Surprised by Joy...of Snow!

You would think that after 5 years of living in Utah, one would get sick of all the snow. Some do. But some don't. I am one of the "don'ts". When the snow falls into the proverbial glass and fills it half way, I see the glass half-full of glorious powder, whereas some may choose to see the glass as half-empty with frustrating frozen H2O. Granted, I do concede that shoveling snow this morning and waking early to drive a family member to work due to heavy on the canyon roads is an effort...but in the big scope of things...snow is worth the effort. I found several people today in the home and during my errands at the bank who all independently reveled in their love of the atmosphere that snow brings to the winter. They all expressed that they wanted more snow (even before I joined the chorus of amens).

I went jogging tonight in about 6 inches of snow. I ran from our home back into a lonely, wilderness path that leads into the National Park. It was snowing ginormous, luscious, flakes of precious white stuff. I stopped and listened to the sound of silence as the snow played its own soft symphony as each flake daintily glided to a stop on top of all of their fallen friends. What a sound and what a sight!

The Bible says, "For to the snow He (God) says, 'Fall on the earth' " (Job 37:6). God is the mover and shaker behind every single snowflake that falls to the earth. God even asked Job, "Have you entered the storehouses of the snow?" (Job 38:22) God whips up a batch of this miraculous white stuff. He stores it in His heavenly storehouse and then, only at His command, does it jump out of the storehouses and, like a falling leaf, it wobbles back and forth to its new home on the ground.

The end result defies description! It was cotton-eye-candy tonight to see all the conifer trees highlighted by God's white paintbrush transforming our canyon lands into a mysterious, emotionally charged winter wonderland of glory.

Lord, I worship you tonight for...snow. Another of your miraculous creations. May each snowflake brandish your glory and praise. And like the snowflakes, each one unique and different from the next, may we each herald your majesty, might and dominion to the nations through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Excellence over Success

From John Johnstone's book, Christian Excellence:

Unfortunately, many Christians, including Pastors and other leaders, seek for success rather than excellence. But success focuses on the external rather than the internal, on the temporal rather than the eternal, and is measured by human standards rather than by divine. Desire for success comes from pride, whereas genuine desire for excellence comes from humility.

Success and excellence are competing ideals, and everything a believer does, whether consciously or not, is devoted to one of those ideals or the other. It is not that excellence in a believer precludes every form of outward success but that any success that comes from the pursuit of excellence is incidental. Success is not to be sought or to be glorified in if it is achieved.

Success is attaining cultural goals that elevate one's importance in the eyes of society and generally is marked by power, prestige, wealth, and privilege. Excellence, on the other hand, is the pursuit of the highest quality in one's work and effort, whether others recognize and approve it or not. Success is measured in relation to others, whereas excellence is measured by one's own God-given potential and calling. Success seeks to please men; excellence seeks to please God. Success rewards only a few, whereas excellence is available to any believer who is willing to pay the price. Success pertains to possessions and reputation, whereas excellence pertains to character. Success can be cheap, attained by shortcuts, lying, and stealing. The price of excellence is never discounted, never available for anything less than full price.

Philautos - Lovers of Self

As believers in Christ, loyal to Jesus Christ, are there still vestiges of these qualities remaining in our lives? Study this list from II Timothy 3:1-4 “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God”

Let's look at one word at a time:

