Following Jesus - really doing it.....

To be the kind of person who selflessly serves takes everything a person has. It is difficult. It is demanding. And we often find ourselves going against the flow of all of those around us. Which is why we are reclaiming the simple fact that Jesus said the way is narrow. We are honest about this, especially to our friends who wouldn't say they are Christians . Very few people in our world are offering anything worth dying for. Most of the messages we receive are about making life easier. The call of Jesus goes the other direction: It's about making our lives more diffiult. It is going out of our way to be more generous and disciplined and loving and free. It is refusing to escape and become numb and check out of this broken fractured world.

And so we are embracing the high demands of Jesus' call to be one of His disciples. We are honest about it. We want our friends to know up front that the costs are high, which is what is so appealing about Jesus - his vision for life takes everything we have.

Velvit Elvis - Rob Bell

Wow - isn't that great! I just love it!

M

The Browns Are On A Mission!

My prayer was finally answered that I would be able to find a mission trip which would include our entire family! We are so excited.

June 15th-20th we will be traveling with a group from The Tusculum Church in Nashville to Wounded Knee, South Dakota to work on the Pine Ridge Reservation with the Lakota Indians. This is a very poor area and after researching it, I was frankly shocked at how poor these Indians are and how much they need help. I am including a link about the reservation and the Indians that reside there.

http://friendsofpineridgereservation.org/

We will be in the process of raising money for the trip from here until the end of April, so if you have any fundraising ideas for us - please let us know. We will need to raise approximately $1300 for our entire family to participate. This includes the cost of driving out there (rental car and gas). I can only just imaging what fun I will have with all of us in car for a 20 hour drive! Lord, help us.......

Blessings,

Melissa

Me

For those who don't know me very well, I accepted Christ at age 6 and I mean REALLY accepted Chirst - had full understanding of Him and what He had done for me. I don't remember a time in my life that I was not in love with Jesus. But I also am a stubborn, independent, intelligent (or so I thought) and very rebellious girl, and when my mother died unexpectedly when I was 20 years old - here is how I reacted:

http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=ee73e63418003b47d7d5

I am so glad God already knew what I would do and already knew that I would come back to Him SO full heartedly and SO committed. What a loving God. He already had it all planned. I can't wait to get to heaven and talk to Him about it!

Melissa

Who We Are in Christ

"There is a person who we already are in God's eyes. And we are learning to live like it is true. This is an issue of identity. It is letting what God says about us shape what we believe about ourselves. This is why shame has no place whatsoever in the Christian experience. It is simply AGAINST all that Jesus is FOR. As the writer to the Romans put it, 'Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.'

None.

No shame.

No list of what is being held against us.

No record of wrongs.

It has simply been done away with.

It is no longer an issue.

Bringing it up is pointless.

Beating myself up is pointless.

Beating others up about who and what they are not is going the wrong direction! It is working agains the purposes of God. God is not interested in shaming people; God wants people to see who they really are.

I am not who I was.

You are not who you were.

Reborn, rebirthed, remade, reconciled, renewed."

This excerpt from "Velvet Elvis" by Rob Bell is what I felt led to share with everyone this evening. I am going to continue to share some points from this book throughout the week, but this one really hit home with me. For those of us who are "people-pleasers" or those of us who feel like we have to "get it all together and make things right" before we are really loved by God. We must bask in the free gift of grace and love that God has given us. To not do so would be ungracious and full of doubt in the Saviour that we claim to love. Maybe this is too deep for some, but we MUST dig deep. Even though it is painful, I am living testimony that it bears nothing but fruit when we examine ourselves fully before the Lord and believe COMPLETELY AND FULLY in His Holy Scripture.

Love and blessings to all,

Melissa

Whew! On a lighter note - the picture is of the girls making dinner Saturday night for all of us. Emma made homemade potato soup (it was delicious!) and Abby made a WONDERFUL salad to go along with it! (Jacob made cookies.......) :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

I am sitting writing down my goals for the upcoming year. I am excited about a new year and excited about that feeling of "starting with a clean slate". Aren't you?

Of course, it seems that the same old stand-by goals are there every year:

Quiet time with the Lord every morning.
Be a better parent.
Be a better wife.
Lose weight.
Excercise every day.
Make wiser choices.

But this year, I also want to:

Focus on better seeing the needs of those around me.

Take a class of some sort.

Make new healthy friendships.

NOT overcommit myself this year.

What are your goals???

Love,

Melissa

Chris and Melissa Christmas 2007

Who woulda' thunk it??? Merry Christmas!! Love to all friends and family!

Chris and Melissa

Christmas # 2 and Christmas Eve

Chris' family came up yesterday for family Christmas #2. I have attached photos and have also attached photos of our family today on Christmas Eve before our Christmas Eve Service.



Blessings to all and a MERRY CHRISTmas!



Chris, Melissa, Jacob, Abby and Emma

Christmas #1 - Saturday, December 22

My family came for Christmas today at my house and it was so much fun. The kids and I got spoiled badly! My sister got me a camera that I absolutely LOVE and the kids got tons of clothes from the BIG CITY.....

This is a picture of all the grandkids and myself acting like complete goofballls. Don't ya' love it!

Love to all and Merry Christmas.

DISTRICT TRAINER OF THE YEAR 2007

Chris was in Cleveland, Ohio last week for his National Sales Meeting and won District Trainer of the Year for 2007. I am very proud of him. His hard work and dedication to his job has finally paid off a little for him.

4-H Posters

Well, aside from working the entire weekend and trying to finish decorating, we also had to get cookies baked for Cookie Swap tomorrow at school and also make 4-H posters tonight. Exactly the pressure every mom needs the week before Christmas, right? To all my mom friends - hang in there, we can do this. We can get all the shopping done, entertain and be a good mom and wife, right? If we let it, Christmas becomes such craziness without any focus on Christ. Boy, am I trying to focus on Christ. Because I need Him right now, don't we all?

The stress of Christmas should be the greatest reminder of all that we need Jesus and praise God He sent his Son to earth to help us get through it all!

Love,

Melissa