Brown's Daily Word 7-17-07

Good morning,
Praise the Lord for all of God's promises. "For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through Him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God. 2 Corinthians 1:20. We live by faith and not by sight and we stand on His promises. We read in Matthew 5:13-16 "Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." We are called, chosen, anointed and empowered by the Lord to be partners in His miracles. He uses the least, the lost and the last to accomplish extraordinary things in His Kingdom in His power. He used a slave girl from Israel to bring about healing to a Syrian army General. He used a little boy in feeding 5,000 men alone. He desires to use us now as good Samaritans, with tender hearts in a tough world. When Rosina Hernandez was in college, she once attended a rock concert at which one young man was brutally beaten by another. No one attempted to stop the beating. The next day she was struck dumb to learn that the youth had died because of the pounding. Yet, neither she nor anyone else had raised a hand to help him. She could never forget the incident or her responsibility as an inactive bystander. Some years later, Rosina saw another catastrophe. A car driving in the rain ahead of her suddenly skidded and plunged into Biscayne Bay. The car landed head down in the water with only the tail end showing. In a moment a woman appeared on the surface, shouting for help and saying her husband was stuck inside. This time Rosina waited for no one. She plunged into the water, tried unsuccessfully to open the car door, then pounded on the back window as other bystanders stood on the causeway and watched. First, she screamed at them, begging for help; then cursed them, telling them there was a man dying in the car. First one man, then another, finally came to help. Together they broke the safety glass and dragged the man out. They were just in time -- a few minutes later it would have been all over. The woman thanked Rosina for saving her husband, and Rosina was elated, riding an emotional high that lasted for weeks. She had promised herself that she would never again fail to do anything she could to save a human life. She had made good on her promise. (Bits & Pieces, June 24, 1993, pp. 20-21.)
Galatians 6:9 "And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." Luke 6:46 "And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" Edward Everett Hale, the distinguished poet and former Chaplain of the U.S. Senate, while speaking of Americans eloquently captured the essence of every believer’s duty: "I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. What I can do, that I ought to do. And what I ought to do, by the grace of God, I shall do." There is a story of an Atlantic passenger laying in his bunk in a storm, deathly sick--seasick. A cry of "Man overboard" was heard. The passenger thought, "God help the poor fellow--there is nothing I can do." Then he thought that at least he could put his lantern in the porthole, which he did. The man was rescued, and recounting the story next day he said, "I was going down in the darkness for the last time when someone put a light in a port-hole. It shone on my hand, and a sailor in a lifeboat grabbed it and pulled me in." Weakness is no excuse for our not putting forth all the little strength we have. Who can tell how God will use it? Habakkuk 3:19 "The LORD God is my strength, and He will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and He will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments."
Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ which strengthened me."

Psalms 118:6 "The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?"
Isaiah 41:10 "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness."

Thank you for praying for Janice and her family. They are all doing well. I did send some of the pictures of them, I hope you can access them.
Congratulations to our friend Julie in Oklahoma on the birth of her grandson, Joseph.
I'm enclosing a prayer request from our friend Senie from Virginia, please do remember them in prayer.
Have a wonderful day filled with His grace and His power.

In Him,
Brown

Allan went to the surgeon today to see about much needed knee replacement surgery on his right knee and before we knew it, the date was set for August 9th. They had just had a cancellation and didn't have anything until weeks after that, so we took it as a sign! What that means, unfortunately for us, is that he is not allowed to travel for at least a month, maybe more, partly because of the inability to function easily but also because of a fear of blood clots. And so we will not be able to make it to Sunita's wedding. Drat!!! He has been very uncomfortable recently so we felt that he needed to go ahead and get it done, putting several things aside to make that a priority. So please keep him in your prayers, that he will remain healthy and sail through the surgery and be back at it by later in September. Maybe we'll take a trip to NYS to celebrate!

Also, my longtime friend Betty Boyer in PA's 24 year old granddaughter was killed in an auto accident about 3 weeks ago. Would you please pray for her, her daughter and son-in-law, and the other 2 children that they will be able to get all of this in the right perspective. They are all Christians but the 21 year old sister is having a very difficult time and has become involved in things that she shouldn't be, has a non-Christian boyfriend that she is considering moving in with and feels she should have been killed and not her older, perfect sister. She has always had low self-esteem apparently. Anyway, at a time when the parents need to be dealing with their own grief, everything has become very complicated because of the actions/mindset of Katie. The son, about 10, was also in the vehicle, though he is doing okay, so that is another whole situation to deal with. They know that the Lord can meet their needs but just don't know the best way to handle Katie. She refuses to talk about counseling - a very complicated situation all the way around!

Thanks so much for your note, Brown, and for your willingness to pray for us.

Love to all the family. Do you know how to respond to a little boy? Get practicing soccer and baseball, Grandpa?

Senie, and Allan too