• lovers of self—translates the single Greek word [philautos] a compound of the verb [phileo] (to have great affection for) and the pronoun [autos] (self).
• lovers of money – covetous, materialistic
• boastful – [alazon] a "braggart", which Plato defined as a person who claims greatness that he does not possess. Boastful persons brag about their accomplishments, overstating the truth to the degree that it has no basis in reality. Face a fact of life: It is impossible not to boast! Therefore, don't let your boasting be misguided: Psalm 20:7; I Cor. 1:31; Gal.6:14
• arrogant- [huperephanos] has the literal meaning of placing above, hence the idea of superiority. Example: The Jewish religious leaders discussed in Luke 18:9, "And He (Jesus) told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves and viewed others with contempt." (see parable Luke 18:9-14)
• revilers – [blasphemos] from which we get the word blasphemous and carries the basic idea of being abusive and slanderous.
• disobedient to parents – the generic principle here is rebellion against God-appointed authority that has its roots in an early propensity to rebel against one’s first authorities. (See: II Thess.1:8; II Thess.3:14; Heb.13:17; I Thess.5:12,13; II Tim.3:10,11)
• ungrateful – Christians are characterized by thanksgiving to God through Christ.
• unholy – [anosias] gross indecency; recklessly gratifying one’s lusts and passions with no thought of the consequences.
• unloving – [astorgos] this word is a negative adjective form of the form of the verb [storge] which commonly was used of family, social and patriotic love.
• irreconcilable – those who refuse at all costs to forgive and be forgiven, and thus reestablish unity. (Herein lies the root problem for so many sad stories of church discipline.)
• malicious gossips – [diabolos] !!! PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THIS GREEK WORD!!! even to the person unacquainted with Greek, this word is easily connected to the severity of this evil because from this word we derive our English word: “diabolical”. Diabolos literally means ”accuser” and is use 34 times in the NT as the title for SATAN!! Those who maliciously gossip are literally doing the work of Satan!
• without self-control – describes a person who recklessly follows fleshly, worldly desires with no inhibitions or shame. He is a slave to sin.
• brutal- refers to savagery, like that of wild beasts, whose nature it is to attack enemies and tear them to pieces.
• haters of good- hating what should be loved, and loving what should be hated. Isa.5:20 declares this person’s life cursed with a "woe” from the Lord God Himself!
• treacherous – disloyal to the Lord, His Word and His people. (Matt.10:21-22)
• reckless – careless, negligent and rash.
• conceited – [tuphoo] the root meaning of this word is to be surrounded by a smoke-screen of self occupation.
• lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God – “lovers of pleasure” translates the single Greek word [philedonos] a compound of [philos] (loving) and [hedone] (pleasure), from which we get our words, "hedonist" and "hedonism". This person is a pleasure-mad, hedonist.

Beauty is the Rocky Mountains

My daughter, Heidi, just wrote this descriptive essay on the Rocky Mountains for school. I just read it and graded it. It touched my heart as I share this same love for the majestic Rocky Mountains that God has draped across the Mountain West. Here is her writing. Enjoy!

Beauty is the Rocky Mountains

Imagine jagged, rocky peaks reaching upward to kiss an aqua blue sky. Picture peaceful cottony clouds drifting slowly by. Swaying fields of grass on rolling hills cause one to be mesmerized. These are the scenes of the gorgeous Rocky Mountains.
Often, while trekking up the steep slopes of the Rockies, rustles and crunches can be heard. Enormous- eared jackrabbits bob maladroitly by. Other times, a darling little cotton-tailed bunny will bound quickly from bush to bush hurrying out of sight. A rustling bush close by frequently signals the company of a gliding reptile causing one to hope that this reptile is the innocuous gardener rather than the fatal rattlesnake.
Gentle, sloping knolls are blessed with an abundance of crusted-wheat grass. Whispery wind blows softly across the knolls setting the grass to swaying like nimble dancers. During the mercilessly cold winters, the little dancers cease to waltz and tumble to the damp earth, yet as soon as spring comes, they begin their graceful swaying once again.
The Rockies are not known for their abundant vegetation; however, several examples of greenery dot the mountainside. A stick-like bush, pushed mercilessly here and there by the wind, is a common sighting. Repeatedly , the fresh, pungent smell of sagebrush will float up to the nostrils of a mountaineer. Knobbed, old trees stand like lonely, arthritic men on the little knolls of the Rockies.
Tipping the top of the mountains are majestic peaks. Their unbelievable height and the resplendent outcroppings of rounded and serrated boulders provide a breath-taking effect. Since the cold climate in the Rockies leads to precipitation, the peaks are often frosted liberally with snow. Stately, spectacular, and superb these mountains are truly something to behold.

