Brown's Daily Word 5-23-08

Good morning,
Praise the Lord for the gift of memory. In Philippians 1:3 Paul wrote, "I thank my God at every remembrance of you." Almost everywhere today, we see the tragic impact of the Alzheimers disease on people. At a commuter train station a policeman noticed a woman driver with her head bowed over the steering wheel in obvious discomfort. The police officer asked her, "Is there anything wrong?" Half crying and half laughing, she said, "For ten years I have been driving my husband to this station every morning to catch this train. THIS MORNING I FORGOT HIM!"The worst forgetfulness of all is to forget people!
One of the biggest lessons that we need to learn is that God didn’t put us here for us! God put us here for others! II Corinthians 1:3-4 states, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, WHO COMFORTS US IN ALL OUR TROUBLES, SO THAT WE CAN COMFORT THOSE IN ANY TROUBLE..." God comforts us so that we can comfort others. God ministers to us so that we can minister to others! God loves us so we can love others! GOD PUT US HERE FOR OTHERS! Philippians 2:3, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves." We live in a very self-centered society, where it is every man, woman or child for himself. However, in humility we are to consider others better than ourselves. Philippians 2:4, "Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others." We should be interested in others for their good, not for our gossip. Most people are only interested in others because they want to spread the bad news. They want to spread any news they can find out about someone, good, bad, or otherwise! This Memorial Day weekend we need to be concerned about others for their good! For many people, this weekend means picnics, parades, and pubs! It also means grills, food, family, and fun. For a few rare souls, it means going to the graves of deceased loved ones and remembering. Remembrance may be tough to do, and perhaps that’s why some don’t do it, but it’s generally good to remember others, deceased or otherwise. IT’S ALWAYS GOOD TO THINK OF OTHERS, TO LOVE OTHERS, TO REMEMBER OTHERS! John 11:5 "Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus." Jesus loved people! What an understatement. At times Jesus loved some more intensely than others, and there is nothing wrong with that. We are to love all people, but there are times when we love some more intensely. (Or they are needing more love from us than others.) It’s all right to do that, to show more intense love at times. When someone is hurting, don’t you love them even more? If not, why not? We should. Romans 12:15, "Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those weep." Sometimes people hurt a whole lot. They weep. It’s during those times that we need to show them greater kindness and a more intense love. THEY NEED TO BE LOVED. THEY NEED TO BE REMEMBERED. We need to remember people in death. Jesus loved Lazarus who had just died. Jesus loved his sisters as well. Jesus remembered them. Have you ever remembered anyone in death, during their death, during the process of them leaving this world? Here’s a moving story entitled, "Dad’s Glimpse of Heaven", by Edna Hershberger. His last words left us with something to look forward to. At 4:00 a.m. the nurse woke Dad to give him a breathing treatment. "Mr. Hershberger, do you know where you are?" "Goshen Hospital," he answered politely and closed his eyes again. She wrapped the blood pressure cuff around his arm. "Mr. Hershberger, who’s the president of the United States?" Dad looked at me with an expression that said, "Do I have to answer these silly questions in the middle of the night?" She raised her voice, "Mr. Hershberger! Who’s the president of the United States?" "Do we have one?" he asked her. "Good answer, Dad," I teased.The nurse laughed loudly, gave him a mock punch on the shoulder, put an oxygen mask over his face, and turned on the noisy machine. "I guess you’re awake and alert." A week or two. . . That’s how long the doctor said Dad might live, and we wanted to make the most of every minute. I was glad to sit with my father-in-law during the night, while my husband, Dwight, slept on a sofa in the visitor’s lounge down the hall. SWEET MEMORIES. I brushed the damp hair from his forehead. "I wonder how it feels to know that you’ll soon see God." "It feels good," Dad said without hesitating. "It’s such a mystery. Tell us what you feel and see and hear, to help us understand what you’re experiencing." "I’ll try," he promised. "Are you scared?" "No," he said, "I feel at peace. I’ve been wishing to go to heaven all day." That was Tuesday night. In four days, Dad would be transferred to the nursing center where he hoped he’d never have to go. I thought about Dad falling asleep and not waking up. There were some things I wanted to tell him. "Hey, Dad, soon after Dwight and I started dating, he told me what you said about me. You told him he had picked a good one. You told him I was a peach. No one ever called me a peach before. And I’ve loved you ever since." He squeezed my hand and closed his eyes. "I’d better be quiet and let you sleep," I apologized. "No," he said quickly. "I want you to keep talking. I just can’t keep my eyes open." Suddenly Dad jumped as though startled by something. I sat up, held both of his hands in mine, and put my face close to his. "Is something wrong, Dad?" His eyes were open, but he didn’t seem to see me. "I’m leaving," I thought I heard him say in a weak voice. "Did you say, ’I’m leaving?’" I asked quickly. "I’m leaving," he repeated more distinctly. He surely couldn’t mean dying. Not yet! I tried to think of some appropriate last words to say in case this really was the end, but my mind went blank. I started to say, "I love you," but he interrupted me with one word. It sounded like, "cold." "Oh! You’re cold!" I tried to reach for the blanket, but he wouldn’t let go of my hand. He tensed, and quickly spelled it for me, with emphasis on the g sound, "G-o-l-d, gold. G-o-l-d, gold and silver. G-o-l …" I was shivering. My heart was pounding. I leaned my head against the cold metal bed rail. "Lord, please carry him gently," I prayed. "We love you, Dad," I kept repeating, as he took four long, shuddering breaths, and then was still. His hands became limp. I should call the nurse, I thought. But I couldn’t move. I sat there in the darkness, holding Dad’s badly bruised hands with intravenous fluids still running into them. My forehead seemed fused to the bed rail. Tears ran down my cheeks. Six inches from my face, something supernatural had occurred, something far greater than my mind could absorb. I knew God was in the room, but I couldn’t see him or feel him. I longed to be able to see what Dad had seen. I gently laid Dad’s hands on the bed, and walked out to the nurse’s desk. I dried my cheeks and blew my nose. "Excuse me," I said, "my father-in-law is gone." She jumped out of her chair. "What do you mean, ’gone’?" "He just died," I said with a sob. "That can’t be!" she stammered. "He was just joking with me a few minutes ago." She grabbed her stethoscope and rushed into his room, turning on lights and calling his name. I walked down the hall to tell my husband that his father had just gone to heaven, and there really is gold there. That’s remembering and loving a person in death. Matthew 9:35-36, "Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." Jesus was a "looker". That is, he really looked at people. He looked at them deeply and could see their hurt, their pain, their sorrow. Jesus was aware of the people around Him. He was sensitive to them. What about you? Helen Keller once said, "To be blind is bad, but it is worse to have eyes and not to see." Sometimes we are blind to the pain of others. Years ago, the Salvation Army was holding an international convention and their founder, Gen. William Booth, could not attend because of physical weakness. He cabled his convention message to them. It was one word: "OTHERS." Lord, help me to live from day to day In such a self-forgetful way That even when I kneel to pray My prayer shall be for others. Help me in all the work I do To ever be sincere and true And know that all I’d do for you Must needs be done for others. Let "self" be crucified and slain And buried deep, and all in vain May efforts be to rise again Unless to live for others. And when my work on earth is done And my new work in heaven’s begun May I forget the crown I’ve won While thinking still of others. Others, Lord, yes, others Let this my motto be, Help me to live for others That I may live like Thee.
"I thank God at every remembrance of you."

In Christ,
Brown

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irZmknvOB4I&feature=related