Praise the Lord for this new day and for
the brand new season that the Lord of all seasons is ushering in. We are just
beginning to see small patches of brilliant , and fiery colors all around us.
The fields and the hills are bursting with the abundance of
harvest. "While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold
and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease". Genesis
8:22
As it is written in
Psalm 65:13, "The valleys are singing and the hills are laughing aloud."
Praise be to Jesus the Lord of the harvest.
I walk along Main Street of our town almost every day
and try to meet people and enter into conversation. One of the men I met this
past week was back in town staying in the local motel. We talked for almost an
hour. He shared with me that he graduated from Cornell in 1957. He was back
for the Alumni Reunion. He is also in the Alumni Band. He taught in the
Marathon Methodist Church release time program during 1957 and 1958. He went to
Princeton for graduate studies and has served the Lord over the last
many years. He is now retired yet serving Christ in various ministries. He
made my heart glad.
The Lord blessed us In His house yesterday with
His love and grace. We praise the Lord for families, friends, children,
and grandchildren who gather in His house faithfully and fervently every
Sunday. We praise the Lord for every one who serves Him in so many ways and in
so many places. He is exalted. indeed the king is
exalted.
I spoke to Sunita yesterday. She lives in Washington,
DC, where they are all excited about the visit by the Pope to our Nation's
capitol. The University premises are only one mile from where Sunita and Andy,
along with many of their friends, live. They are not far from the Capitol and
the many other attractions of the Capitol. Most of them are located in a
walking distance. Many Christians have installed a prayer and praise venue
called "David's Tent" along the Washington Mall. It is a place where people
gather for prayer and praise. We praise the Lord for the visit of the Pope to
Cuba and America the Beautiful. He comes in the Name of Jesus, the Lord of the
Church, the Lord of the harvest, the king of kings, the Alpha and Omega. We
will keep on praying and praising the Lord that He doing something new around
the world and around the corner. The Lord is inviting all saying, "Come and
see; I am doing a new thing".
Before entering the Pastoral ministry I worked at State
Hospitals I recall one story told by one of my colleagues then.
A woman came in for anxiety therapy due to her fear
of rabbits. She was so afraid of rabbits that so much as a picture of a bunny
would make her cringe against a wall. However, after gradual desensitizing, she
was able to hold a baby bunny in her arms. Part of her success story involved
learning to put her terror in the Lord's hands. The words of Philippines 4:6-7
became very dear to her and she learned to stop being anxious by following the
advice given in these verses. “Do not be anxious, but in everything, by
prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the
peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and
your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Each person today, young or old, is
living in some sort of a threatening environment. The world is going through a
global tsunami. As the threat grows, one is prompted either to attack or run
away in terror and hide. A person can’t run fast enough or far enough to escape
all threats.
There is a growing dark cloud over the heart of
mankind. In darkness, mold grows. Our present
worldwide darkness is much like a mold which is hidden in the walls of a home,
silently growing and then invading our lungs. Soon we can't take a clean
breath. Moral molds have been lying hidden in the walls people's hearts, their
personal mansions, for so many years that they can't be ignored any longer. We
have the Good News. It is written, "In Him was life and the life was the Light
of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome
it.
This
is what God says, the
God who builds a road right through the ocean,
who carves a path through pounding waves,
The God who summons horses and chariots and armies—
they lie down and then can't get up;
they're snuffed out like so many candles:
“Forget about what’s happened;
don't keep going over old history.
Be alert, be present. I'm about to do something brand-new.
It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?
There it is! I’m making a road through the desert,
rivers in the badlands.
Wild animals will say ‘Thank you!’
—the coyotes and the buzzards—
Because I provided water in the desert,
rivers through the sun-baked earth,
Drinking water for the people I chose,
the people I made especially for myself,
a people custom-made to praise me.Isaiah 43:19-21
who carves a path through pounding waves,
The God who summons horses and chariots and armies—
they lie down and then can't get up;
they're snuffed out like so many candles:
“Forget about what’s happened;
don't keep going over old history.
Be alert, be present. I'm about to do something brand-new.
It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?
There it is! I’m making a road through the desert,
rivers in the badlands.
Wild animals will say ‘Thank you!’
—the coyotes and the buzzards—
Because I provided water in the desert,
rivers through the sun-baked earth,
Drinking water for the people I chose,
the people I made especially for myself,
a people custom-made to praise me.Isaiah 43:19-21
In Christ, the Light of the
World.
Brown
