The Perfect Day

LITTLE BROWN LIGHT

THE PERFECT DAY

By the time you read this article in the Hinds County Gazette on Thursday, you will have already missed something really special. According to some folks, this past Sunday was officially the perfect day. All day, your calendar displayed the tenth day of the tenth month of the “twenty-tenth” year of our Lord. In the morning and in the evening of that day you could have correctly replied, “Yes, dear, it really is 10:10:10 on 10/10/10!”

I’m sure that somewhere, someone one believed that it was the perfect day. Maybe their first child was born that morning. Maybe their loved one came home safely from the military sandbox that afternoon. I heard that LOTS of folks requested to be married on that day simply because they thought it might help them get started on the perfect marriage. Whatever works to preserve homes and marriages, please proceed with it! If you are wondering about me, I would answer that it was a great day because I was able to attend both worship services at my church and spend time with some really beloved friends. However, let me hasten to declare that ten ten ten was not the perfect day.

Two thousand and ten years ago (give or take a few years), Mister Perfection Himself died on a cross in Jerusalem. His name was Jesus. From that cross, He declared, “It is finished!” When Jesus bowed his Head and yielded His Spirit to His Father, the perfect salvation had been accomplished. We call that Good Friday. I think I would call it Perfect Friday if they let me name the day. After “Silent Sabbath Saturday” there was one more perfect morning. Jesus came out of that grave in perfect power and conquered death forever. The eternal purpose of God to assure salvation was now fully accomplished. But there’s another day coming…

Where were you on 09/09/09? I was in an airplane flying home from Singapore to bury my baby sister. She left this Earth a lot sooner than we expected, but we didn’t “lose” her. We know exactly where she is and are not concerned about her at all. She is sitting at the feet of the Jesus she loved and served in this life. Right beside her is a spot that I know she surely is reserving for me. One day, not too very long from now, I will rise to meet her there and we will celebrate the truly perfect day. Folks, no matter what the calendar and the clock declare while we are down here, there is no perfect day or perfect hour until we meet Jesus face to face. God invites you to set your calendars and clocks to Perfect Standard Time.

+B+B+

Becky Brown

www.littlebrownlight.com

Wera Gayle Brown Daniel Forever Forty-Nine

Our last Christmas together at Snow Lake 2008. Riding to Holly Springs in her red mustang with the top down just cause. +B+B+

LABOR DAY BIRTHDAYS

Today, my sister is celebrating her first birthday in Heaven with Jesus. She has been there for one full year. She left us on Labor Day 2009. Certainly, for the rest of the Labor Day holidays of my life on Earth, I will be remembering her home going, always celebrating for her and hopefully mourning less and less with those of us who miss her desperately down here.

I used to tell folks that I have two birthdays to celebrate every year: the day of my actual (thank you, mama, for my first) birth and the day of my spiritual (thank you, Jesus, for my born again) rebirth into the family of God. I’m not sure why it has just dawned on me that believers get to celebrate three birthdays! Now, answer me this: who wouldn’t want to have THREE birthdays?

All that said, I am coming to appreciate with great assurance that the day of my departure from this world launches (births!) me into my first day in Heaven. Now that thought is surely comfort and fuel for this journey. Truthfully, on that day, we will enter a place where time matters not at all. We will be in the very presence of the One Who exists outside of time. Clocks and calendars and days and hours and moments won’t matter at all as we drop our Timex and cross the dateline of eternity.

Meanwhile…it’s labor day. You and I have work to do. In John chapter nine, Jesus was about to heal the eyes of a man born blind. In that context, He said, “I must work the works of Him that sent me while it is day; the night cometh, when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” Shortly after speaking those words, Jesus turned the lights on by healing the eyes of this man who had never seen a sunrise. The amazing message in that quote “…as long as I am in the world…” hits me right between the eyes of my heart. Jesus came and lived and died and was raised and is now seated at the right hand of His Father in Heaven. I think that means that you and I are presently the lights He has left for the dark world. Jesus left a light on for lost people and we are the bulbs. We are the candles. We are offering second and third birthday candles to the one birthday people. We get to share with them that they can expect TWO more birthdays to celebrate. My sister would be grinning right now. Her candles burned out down here, but they are shining brightly up there. I feel that smile. On my third-birthing-day, I will see it.
+B+B+
Becky Brown
www.littlebrownlight.com

SHADOW ON THE STONE

Dear friends of the little brown light…it’s been a while since I have written to you. Judy Burton and June DePriest…I thank you both for your BARNABAS words of encouragement whenever I lag behind in this work. This weekend is very special to all of us who understand the power of the cross and the power of the resurrection. There is just something about Heaven that I can’t wait to see…actually, He’s a SomeOne named Jesus. Then there are those other SomeOnes who are already there ahead of us who also make Heaven a special place.

