CIU Homecoming 2010 - Class of '70 40th Reunion

It's hard to believe that it's been 40 years since we graduated from CIU (aka CBC to us "old timers"!). The last time I was on the campus was for our 20th reunion in 1990, and it was great to see a lot of our classmates, and some of the faculty that was still around. A part of me is very excited to make the trip again for our 40th reunion, to be able to catch up with old friends and hear the stories of the faithfulness of our God through the years. Another part of me is sad knowing there will be many faces missing because they've made the great "Homegoing" and we won't get to see them again until we get Home. I'm thinking fondly of Sarah Petty, Otis Braswell, Frank Sells, Muriel McQuilkin and others that played such an important role in our lives during our time at CBC.

Mark your calendars for September 17-19, 2010. Go directly to the Alumni site at (http://www.ciu.edu/alumni/HC10/index.html) and register for Homecoming 2010. If you are in contact with other classmates, give them a call or an email to make sure they are receiving the information being sent out. We have quite a few classmates who have not updated their contact information, so they may not be receiving communication. Ask them to either call or email Peggy in the Alumni office to update their contact info there, or email me at brownie2201@gmail.com with the info, and I'll make sure Peggy gets it.

The countdown has begun: only 5 1/2 months til Homecoming 2010! Hope to see you then!

Easter Event @ God's Little Acres '10

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Welcome to Second Chance with Saving Grace

Welcome to Second Chance with Saving Grace

"A Penny for Your Thoughts"

I was sitting here reading about how vital the knowledge of the Word of God is to our Christian lives and growth, and I thought about the old phrase, "A Penny for Your Thoughts". When I say that to someone, I'm not asking that I somehow gain a special ability to "see" what they are thinking...I am asking that person to speak to me, to put in words what they are thinking. And I thought, "That is exactly what God has done; the Bible is a written record of the Words of God, a special revelation to us of what has been and continues to be on the mind of God!" God did not leave us with only the knowledge of Him that can be gained by what we call "general revelation"; in other words, everyone has the opportunity to look around and see the visible evidence of a Creator. Romans tells us that evidence is "plain" for all to see. But we also know that as fallen as we all are, we do not always "see" things as we should, so God went so much further than general revelation and gave us His Word! It is amazing that Almighty God, Creator of the Universe, desired to communicate with His creation! Apart from His initiation, His pursuit of us, His revelation, we would never come, we would never know Him! Oh, thank you Lord, for drawing us!

"Saint of the Little Ways"

It all started the other morning with an email from a friend....you know, one of those "chain" things that you cannot break, and I was told "to open it only when you have the time to respond". So, I opened it, and it was about Mother Theresa, and how she was given the posthumous title of "The Saint of the Little Ways", meaning that she believed in doing the little things in life well and with great love.

Then there was this prayer:

Saint Theresa's Prayer

May today there be peace within.

May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.

May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.

May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.

May you be confident knowing you are a child of God.

Let His presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.

He is there for each and every one of us.

I thought about my day, and generally my life, and realized that everything I do could be classified as "little". I work for several people a few days a week, and my jobs are "little" - I don't feel like I do anything productive, although those I work for seem to appreciate what I do, and I am very grateful for a job. As I thought about it further, the past 2 years have been a huge puzzle to me. It seemed that God was finally opening up opportunities for me to teach, and until the past few months, things were very exciting and busy. Lately, though, seems that I am moving at a snail's pace and wondering what God is up to in my life.

I teach a "little" Bible study once a month to a group of 4 ladies, and though I am enjoying the ladies and the opportunity to share the Word of God, I have no idea what God has in mind for this small group.

So, with all these thoughts running through my mind this morning, I opened the devotionals that I generally read. "My Utmost for His Highest" for October 13 was titled Individual Discouragement and Personal Enlargement. Chambers talks about Moses and "how he saw the oppression of his people and felt that he was the one to deliver them, and in the righteous indignation of his own spirit, he started to right their wrongs." After the first strike for God...God allowed him to be driven into blank discouragement", and that discouragement lasted 40 years! At the end of that 40 years, God came and told him to go and deliver His people, but Moses' response at this time was, "Who am I, that I should go?" Chambers said Moses was right in that he was trained and in a position to help his people 40 years earlier, but "he was not the man for the work until he learned communion with God". Then Chambers said, "If you are going through a time of discouragement, there is a big personal enlargement ahead". Another devotional I read regularly had these words: "You, too, can bring Joy to My heart by faithful service. Faithful service in the little things. Be faithful. Do your simple tasks for Me."

I know that I am not alone in feeling that I contribute so little to the enlargement and advancement of His Kingdom. Past accomplishments don't seem to count for much right now. In fact, J.I. Packer said thinking about past accomplishments was like sitting around and dreaming about manure! He was referring to Paul's estimation of his past accomplishments, comparing them with "dung"! And though I know there may be some folks who enjoy dreaming about manure, I'm not one of them!

I don't know the answer to this dilemma: do I just make the decision to start another Bible study and see if anyone signs up? Or do I continue doing what I'm doing and doing it well and with great love, and trust that God will continue to provide opportunities when the time is right? Do I relax and concentrate on being faithful in the "little" things and wait for Him provide the opportunities to serve Him? Or do we make the opportunities, knowing there is such a need for more understanding of the Word of God; after all, I've always heard that God can more easily guide a "moving target"!

What would YOU do?

Redeemed

Redeemed - completely!

October 3, 2009, Sara Eutsler Sledge stands complete before the One she loved the most! And those of us, the hundreds and thousands of us, who knew her, have no doubt what He said to her: "Well done, My good and faithful servant! Enter into the Joy of your Lord!" And she did!

