Praise the Lord for the spectacular morning with which He has
blessed us this day. I trust you all had
a refreshing and renewing weekend along with a great day in His house with His
people yesterday. We had a full weekend including the banquet on Saturday and the worship and celebration
yesterday. Alice preached yesterday from
Isaiah 53. We took a long walk in the early afternoon, soaking in the grace
of the Lord and His matchless beauty that He displays in season and out of
season. We praise the Lord that the days
are getting longer and warmer.
Alice and I have been watching the series, "When Calls the Heart".
The new season began yesterday. The
series is about the life and days in the Canadian Frontier in the early part of
the 20th Century. The milieu, the
cultural moorings, the ethos, the role of church and the community, family, and
school are refreshing and therapeutic.
The presentation is devoid of vulgarity and obscenity.
Praise the Lord for His church, and our homes and families. I praise the Lord for all of you who love the
Lord and dare to live with passion, zeal, dedication, and courage.
I was born and raised in the context of simplicity together with
an abundance of the things money could not buy, accompanied by simple gifts. My life was shaped by men and women who loved
the Lord and lived from day to day in the Light of Jesus Christ. One of them was my uncle, the older brother of
dad. My uncle was brilliant and handsome.
He had attained an 8th grade education. He was an ardent believer and follower of
Jesus our Lord. He served during World
War II. He was blessed with a poetic and
photographic memory with Holy imagination. He read and retained the Bible. He was a poet and wonderful story teller. We heard the Biblical stories during our
childhood days, and he brought the Biblical stories to life. I attribute my knowledge of the Bible as a young
man to my uncle’s teaching and preaching. Although I was young teenager at the time I have
not forgotten those verses that he taught me. They pop into my heart and
mind from time to time.This passage is one of them:
"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh."2 Cor 7-11
I have been thinking of two wonderful and deeply committed Christian
leaders in Orissa, one of whom was a medical doctor and another was the Bishop.
They were my mentors and friends.
They were traveling together in an SUV a few years ago when both were involved
in an accident and both were killed at the scene. It was a great loss. I have been
thinking about another physician a friend of ours. Although He is an athlete, he has developed
heart problems. He has been under
medical care lately. He and his wife are
dedicated Christians. He now is retired
from full time practice. He and wife
continue to serve the Lord in the Church. He will be going to Africa in April, where he
goes frequently to work in a mission hospital. He never gets tired of serving the Lord.
Another man I am thinking of is an ordained minister, a colleague of mine. He and his wife serve the Lord with great zeal
and passion although he has had complicated heart surgeries. Despite the
heart impediments he continues to serve the Lord fearlessly.
My wife and I have been blessed with four beautiful daughters who
love the Lord and serve Him. Our oldest
daughter, who lives in Boston with her beautiful family, has heart for the
least, the last, and the lost. She has served them with great love
and passion. She is involved in health care and medicine. She comes
against injustice vocally and vigorously.
She has been selected to do further graduate studies in healthcare administration
at Dartmouth, one of the Ivy League schools. She takes her calling and vocation
seriously. She stands in the gap. She is fearless and committed with compassion
and caring concern. Praise the Lord for all of you who love the Lord and
serve Him for such a time as this.
I love to read and reflect from Hebrews, “Therefore,
since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off
everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run
with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on
Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him
endued the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the
throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2
This verse in Hebrews tells us that we are surrounded by a great cloud
of witnesses, showing us that we are not alone. A host of great men
and women have gone before us to pave the way, to pay the price, to show us
that the cause is just and righteous. Let us always be aware of
those who have gone on before us.
We have responsibility as
believers. We must throw off everything that hinders. This
speaks about the running weights which a runner in training would use to
increase stamina and strength. There are things that must be put off
if we are going to be effective. It may be that we have to lay off
some good things that are not the best things so that we might do what God has
called us to do – to do the main thing. We also have responsibility
to keep our lives clean and pure. Hebrews also goes on to say that
we must lay aside the sin that so easily entangles or besets us.
Furthermore, we have a
race that is set before us. This indicates to us that the Lord
of our lives has a plan. All of us need to recognize that Satan also
has a plan. Satan plans to divert, divide, and destroy. According
to John 10:10 we must be ever vigilant and seek to do everything we can to
make sure that God’s plan is accomplished. We do not have to set our
own agenda or our own mission, but we are to fix our eyes on Jesus. We are called and commissioned to press on and
run and finish the race well.
Brown
https://youtu.be/aIR5zFSkWUY
Brown
