We
spent the past weekend visiting our grandchildren in Boston. Our youngest
granddaughter, Ada, turned 3 on the January 16. It was a great blessing and
treat. Ada sang to us her theme song, "God's not dead, He's surely alive. He's
living on the inside, roaring like a lion..." She wanted to come home with us
to New York and cried when she knew that she could not. Micah is very tender and
nurturing when her siblings are sad, so she took Ada aside to do her hair for
her. Micah is growing up so quickly, and even made the oatmeal one morning for
breakfast. Simeon, who loves very active and imaginative play, convinced these
grandparents to engage in "sword fights" with him while we were there. We had a
wonderful time with each of them - they are engaging and sweet, but so very
active (and we love it)!
I have
a friend who has a great saying, "Make your plans in pencil because God has a
big eraser." That's great wisdom. Our friend Warren says" If you want make the
Lord laugh, tell Him your plans". I have been sharing the Gospel of Jesus
Christ for last 50 years in one form or another. Over these years I had many
grandiose plans, but he Lord has kept me, in spite of my faults, failures, and
fallacies, in His purposes and in His plans. It is due to His sheer mercy and
amazing grace.
I love
to reflect on the life and legacy of St Paul. One of the last letters he wrote
is the letter to the Phillippians. In this book we see the heartbeat and the
drumbeat of St. Paul. There is no sense of any regret. Here we have a glimpse
into the heart of Paul, which full of gratitude and JOY.
Paul
wanted to go to Rome and he wanted to go to Spain. Above all, he wanted to
preach the gospel, but he was in prison. Finally he had his chance and he made
an appeal to Caesar to go to Rome. So Paul boarded a ship headed to Rome, but
the ship encountered a horrible storm at sea. The ship was lost, but all the
men were saved. They were able to make it to the island called Malta. What's
the first thing that happens to Paul on the island? The shipwreck survivors
built a fire to stay warm, and a snake jumped out of the fire and bit him in the
hand. It was a pretty bad day.
Finally, Paul made it to Rome, and he would soon stand
before the Caesar of Rome, Nero. A lot of us know about Nero, the most brutal
of all the Caesars that ruled in Rome. He would have Christians burned at night
in order to light up his garden. So Paul was in prison, about to face this evil
emperor:
Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear..........
The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice (Phil. 1:12-18).
Paul indicated, "Life hasn't gone the way I thought it
would these past few years. I'm in prison, but the gospel is advancing. You
would think the gospel had stopped advancing, or it began to retreat, but
actually the gospel is gaining ground." Paul said, "It has become known
throughout the whole Imperial Guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is
for Christ." Where Paul went, there were riots. God showed up, and
crazy things happened.
Paul shared that he rejoiced in all this. Though he was
imprisoned, the gospel was advancing, and other people were sharing the gospel.
So he rejoiced. Prison, of course, was not his original plan. He wanted to go
to Rome, hang out in people's homes, preach the gospel, have a good time, and
then go to Spain to preach the gospel there, but the Lord had a big
eraser. Jesus had a different plan. Paul's prison became a pulpit. He
reached people he never could have reached with his original plan. The Imperial
Guard were not the type of men that would stroll into church to hear the
gospel. They were rough, tough, hardened soldiers. They heard the gospel
because God placed Paul in the right spot, and Paul rejoiced in
that.
During
the Holocaust, in one of the concentration camps, shortly before her death Betsy
Ten Boom famously said to her sister, Corrie Ten Boom, "There is no pit so deep
that Christ is not deeper still." Some of you are in pits right now, or you're
in prisons. Life is not turning out the way you thought it would, and you're
struggling. Christ is deeper than whatever you are going through. You can't
see everything he's going to do, but his wisdom is deeper, and he's deeper than
your troubles.
A
couple hundred years ago, a ship carrying a group of people left England, bound
for the New World to start a new life. These people had great plans, but the
ship entered a huge storm, hurricane-force winds, huge waves. Everyone was in
the hold of the ship, trembling, afraid, scared, sick, throwing up, and tossing
back and forth. One brave fellow came out of the hold to see what things looked
like on the deck. It was pitch black, but by little bit of light from the moon,
he saw the waves and the boat tilting back and forth. Then he caught a glimpse
of the captain, holding the wheel. The captain looked back at the brave guy and
gave him a little smile, then the man went back down into the hold of the ship,
and said, "I've seen the face of the captain; he is smiling. All will be
well."
In
Christ,
Brown
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