Brown's Daily Word 3-31-08

Praise the Lord for the Eastertide. The Lord is Risen. He is alive. He is our eternal contemporary. We spent the weekend with Sunita And Andy and Laureen in Washington DC. We were blessed and privileged to see the world famous cherry Blossoms of our Nation's capital. We worshipped at the Historic Episcopal Church in Falls Church . The rector of the church is Dr John Yates , whom I had met in Birmingham a few years ago. Sunita and Andy and many of their dear friends worship at this historic church and also are deeply in involved in ministry of out reach and mission.. Praise the Lord for the Church of Jesus Christ which is alive and well. The Church of Jesus Christ is under the same management for last two thousand years. In Valladolid, Spain, where Christopher Columbus died in 1506, stands a monument commemorating the great discoverer. Perhaps the most interesting feature of the memorial is a statue of a lion destroying one of the Latin words that had been part of Spain’s motto for centuries. Before Columbus made his voyages, the Spaniards thought they had reached the outer limits of earth. Thus their motto was "Ne Plus Ultra," which means "No More Beyond." The word being torn away by the lion is "Ne" or "no," make it read "Plus Ultra." Columbus had proven that there was indeed "more beyond." The world could never be understood the same.
In the same way, Christ proved there was “more beyond” and life can never be understood the same. In Romans 6:4-5 [NLT] we read “For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.
Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised as he was.” Recently was told the story of…
a woman who had been diagnosed with cancer and had been given three month to live. Her doctor told her to start making preparations to die -- something we all should be doing all of the time.
So she contacted her pastor and had him come to her house to discuss certain aspects of her final wishes. She told him which songs she wanted sung at the service, what scriptures she would like read, and what she wanted to be wearing.
The woman also told her pastor that she wanted to be buried with her favorite Bible. Everything was in order and the pastor was preparing to leave when the woman suddenly remembered something very important to her. "There’s one more thing," she said excitedly.
"What’s that?" came the pastor’s reply.
"This is very important." The woman continued, "I want to be buried with a fork in my right hand."
The pastor stood looking at the woman not knowing quite what to say.
"That shocks you, doesn’t it?" the woman asked.
Well, to be honest, I’m puzzled by the request," said the pastor.
The woman explained. "In all my years of attending church socials and functions where food was involved, and let’s be honest, food is an important part of any church event, spiritual or otherwise, my favorite part was when whoever was clearing away the dishes of the main course would lean over and say ’you can keep your fork.’ It was my favorite part because I knew that something better was coming. When they told me to keep my fork, I knew that something great was about to be given to me. It wasn’t Jell-O or pudding. It was cake or pie - something with substance. So I just want people to see me there in that casket with a fork in my hand and I want them to wonder, ’What’s with the fork?’ Then I want you to tell them, ’Something better is coming, so keep your fork too." It is written, 1 Peter 1:3-4 [NIV] “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade…” Jesus the Risen Saviour is our living hope !

“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf.” Hebrews 6:19-20 [NIV]

In the resurrection of Jesus, God embedded in the earth an anchor of hope sturdy enough to withstand any hurricane. This hope is the anchor that declares…
Jesus the Lord can overcome my past
Jesus the Lord can be with me in the present… each and every day.
Jesus the Lord has a future for me… to be with Him forever.

The tomb that it sealed was the tomb of a transient. He only went in to prove he could come out. And on the way out he took the stone with him and turned it into an anchor point. He dropped it deep into the uncharted waters of death.

This anchor of hope is like receiving news ahead of it’s time…
Murdo Ewen MacDonald, a prisoner of war in Germany and chaplain to American soldiers, told how he learned of the Normandy invasion. Early on D-Day, he was awakened and told that a Scotsman in the British prisoner-of-war camp wanted to see him. MacDonald ran to the barbed wire that separated the two camps. The Scot, who was in touch with the BBC by underground radio, spoke two words in Gaelic, meaning "They have come." MacDonald ran back to the American camp and spread the news: "They have come . . . They have come." And everyone knew the allied troops had landed at Normandy. The reaction was incredible. Men jumped and shouted, hugged each other, even rolled on the ground. Outwardly they were still captives, but inwardly they were free. That’s the hope that changes life !!

“…He said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?”Mark 8:34-36
In Christ,
Brown





From: jan coulbourne
Subject: urgent Prayer request for our neighbor

I have an urgent prayer request.

Our 30 year old neighbor Jeff Wagner who is waiting for a kidney transplant was driving his brothers car last night on the way back from Ocean City Md and ran head- on into a truck on rt 12.

His 26 year old brother who was visiting from Baltimore was killed and Jeff is in the Shock Trauma unit in Md.fighting for his life.

The truck occupants were not harmed.

Jeff has a wife Kelly and two small children 4 and two years of age.
Please pray as this is sad and tragic .Please put them on any prayer chains
that you may belong to.

Love Jimmy & Jan