RELEASED!

      God is faithful to His children.  Last weekend, Curt and I heard the story of these two faithful believers in Iran.   These young women were imprisoned because they proclaimed the name of Christ as their Savior.  Raised Muslim, they dared to go against the current Iranian regime that persecutes those that would stand for Christ.   They suffered for their faith by beatings, ridicule, and solitary confinement with no medical help.  

Curt and I were  invited to a  recent gathering in Decatur to hear the story of two missionaries from Moldova. Oh, they were young!  But sooo faithful and their passion for Christ is tangible.  They are called from their homeland of Moldova to be missionaries to Iran.  I can’t use their names for security reasons. I’ll just call them D and O.  They’ve been in Iran for a couple of years and are planning to go back to Iran after the first of the year.  They were in the United States for about 3 weeks to raise money for their 2 years there.  Because once they go in, they stay.  Their lives will continually be in danger and they told the group that they are willing to lay down their lives for Christ.  What faith! 

 It is from D and O that we heard of these two imprisoned girls.  All of us at the gathering committed to pray for their release.  And we got word just yesterday that they were realeased!!  Praise God.  Please pray that they will remain safe and not have to return to prison.  They are bold in their faith and bold in their love for Christ.  That may cost them their life.  Here is the article announcing their release:

http://www.elam.com/articles/Released/

O for a Thousand Tongues

This hymn was written by Charles Wesley. (1707-88)  I’ve always loved this hymn and as my perspective on missions grows, I can see this as a perfect hymn to spur us on to missions.  It’s fun to imagine the reasons why Wesley wrote this hymn.  Wonder what text in the Bible he was reading that might have caused him to write this?  Could he have desired for others to love the name of Christ so much that they would answer the call for missions?  Did he have a passion to tell others about Christ because of what Christ had done for him?  My prayer for my own life is that praise for the name of Christ is my driving passion.  I know that I am far from that.  It will only be true in my life the more I yield in obedience to the Father.  I want to experience the power of God in my life so that I will be continually praising Him, speaking for Him, and working for Him.   And with this power, I hopefully will have the compassion of Jesus to “seek out the lonely, helpless, suffering people and offer His healing to them.” (BSF)

O for a thousand tongues to sing, My great Redeemer’s praise, The glories of my God and King, The triumphs of His grace.

Jesus! the name that calms our fears, That bids our sorrows cease, ‘Tis music in the sinner’s ears, “Tis life and health and peace.

He breaks the power of cancelled sin, He sets the prisoner free; his blood can make the foulest clean, His blood availed for me.

Hear Him, ye deaf His praise, ye dumb, Your loosened tongues employ; Ye blind, behold your Savior come; And leap, ye lame for joy.

My gracious Master and my God, Assist me to proclaim, To spread thro’ all the earth abroad, The honors of your name.  

Olivia’s Blog

My daughter, Olivia, has written a blog for several years.  She started it while we were living in Hungary and has been faithful to post updates regularly.  Many people have followed her blog over the years and have been encouraged and challenged by the happenings in her life.  Writing a blog is sort of like writing a journal that everyone has access to.  Olivia has been willing to openly talk about her struggles, trials, and triumphs as she moves along the path of becoming more and more like Christ.  At times, I have read her blog just to know what was going on in her heart and mind.  Many of you have done the same.  Well, it seems that she has come to the place where she wants to change things up with her blog and move into a new phase and perspective on her life.  She’s continuing with the blog but has wiped everything clean in her archives and started over.  It will be really fascinating to see how God leads her in her writing.  Be sure to bookmark this link so you can follow along, as well.  And don’t forget to leave a comment or two from time to time on her blog!

www.thinkingclearly.wordpress.com

Brannon Happenings

I’ve been working part-time at Harrison Brothers Hardware since June.  It started out to be a volunteer job but it ended up being a little more than that.  Learning more and more about the history of Huntsville/Madison and Madison County has always been fascinating to me.  So I thought being one of the volunteers at the oldest operating hardware store in Alabama would be a fun place to be a part of the historical landscape.   Plus I would come in contact with fascinating people—locals and lots of tourists.  A family from Russia visited just this past week. 

I never get tired of hearing stories from the locals about how Harrison Brothers has been a part of their growing-up memories. Grandparents bring their grandchildren in and show them the marble bins, the nostalgic toys, and the great candy.   One lady was shopping recently and she spotted a picture of her father with one of the Harrison brothers.  She didn’t even know that the picture was hanging in the store.  Every time I work I find something new that I haven’t seen before in the store.  So many things to look at!