By: Heidi J. Brannon, Age 17

October, 2010

Tropic, Utah

Hi everyone,

This is just a quick update to let you all know that we are now moved into our new home in Tropic, Utah located next to Bryce Canyon National Park. Thanks to each and everyone of you who prayed for us during this summer of "Nomading" in the RV, sleeping in the church and Ruby's Inn in our journey to moving to our new ministry location in Tropic. After we sold our home in northern Utah, we had a nice army of friends help us load all of our things into 2 U-Haul trucks. Due to numerous challenges of our home purchase, we had to extent our 3 day U-haul contract to a total of 14 days for the 2 trucks to enable us to unload directly into our home in Tropic (it was during his time that we stayed at RMBC for a week and then at Ruby's Inn for a couple of days). Due to the uncertainty of the exact timing for possession of the house in Tropic, we were unable to schedule helpers for unloading the trucks (Tropic and Bryce Canyon are about 1 1/2 hours away from "civilization" and from our partner churches and collegues). We only had a few hours notice before we had to unload, so we were not able to give our friends enough notice for them to be able to be there in time for the unload. All of our local friends here in the area were working or at school. One local pastor was able to help unload for about an hour. So, my family and I spent 14 hours this past Wednesday (Sept. 29) unloading the 2 U-haul trucks. We started at 9:00 am and finished unloading at 11:00 pm. Since back surgery in 2005, I am unable to lift like I used to be able to...so all 5 of us teamed up on all the heavy items (many hands make light work!). Thank the Lord for my scrappy, teenage boys, athletic daughter and hard-working wife who were all work-horses through this whole move! The next morning, we were able to drag ourselves out of bed and drive the two 26 foot trucks back to Panguitch, the closest U-haul drop off (40 minutes from Tropic). Joanne drove one of these huge trucks back to help us meet the return deadline...so she is now an official Truck Drivin' Gal.

Thanks again for your prayers. God is awesome in His power to sustain His own and to answer prayer. We rejoice in Jesus Christ and in His power that He has manifested on our behalf for the glory of His name in this land.

With love in Christ,

The Brannon Bunch ,
Rob, Joanne, Hannah, Heidi, Josiah, and Luke

Dr. Gary Greene of Southeastern Bible College Just Passed Away

In Remembrance of a Humble Servant of God:

I flunked the Southeastern Bible College English Language entry exam and was required to take remedial English (Dummy English) with a certain English professor named, Gary Greene. I couldn't tell you the difference between a subject, verb or direct object if my life depended on it. However, Dr. Greene, took me under his calm, kind and humble wing and taught me how the English Language worked, and how it is described and defined in such a simple, yet clear way.

By the end of this remedial course, I had a solid working-knowledge of the basic grammar of English. My time with Dr. Greene in "Dummy English" was a real pivotal-moment in my academic life...a true turning point! God used Dr. Greene's gift of teaching to open my eyes to my love for language, and my desire to begin learning how languages work. Dr. Greene's teaching prowess enlightened me and empowered me to begin reaching my full linguistic potential over the years that would follow. Using this knowledge that Gary taught me, God enabled me to make straight A's in NT Greek, the honor society in OT Hebrew, graduate studies in Linguistics, then learn the French, Chad Arabic and Fulani languages in order to evangelize the nomads of Africa.

Thank you, Dr. Greene, for being so instrumental in helping me preach Christ to the nations by taking me from being a "Dummy in English" to being a "Linguist for Christ" to the nations. God truly used you in a significant way to help many lost souls hear the gospel in their language. (I am so glad that I shared this with you several years ago before you passed away.) Well done, good and faithful servant!

Cosmic Sweep-up Boy or Sovereign God?

Found this in our family reading at breakfast this morning: In her devotional book called, "Pearls of Great Price" from the January 6 entry, Joni Eareckson Tada explains Gen. 50:20 - "God meant it for good" in the context of all the horrific experiences that Joseph endured before ascending to greatness as a ruler in Egypt (Remember: He was thrown into a hole by his brothers, sold as a slave, lived as a slave, falsely accused of rape, thrown into a dungeon for about 2 years, etc...) Here is an observation that Joni makes about God's perfect sovereignty over all of the circumstances of the lives of His children. From her wheel chair, she writes: "God is not a sweep-up boy who follows you with a dustpan and brush, second-guessing how everything will fit into a devine pattern for good. He does not put on a Hazmat suit so that an evil situation will not contaminate His holy reputation. Think of disappointing or bad things that have happened to you. God's hands stay on the wheel of your life from start to finish so that everything follows His intention for your life. This means your trials have more meaning - much more - than you realize. Your problems have more purpose than you can imagine. Not because God merely used bad things, but because God intended them so that others might be brought to Jesus through your example."

Thank you, Joni, for these insights! You see, beloved, according to the scriptures, all things are not good that happen to you, and God is not the author of evil (James and Romans). But God, in His unsearchable sovereignty, causes all things, bad and good, to work together for good for His children (Romans 8:28; Gen.50:20). Be encouraged in the Lord today. Reach out and take His warm and kind hand, and find the healing that your heart so longs to know!