This is the weekend each year that we can remember all that Jesus accomplished for us on the cross and from the tomb…I hope you spent some time this past week walking through the final week of His life…the last supper, the washing of feet, the song as they left the room headed out of Jerusalem, through the Kidron Valley and up the Mt. of Olives and into the Garden of Gethsemane. Peter, James and John went into the garden a little deeper with Jesus and fell asleep. The Passover Moon was probably shining above, giving light to the dark deeds yet to be accomplished. The prayers and blood and sweat and tears of Jesus as He prayed to His Father. The betrayal, the kiss, the soldiers and religious leaders, the bonds…the all night long illegal trials…the mockings and beatings…the thorns that pierced His brow…the nails that pierced His hands and feet…the painless sword that pierced His side…the pain that pierced His heart…the center cross…the thief that said no and the thief that reached Paradise…the gamblers at the foot of the cross…when we say no to Jesus, we gamble and lose. The two friends who came and took Him down from the cross and buried Him. The silence of the Friday evening Sabbath. The silence of Saturday (SAD-OLD-DAY) and Saturday night. The sunrise on the first day of the week after Sabbath…THE SON ROSE!

I take great joy in this news. We serve a risen Savior! Here is my article for the week…I believe the reading of it will declare my hope and trust in the
Living Savior!

LITTLE BROWN LIGHT
SHADOW ON THE STONE
There are three times when you visit the cemetery that you won’t need a map or a guide to the location of the grave. The FIRST time is the day of the funeral and burial. The grave is easy to find. Just watch for the crowd of people and the little tent with the chairs underneath. Depending on how close you were to the one being mourned, you might be driven there in a black car and led to a reserved chair under the tent. The SECOND time is the day you return to read the words on the stone. The location of the grave is still freshly etched in your memory. On the first visit, you are numb from the loss. On the second visit, you are reminded of the finality of the loss.

Yesterday, Dad and Elsie and I went by Centuries Memorial in Shreveport, Louisiana, to read those words on the stone. The words were spelled correctly: Wera Gayle Daniel Loving Wife Mother and Granny. The dates were written correctly: Jan 12 1960 Sep 7, 2009. A beautiful gold cross separated the two dates instead of the usual “tombstone dash.” That gold cross gives witness that her birth and homegoing dates were bookends guarding a life lived with Jesus in the center. I remember both of those days and every day in between. She was my baby sister. Our greatest comfort was that we know WHERE she is and WHO is holding her now. Wera believed in Jesus. She is living with Him in the presence of God the Father, outside of time, alive eternally. One day, because of our faith in Wera’s Jesus, we will join her there.

I think it was when I was taking a photo of the words on the stone that I found my greatest moment of comfort. The bright sun was directly behind me and I fought to keep my own shadow off the stone as I snapped the picture. The words of David’s Shepherd Psalm 23 rolled into my soul: “…yea, though I walk through valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me…”. Death is just that for believers…the valley of the shadow. Death has lost its sting. The grave has lost its victory. Jesus is alive. We (YOU!) can be alive forever by placing our (YOUR!) faith in Him and His resurrection from the dead. Three weeks from now we will remember the last week in the life of Jesus…washing of feet at the Last Supper, the prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, the betrayal, the arrest, the denial, the scourging, the crucifixion, the death and the burial. Praise the Lord, we can also celebrate the raising of Jesus from the dead. As He walked out of that tomb, Jesus cast HIS shadow ON death and declared LIFE!

Oh, yeah. I almost forgot that THIRD visit to the cemetery. For believers, no guide will be needed on that day, either. Believers will be the only ones not in attendance at their own funerals. The bones in the box are just the shell. Just like my sister, believers will have a reservation to attend another celebration:
Jesus invited them to live in Heaven with Him and they said yes.
They can be heard to say, “WHADAYAH MEAN LOSS?”
+B+B+
Becky Brown
www.littlebrownlight.com



Becky Brown
Founder and Keeper
Little Brown Light Ministries
POBOX 180727
Richland, Mississippi 39218
Phone 601.885.8448
email: becky@littlebrownlight.com
website: www.littlebrownlight.com
blogspot: www.littlebrownlightblog.blogspot.com