerns - a very successful  man indeed.  After his wife died 11 years ago, he transferred  his businesses to his sons but remained busy in some of his pet projects.  He is 75 yeers and very active and engaged.  He said that he owns two islands in Canada that he uses for vacations destinations. I visited with another neighbor friend who shared that he and his wife are travelling West late this Summer, visiting some farms and ranches in the Midwest.  One of the dairy farms they plan to visit in Indiana milks 32000 cows.  Amazing!  "What a Country!", I said.

We have been hearing from our dear friends who live out of State who send their good wishes and blessings.  One couple shared that they are celebrating their 50 th wedding anniversary this July. She is a a cancer survivor over two decades. Praising the Lord for His healings and restorations.. We had a visit another sweet couple. They love the Lord serve Him joyfully.  He had  an open heart surgery in1999. <. He is stromg and sturdy. They drive to Florida few times a year. They are atr attending a double wedding of their  nieces in Mexico. They have grand children who are in high School They are over 6 feet tall.

 

I love to read Phillip Yancey’s fine book What’s So Amazing About Grace? In an early chapter he comments that grace is the “last great word.” He means that it is one of the last of the “great words” that has retained some of its original meaning: “free and undeserved bounty.” For instance, when we pray, we “say grace” to thank God for our food. We are “grateful” for a kindness done by another person. To show our thanks we offer a “gratuity.” Something that is offered at no cost is said to be “gratis.” And when we have overdue books from the library, we may return them at no charge during a “grace period.”

It is commonly said that Christianity is supremely a religion of grace. And that is certainly true. We sing about grace, we write poems about grace, we name our churches and our children after grace. In Grove City near Grove City College, is Grace United Methodist Church. We have a wonderful saint in our church whose name is Grace.

But for all that, grace is not well understood and often not really believed. We use the word a great deal but rarely think about what it means. It’s probably true that most of us think infrequently about God’s grace. we certainly believe in grace, but outside of the worship services, the word is rarely on our lips.

Yancey points out that part of our problem is in the nature of grace itself. Grace is scandalous. Hard to accept. Hard to believe. Hard to receive. We all have a certain skepticism when a telemarketer tells us, “I’m not trying to sell you anything. I just want to offer you a free trip to Hawaii.” Automatically we wonder, “What’s the catch?” because we have all been taught that “there’s no free lunch.”

Here are a few other notes I jotted down from Yancey’s book: Grace shocks us in what it offers. It is truly not of this world. It frightens us with what it does for sinners. Grace teaches us that God does for others what we would never do for them. We would save the not-so-bad. God starts with prostitutes and then works downward from there. Grace is a gift that costs everything to the giver and nothing to the receiver. It is given to those who don’t deserve it, barely recognize it, and hardly appreciate it.
In Christ.
Brown

https://youtu.be/nQWFzMvCfLE?list=PLgFPSBWI2ATsKb2a033BXiohst-OCn08X

Brown's Daily Word 6/17/17

Honor and Praises to Jesus, the Bright and the morning star.  His light shines on us and His glory fills the earth in all seasons and in all spheres.  Praise Him for this new day.  I woke up early this morning, refreshed and rested, along with the singing birds with their sonnets and melodies.  As woke up I was reminded of the words of Fernando Ortega:

     If the rain clouds come
     Or the cold winds blow,
     And in my heart I know

     This good day day
     It is a gift from you.
     The world is turning in its place
     Because you made it to.
     I lift my voice
     To sing a song of praise
     On this good day.

     Jesus is the divine and ultimate mover and shaker of the universe.  As it is written, "in Him we live  and move and have our being.  We praise the Lord for His manifold blessings and mercies.  Our daughter Sunita flew from Bangkok back to Washington yesterday.  After more than 21 hours in flight she arrived in Washington, DC safe and sound.  She said the conference was was a blessing, as she got to meet some of the leaders and servants from Southeast Asia who are serving Jesus through the work of World Vision.  

     Our son in law Jeremy celebrated his 40 birthday yesterday.  He said that Janice and he took a walk in the woods and went out for lunch and a birthday dinner.  It was a special-day of celebration indeed.  We praise the Lord for Jeremy.  

