Brown's Daily Word 1-28-09

Good Morning,
We are waking up to another wintry day. They are forecasting a foot of fresh snowfall for much of Upstate. It is a beautiful day. Alice is taking down Christmas trees and listening to the Christmas Carols.
In his book, "None of These Diseases", S.I. McMillen tells a story of a young woman who desperately wanted to go to a particular college. When the application for admission arrived, her heart sank when she read one unexpected question. The form asked quite directly, "Are you a leader?" She struggled with this question for some time, but being both honest and conscientious she finally wrote, "No," and returned the application, expecting the worst. To her surprise, she received this letter from the college, "Dear Applicant: A study of the application forms reveals that this year our college will have 1,452 new leaders. We are accepting you because we feel it is imperative that they have at least one follower." When it comes to being a Christian, there is but one leader, and His name is Jesus. When we respond to his call it means that we follow Him; making Him our Lord, our Savior, our mentor, our guide, and our teacher. Yet, the call of God does not stop here. This call to “come and follow” carries with it an invitation “to become like Jesus.” We are called to a life of servant ministry. One day a pastor was having a conversation with a member of his congregation when the parishioner said, “You preachers talk a lot about ‘do unto others,' but when you get right down to it, it comes down to basin theology.” The pastor asked, “Basin theology? What’s that?” The layman said, “Remember what Pilate did when he had the chance to acquit Jesus? He called for a basin and washed his hands of the whole thing. But Jesus, the night before His death, called for a basin and proceeded to wash the feet of the disciples. It all comes down to basin theology.”[ii] I wonder which basin you and I use most often? As Christians we have been called to follow and to serve, but God’s calling does not stop here. God’s call extends into the most personal and private aspects of our life. When God called Samuel, what was He intending by it? Samuel was asleep. God roused him from a night of slumber. It could be argued the most vulnerable moments of our lives are when we are asleep. Have you ever had someone take a picture of you when you were sleeping. It’s not something we would like to see posted on the Internet. You cannot get much more personal than that can you.
God’s call is a call to follow, to serve, and to live a life of holiness. . . Chuck Colson said it well in his book, "Loving God", when he wrote, Holiness is the everyday business of every Christian. It evidences itself in the decisions we make and things we do, hour by hour, day by day.” We have been called! We are called to follow, called to serve, and called to holy living.
In His Grace,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je-wFV4M9MU