If you’re in downtown on the square, stop by and see the store.  You’ll love it!  Check out more about the store on the store website:   www.harrisonbrothershardware.com   or this link where someone local did an article on the store.

http://huntsville.about.com/od/attractions/ss/harrisonbros.htm

Let the Nations be Glad!

It’s that time again.  Time to read my favorite missions book—Let the Nations be Glad!—by John Piper.  I try to read this relevant, exciting book at least once a year.  Years ago, Dr. Steve Bateman suggested this book to our church congregation to read in order to increase our passion for missions.  I took his suggestion and I believe this book changed my life!  There are not many books I can say that about.  The timing of my reading this book for the first time was just a few years before God called our family to the mission field.  I think God used this book to help expand my vision of what He was and is doing in the world.  John Piper packs this 250 page book with the reasons we are to “make God supreme in missions”.   If you are passionate about missions, then this book will encourage you to keep on keeping on for the glory of God and to further His kingdom here in the states and to the ends of the earth.  If you are questioning the reasons why missions is important to the body of Christ and to the health of a church, then this is a book that is worth the time to read.  You could probably find it on Amazon for a great price.  It has been out for a while. (1993, 2003) 

There is so much I could quote from.  But I’ll just quote this one part in the book that never fails to move me to tears and  it spurs me on to do what LITTLE I can to bring glory to His name.  My efforts are so puny and small but His name deserves to be honored and He deserves to be worshipped.

——————————————————-

Missions exists because worship doesn’t.  The ultimate issue addressed by missions is that God’s glory is dishonored among the peoples of the world.  When Paul brought his indictment of his own people to a climax in Romans 2:24, he said, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” That is the ultimate problem in that world.  That is the ultimate outrage.

The glory of God is not honored.

The holiness of God is not reverenced.

The greatness of God is not admired.

The power of God is not praised.

The truth of God is not sought.

The wisdom of God is not esteemed.

The beauty of God is not treasured.

The goodness of God is not savored.

The faithfulness of God is not trusted.

The commandments of God are not obeyed.

The justice of God is not respected.

The wrath of God is not feared.

The grace of God is not cherished.

The presence of God is not prized.

The person of God is not loved.

The infinite, all-glorious Creator of the universe, by whom and for whom all things exist–who holds every person’s life in being at every moment (Acts 17:25)–is disregarded, disbelieved, disobeyed, and dishonored among the peoples of the world.  That is the ultimate reason for missions.  (taken from page 206)

Power Struggle Coming?

The winter season has already come to Hungary and this article about a struggle over energy/heat bothers me.  Right now, the highs are in the 40s with the lows in the 30s there.  That’s cold in my book!  And it’s only going to get colder.  It was quite an adjustment for this Alabama girl to live in a place with such cold winters and snow.   I can remember our first winter in Budapest and how I feared that I would not do well in such a cold climate.  Some of my prayer requests to my closest friends were for them to pray that I would be able to handle the snow and wintertime!  Imagine praying about such a thing.  But it was important to me and they graciously prayed for me and God graciously got me through.  Please skim this article and pray for the protection of the energy source for that region of the world.  Many people will suffer and die if the heat is turned off. 

 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33287693/ns/world_news-the_new_york_times

By The Numbers: Iran

   *66,429,284   Number of people that live in Iran

   *27     Median Age in Iran

   *.88%   Percent Growth Rate in Iran

   *98   Percent of Muslims in Iran

   *0   Number of missions agencies allowed in Iran

   *10,000,000  Estimates of number of Bibles that would be gladly received if available

 

 

Information taken from:

The CIA World Factbook    https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/

Operation World    www.operationworld.org

My Verse for the Week

So many spiritual applications to draw from this verse.  I read it in conjunction with my BSF lesson on John 4–the Samaritan woman at the well.   Maybe you can draw a spiritual truth from this verse for your life today:

“Swarms of LIVING creatures will LIVE wherever the river flows.  There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water FRESH; so where the river flows, everything will LIVE.” (Ezekiel 47:9, emphasis mine)

*Are you drinking from stagnant waters?

*Do streams of living water flow through you to others?

*Are you a fisher of people for His kingdom?

*Jesus is the continually fresh source of living water for our lives.