     We finished planting garden 2017.  We did much of planting on Thursday afternoon.  The Lord sent a drenching rain all night Thursday.  Thanks be to Jesus for our friend who has given us the garden space.  It is surrounded by a panoramic view of the the hills, downs, farms, and fields.  The morning and evening vista is therapeutic.  The garden is surrounded  by sweet corn fields and bee hives that belong to local bee farmer.  We are grateful and thankful.

     Praise the Lord for the life and witness of Wilbur Wesner, who entered the church triumphant this week.  He and his dear wife Prudence were part of the staff  of the Church I served for 25 years. Wilbur and Trudy, who were married for 61 years, were faithful servants of Jesus.  Wilbur was 86 years old when he entered the Church Triumphant.  "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints".

    Praise the Lord for Saturday.  We are gearing up for an evening of feasting and celebration.  We will gather for a banquet this evening at 6:00 PM.  The menu includes Prime Rib and all the trimmings. Praise the Lord for Sunday, when our Nation celebrates Father's Day.  Praise the Lord all fathers.  I praise the Lord for my dad, whose name was Solomon.  He died in 1973 at the age of 48.  My dad was man of deep faith and great courage who was blessed with a magnanimous spirit and heart overflowing with generosity and kindness.  I am honored and blessed to be the father of my beautiful daughters who refresh my heart and challenge my walk with the Lord.  They provoke me to live on the edge for sake of the Kingdom of Jesus our Lord.

     It’s Father’s Day this weekend, and the very first national celebration of this day was on June 19, 1924, by proclamation of President Calvin Coolidge.  It all came about because of the efforts of Sonora Smart Dodd, who was sitting in church in 1909 listening to a Mother’s Day sermon when the idea of Father’s Day first came to mind.  Having been raised by her father after her mother’s death, Sonora wanted her father to know how special he was to her for all his parental sacrifices and for being, in her eyes, so courageous, selfless, and loving.  Through the efforts of this devoted daughter President Coolidge designated the 3rd Sunday of June as “Father’s Day.”  Our nation has been celebrating Father's Day ever since.

     In June 1992, Jim Davidson and Mike Price climbed Mt. Rainier. On the way down, the two climbers fell 80 feet through a snow bridge into a glacial crevasse.  It was a pitch-black, ice-walled crack in the massive glacier that cover Mt. Rainier.  Mike Price died in that tragic event.

     In his book "The Ledge", Jim Davidson tells the story of his miraculous survival and courageous climb out of the crevasse. Throughout the book, Jim reflects back to his childhood and young adult years, describing his relationship with his dad.  As early as Jim can remember, his father had shown what some considered an almost reckless confidence in his son.  Jim worked for his father, painting high, steep-pitched roofs and electrical towers as early as age 12.  The work terrified his mother, but Jim's father kept communicating his belief that Jim could accomplish great things if he pressed through adversity and kept going.

     As Jim stood, bloodied and bruised, on the two-foot-wide snow ledge next to the body of his climbing partner, he heard the encouraging voice of his father.  With minimal gear and no experience in ice climbing at that level, Jim spent the next five hours climbing out, battling fatigue and the crumbling ice and snow that threatened to bury him.  Throughout his ordeal, Jim kept recalling the words of his dad.  Five grueling hours later, thanks to his father's words, Jim climbed out of the crevasse to safety.

     Our success as fathers depends a lot on the words we speak to our children.  Few fathers will ever have the value of their words tested as dramatically as Jim's father.  Sooner or later, the effectiveness of our words will be evident.

     Sometimes the role of a father's words is de-emphasized.  Many insist that what a father says is not nearly as important as what he does.  Certainly there is a measure of truth in this, but we all know how powerful words can be.  Solomon, the wisest man to ever live, wrote in Proverbs, "The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit" (18:21).  Every one of us can probably think of a moment in our lives when someone's words brought us either life or death.  It then stands to reason that the words a father speaks to a son or daughter are especially powerful