Good morning,
Praise the Lord or the way He brings change in our lives, that we may grow in Him and become brave believers and fervent servants in His Kingdom. May we be drawn and driven, and best of all propelled, by the Holy Spirit seek His Kingdom and His righteousness. It is a great blessing to grow in the Lord and become steadfast in our confession and profession and possession.
Tim Hansel tells the story in his book, “Holy Sweat” of a close friend of his who was asked back to his forty-year high school reunion. “For months he saved to take his wife back to the place and the people he’d left four decades before. The closer the time came for the reunion, the more excited he became, thinking of all the wonderful stories he would hear about the changes and the accomplishments these old friends would tell him... He wondered if any others had encountered this Christ who had changed him so profoundly. He even tried to guess what some of his friends would look like, and what kind of jobs and families some of these special friends had.
"The day came to leave and I drove them to the airport. Their energy was almost contagious. 'I’ll pick you up on Sunday evening, and you can tell me all about it,' I said. “Have a great time.”
"Sunday evening arrived. As I watched them get off the plane, my friend seemed almost despondent. I almost didn’t want to ask, but finally I said, 'Well, how was the reunion?' 'Tim,' the man said, 'it was one of the saddest experiences of my life.' 'Good grief,' I said, more than a little surprised. 'What happened?' 'It wasn’t what happened but what didn’t happen. It has been forty years, forty years—and they haven’t changed. They had simply gained weight, changed clothes, gotten jobs…but they hadn’t really changed. And what I experienced was maybe one of the most tragic things I could ever imagine about life. For reasons I can’t fully understand, it seems as though some people choose not to change.'
"There was a long silence as we walked back to the car. On the drive home, he turned to me and said, 'I never, never want that to be said of me, Tim. Life is too precious, too sacred, too important. If you ever see me go stagnant like that, I hope you give me a quick, swift kick where I need it—… I hope you’ll love me enough to challenge me to keep growing.'" [Tim Hansel, Holy Sweat. (Chicago: Word Books, 1987) pp. 54-55]
The author Hebrews, having begun a discussion of Christ as our “great” High Priest in the fourteenth verse of Chapter four, suddenly broke off the topic to confront his listeners with the problem of their spiritual immaturity. Growth is so important to us that arrested development is universally regarded as a tragedy, whether it is physical or mental or emotional. Dallas Willard in his book, “The Divine Conspiracy” commented on the greatest danger facing Christians who have the attitude of consumer Christianity. He wrote that today’s “Christians are treated as consumer/customers when they come to church. They thought they could pick and choose. They thought they were always right. They thought once they make the cut, they will be saved and are safe. They thought if they don’t like what they see, it is OK to take a break and come back later. They thought it is OK to take the word of God lightly and to treat the grace of God cheaply.” [Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God (New York: HarperCollins, 1998)]
May the Lord grant us hunger for Him and for His righteousness. May He provoke us to run the race that is set before us, onward, forward, and upward. May He deliver us from lukewarm-ness, sluggishness and slothfulness. May we grow day by day to become more like Jesus, in our hearts and in our attitudes.
We spent this past weekend in Boston, with Micah, Simeon , Janice, and Jeremy. We attended the worship service at Historic Park Street Church in Boston yesterday morning. It was great blessing to worship Jesus with those who love Him. Micah will be 4 years old on the 3rd of November 2009. Simoen is two years old. They are growing like weeds (beautiful weeds). Micah talks fluently now. She loves to read stories with us, and to have Grandmom tell stories, like the 3 little pigs (with names of her choice). Simeon is 100% boy, always up, down, on the go, and discovering. Praise the Lord for our grandchildren. They are full of life. Micah loves to go to church, especially to her church on the North Shore, in Ipswich. She loves Jesus.
In Christ,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82_bhD0_Trw
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