Christmas Missions Project

One of our favorite missions projects to do at Christmas is Operation Christmas Child through Samaritan’s Purse.  Many of you are already familiar with this shoebox ministry and  plan to participate this year.  Our church, First Bible Church of Decatur, has a goal of 500 boxes to fill and send to Operation Christmas Child.   Our family plans to participate again this year and will probably do a box for a boy and a box for a girl.  When the girls were young, it was really fun to buy for the boy since we didn’t have little boys around our house!  Buying small cars and socks for boys was a new thing for us.

Operation Christmas Child is already in full swing and you don’t want to miss the cut-off for filling your shoeboxes.  If your church is not planning to do this project this year, you can go directly to the website of Samaritan’s Purse to get the information and to print off the tags for each box.  Merry Christmas a few weeks early!

www.samaritanspurse.org

October 23, 1956

Today is such an important day in the history of Hungary.  October 23, 1956, is the day that Hungary rose up against the Stalin government and the Soviet-imposed policies.   This country-wide revolt lasted until November 10, 1956, when the State Security Police and the Soviet troops fired upon demonstrators and crushed the rebellion.  After this defeat, even greater oppression from the Soviet government occurred against the Hungarian people.  Not much of the world knew about this revolt and oppression when it happened and this revolution was suppressed for about 30 years until the Berlin Wall fell.   October 23, 1956, was declared a Hungarian national holiday in 1989.  During our time in Hungary, October 23 was a day to fly the Hungarian colors and to place flowers and wreaths at commerative places.

Our family loves the country of Hungary.  We love the Hungarian people and their culture.  Although our language skills were pretty lousy (maybe I should say MY language skills were pretty lousy!), we felt the pull into the lives and concerns of the Hungarian people.  That place draws our hearts and minds and we can’t seem to shake it.  So, when the Hungarian people are joyful, we are joyful.  And when they are sad, we feel sad.  Hungary has experienced so much sorrow in their history.  Hungary, like all of us, needs a hope for the future.  As a Christian, I know the eternal hope that never changes is the Lord Jesus.  My heart is for the Hungarian to turn to God and worship Him.

I Love Fall

For as long as I can remember, I have loved this time of year called Fall–or Autumn, whatever your preference!  I think it might a “woman thing”, too.  So many of my friends feel the same way and just long for this time of year to appear on the calendar.  There’s just nothing that beats fall decorations, picking apples or pumpkins, or enjoying a pumpkin spice latte at Starbucks.  Maybe it brings back comforting memories from our childhood or maybe we have our own special memories from raising our children.  When we lived in Meridianville, I remember taking my girls to Tate Farms to pick apples and to taste the Apple Cider.  Yum!  We always went on a crisp, sunny day and since we were homeschooling at the time, that was a fun field trip.  Then we would come home and make apple muffins or talk about fractions by cutting the apple into slices.  What could be more fun than that??  Although the fall time is usually packed with activities and places we need to be, this time of year somehow signals warmth and comfort and family dinner soup nights.  By the way, if you have a great soup that your family loves, send me the recipe!  I could use a few new ones to add to my rotation.  Crock pot time, here I come!

Missions and Racism/Slavery

During a recent sermon by Dr. Steve Bateman at First Bible Church, he masterfully linked missions and racism/slavery.  Until I heard this sermon from Colossians on how the Bible views slavery, I had never realized how important missions was to stamping out the very real horror of those that are still in chains around the world.  These chains may be cultural, sexual slavery, or persecution for religious views.  Steve said that wherever the gospel of Christ is boldly proclaimed and people receive this gift of good news, slavery and racism is reduced.  But those countries where people are oppressed and the gospel is not allowed to be proclaimed, then slavery and racism is alive and well.  Another of the many reasons that MISSIONS IS RELEVANT FOR TODAY’S WORLD!  I definitely can’t do this subject justice like Steve did.  So, maybe it’s better that I just point you to the First Bible website and you can listen to the sermon yourself.  It’s from the morning services on October 11th.  Hmmm….food for thought.

www.fbc.org

Autumn at the Budapest GuestHouse

Praising the Lord for new reservations for the Budapest GuestHouse this autumn!   Notice I said autuman and not fall.  We found out after we lived in Budapest that autumn is the preferred term there.  We’re still working out the logistics of things like key drop-offs, clean-up before and after guests arrive, and food purchases. (we provide breakfast for the first couple of mornings.)  But those things will be worked out and hopefully it will be a well-oiled process in the not-too-distant future.  Thank you for your interest and thank you for your prayers!