Brown's Daily Word 9/17/09

On this very day over 60 years ago I was born in a small, rustic, scenic, and very beautiful village. I was born in the house my grandfather had built years earlier. I was born in the living room, surrounded by grandmother, my aunt, and other women of the village. My mother told me that many people came to see me and bless me. I have been blessed from the very first day of life. My mom. who is 83 years old has gone back to the village today, along with Sunita, my brother Patel, and his two children. Sunita has loved the village and its scenic setting, which is just like those we would see in National Geographic Magazine, since she first saw it in 1996.
As we celebrate our lives and our days on earth, we live in Holy Anticipation of the Best that is going to be. It is written, "For the eye hath not seen and the ear has not heard nor the mind of man has conceived, what the Lord prepared for those who love Him". Our Lord is in control. He makes all things well and beautiful in His time.
I once read about two hillbilly brothers, neither of whom had much experience off the farm, who got tired of plowing corn behind a mule on their pa’s farm. They headed to the big city to find a job and make their fortune. Eventually they ended up a big trucking company that was looking to hire some new truck drivers. “Have you had any driving experience?”, the manager asked. “We used to drive pa’s old pickup to town every Saturday to pick up vittels,” Joe explained. Jim chimed in, “I used to haul moonshine for Cousin Zeb before the revenuers blew up his still.” “That’s quite interesting,” the manager responded. “Let me describe a few situations so explain to me what you would do?”
He proceeded to ask Joe and Jim what they would do if they had a flat tire, if they ran out of fuel, and several other common trucking situations. Finally, he asked, “Jim, what you do if you were driving and Joe was asleep in the sleeper compartment. You are pulling a tanker of jet fuel when your rig stalls crossing a railroad track. You try and try to restart the truck. It won’t go. You look up and see a high speed train heading straight for you. What’s the first thing you would do?” Jim doesn’t bat an eye. He immediately responds, “I’d wake up Joe.” “Very good! Andwhy would you wake up Joe?” “Cause Joe ain’t never seen nothin’ like that before.”
The Bible invites us to wake up from slumber. In 1 Thessalonians 5:6 it is written, “So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled.” Those who sleep don’t have a clue about what’s happening around them. If they did, they would try harder to stay awake. Those who are awake more likely understand what’s happening around them. They know what’s at stake.
It’s time to wake up! Something big is going to happen. You have never seen anything like it before, and you won’t want to miss up. It’s time to wake up.
C. S. Lewis, the author of, "The Chronicles of Narnia", spoke well on this in another of his works, “Mere Christianity”. He said, “God is going to invade this earth in force, but what is the good of saying you are on his side then when you see the whole natural universe melting away like a dream and something else, something it never entered your head to conceive, comes crashing in; something so beautiful to some of us and so terrible to others that none of us will have any choice left? For this time it will be God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love or irresistible horror into every creature. It will be too late then to choose your side. There is no use saying you choose to lie down when it has become impossible to stand up. That will not be the time for choosing. It will be the time when we discover which side we have really chosen whether we realized it before or not. Now, today, this moment is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It will not last forever. We must take it or leave it.”
In Christ,
Brown


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cyqn2LxKVk