We will miss you, Aunt Sara. Though we know Ambassador Camp has always belonged to the Lord, it will still never be the same without you. We wait with eager anticipation to see what God has in mind for those beloved grounds, but we will still miss you! There is no one who can ever take your place.

The following prayer is one that I can imagine Aunt Sara praying, and God has certainly answered the prayer tonight! She was drawn from this world and awoke in His likeness!

Retrospect and Prospect

Supreme Ruler of the visible and invisible worlds, my heart is drawn out to Thee for Thy amazing grace and condescension.

Thou hast kept my conversion fresh before me, that season of my first spiritual comfort when I passed through the Red Sea by a way I did not expect.

I rejoiced then for that unthought-of-passage, that delivered me from the fear of the Egyptian when I had almost despaired of life.

I rejoice now as these things are fresh and lively in my mind; my soul melts when I think of Thy days of old with me, when a poor worthless creature without wisdom to direct or strength to help myself was laid under the happy necessity of living upon Thee and finding Thy consolations large.

Thy art my divine treasure in whom all fullness dwells; my life, hope, joy, peace, glory, my end.

May I be daily more and more conformed to Thee, with the meekness and calmness of the Lamb in my soul, and a feeling sense of the felicity of heaven, where I long to join angels free from imperfections, where in me the image of my adored Saviour will be completely restored, so that I may be fit for His enjoyments and employments.

I am not afraid to look the king of terrors in the face, for I know I shall be drawn, not driven, out of this world.

Until then, let me continually glow and burn out for Thee, and when the last great change shall come, let me awake in Thy likeness, leaving behind me an example that will glorify Thee while my spirit rejoices in heaven, and my memory is blessed on earth, with those who follow me praising Thee for my life.

Taken from The Valley of Vision

I stand with the the many lives that are praising God for your life, Aunt Sara. Thank you so much. And I hope to see you soon!

Jacque Brown

Saved at Ambassador Camp on June 23, 1965

Unredeemed

My good friend and mentor, Clay McLean, recently stated in his monthly newsletter that he is "tired of being angry!" That statement struck such a cord in my heart. The last couple of years have been particularly puzzling to me because I just can't see or understand the hand of God in any of the "happenings" in my life, and the unrelieved puzzlement has often led to anger. Add to that the uncertainty and grief we have all been experiencing the past 8 months or so with the condition of our beloved, though temporary, country, the United States of America, and listening to so much commentary, rhetoric and anger from both sides, my anger has known no bounds! Clay's honesty and transparency opened my eyes to what has been triggering so much anger in my own life, and it's what has always triggered the anger in me - the feeling that my life is out of my control, and the things I have tried to control have been disastrous, and that I have to come to the place of acceptance and "be still and know that He is God" and I am not, that He is big and I am so small, that He loves me with an everlasting love and has not abandoned me, and that He knows what He is doing, and that it's not about me, but about His glory, and if He is magnified, it always works out to my good! Amy Carmichael differentiates between submission or resignation and acceptance in her poem, "In Acceptance Lieth Peace":

He said, "I will forget the dying faces;
The empty places—they shall be filled again.
O voices mourning deep within me, cease."
Vain, vain the word; vain, vain:
Not in forgetting lieth peace.

He said, "I will crowd action upon action,
The strife of faction shall stir my spirit to flame.
O tears that drown the fire of manhood, cease."
Vain, vain the word; vain, vain:
Not in endeavour lieth peace.

He said, "I will withdraw me and be quiet,
Why meddle in life's riot? Shut be my door to pain.
Desire, thou dost befool me, thou shalt cease."
Vain, vain the word; vain, vain:
Not in aloofness lieth peace.

He said, "I will submit; I am defeated;
God hath depleted my life of its rich gain.
O futile murmurings; why will ye not cease?"
Vain, vain the word; vain, vain:
Not in submission lieth peace.

He said, "I will accept the breaking sorrow
Which God to-morrow will to His son explain."
Then did the turmoil deep within him cease.
Not vain the word, not vain;
For in acceptance lieth peace.

In the past few days, as I have been brought back to this place of acceptance and surrender, I purchased Selah's new CD, "You Deliver Me", and the song "Unredeemed" echoed these thoughts. May these words grip your heart as they have gripped mine. No matter what has gone on in our lives, in the past, (distant past or recent past), regardless of what is happening presently, He has it all in His hands and there will come a day when everything that is laid at His feet will be redeemed! He will not waste any of our sorrows, He will wipe away every tear and all things will be redeemed! I want everything fulfilled, restored, resolved - right now - but that is not always possible. Because we live "in the shadow of the fall", things are not always as they should be, we do not always forgive as we ought to, we do not always love as He loves us, we are all so broken, but there is coming a day when all things will be healed, forgiven, redeemed! Let us lay those shattered things at His feet today, and watch and see what the Father will do!

UNREDEEMED

Selah

The cruelest words, the coldest hearts, the deepest wounds, the endless dark;
The lonely ache, the burning tears, the bitter nights, the wasted years…
Life breaks and falls apart, but we know these are

Places where grace is soon to be so amazing!
They may be unfulfilled, they may be unrestored,
But when anything that's shattered is laid before the Lord,
Just watch and see, It will not be unredeemed!

For every choice that led to shame, and all the love that never came,
For every vow that someone broke, and every life that gave up hope;
We live in the shadow of the fall, but the cross says these are all

Places where grace is soon to be so amazing!
They may be unfulfilled, they may be unrestored,
But when anything that's shattered is laid before the Lord,
Just watch and see, It will not be unredeemed!

Places where grace is soon to be so amazing!
They may be unfulfilled, they may be unrestored,
But you never know the miracle the Father has in store!
Just watch and see, It will not be,
Just watch and see, It will not be unredeemed!