Lightnin’ Bug

When I was a kid there seemed to be a lot more of everything around. The distance from Ft Worth to my home town Joshua, was much greater back then. Somehow the expanse has disappeared and I wonder about that.

Under an increasing amount of grey hairs my head tries to wrap itself around the recollection of very long summers. Is it just me or does it seem like time has some how accelerated? The 2^nd season has jumped from a school zone to the autobahn and I wonder where the summers have gone to. Maybe that’s just me but other things have disappeared which can not be denied.

A very young Texan might argue that I don’t know a thing about Halo 3, Skype or iphone applications but sadly I could point out they don’t know about red ant mounds, horny toads, tarantulas and Jackrabbits. Those things were everywhere when I was a kid.

They left town sometime in the eighties just about the time fire ants and AMDRO came to the neighborhood. One thing which has nearly disappeared that I thought would never go away, was until recently a summertime staple of every north Texan’s summer. City kids and northerners called them fire flies but we called them Lightnin’ Bugs.

When I was little, my cousins and I would catch hundreds at my Grand Parents house and put them all in a single Mason jar. As the night got darker our jar would get brighter. The summertime fields of my childhood were somehow filled with the bio-luminescent glow of something a lot of kids around here have never seen at all. Too many lights outside mean Lightnin’ bug males fail to attract females and they just can’t reproduce. Before long the population dwindles and people think you are crazy when you try to explain what other wise used to be commonly known.

We as Christians are a lot like Lightnin’ bugs I think. When we fail to let our lights shine people can’t relate to what we are talking about and numbers begin to decline. I actually wish there was a lot less talking and lot more shining going on among us believers. The active demonstration of what we believe is so important as our culture declines and our nation moves into a very real post-Christian era. People don’t just need to hear it; they need to personally experience the profound life changing love of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is our responsibility as Christians to let that light shine. By the grace of Almighty God may we learn to look a lot more like the Mason jar at my Nana and Papa’s house. As times get darker may we get brighter and brighter.

….But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: Romans 5:20

Get Your Head in the Game

A phone call would wake us up last Friday to let us know things had changed in a drastic way. A young man who I know very well was found dead in his back yard from yet to be determined causes.

He came from a good family and was a very sweet kid. I know him because he was my son Ben’s best friend and he was big part of our church youth group. Unfortunately, we will leave the funeral and drive directly to Tyler to drop Ben off at his first year of college. This is a week of drastic change for us.

From the phone call last Friday to the road trip this week I feel a big responsibility to have a right mind and both hands on my mental steering wheel. I just won’t let my self go to certain places of thought the same way I won’t go to certain parts of town. Knowing at I can get into bad trouble if I go to those places.

When your heart is changing lanes and moving all over the road it’s important to get things strait between your ears. It’s up to us to stay in good mental places and refuse to think bad things during challenging times.

I can’t control my feelings anymore than you can but I can manage my thoughts and my thoughts control my feelings. There is hope in understanding this biblical principal. There is also a sobering responsibility.

Serving God in our thought life is where the rubber meets the road for me. According to Joshua one verse eight you either celebrate success or suffer defeat based on your thought life. Your actions, feelings and identity are connected to your thought life. Getting God from your heart to your head can mean the difference between winning or loosing in this lifetime. Sometimes you have to be determined to have a right mind.

INTENTIONAL THINKING

The Bible says we should stand when you have done all you know how to do. When the only thing we know to do is the wrong thing, it is best to not do anything. We need to just stand sometimes. Just like that, if I don’t really know what to think about something, I have to intentionally not go into wrong thinking. I’m responsible for it.

Intentional and focused thinking is a skill which must be practiced. You have to understand the value of right thinking and the danger of wrong thinking to set your heart on what is right. In Philippians 4, Paul lists eight things worth thinking about and says we should intentionally “think on these things”. Focused thinking brings clarity to a defined target and is connected with a determination of our heart.

So I choose to celebrate the life of young Jonathan Walden and the accomplishments of Benjamin Brewer going off to college. I look at a picture of the two of them together at their last football game a few months back. I see two young men worth rejoicing over and it makes me want to keep my head in the game. As hard as the battle is, it is a privilege and an honor and a blessing to others to have a right mind. Thanks Lord, for the opportunity. I’ll take it.

Benjamin & Jonathan

Bailed Out

Barry Shell of Brampton, Ontario could call it his lucky day - or his unlucky day when he won $4.4 million dollars in the Canadian Lotto drawing July 18th. Monday, he went to pick up his winnings at the Ontario Lottery & Gaming Corporation, and was photographed with the check. Barry then strolled out of the building and into the waiting hands of the Peel Regional Police officers.

It turns out he was wanted on a six-year-old warrant for failing to appear, theft under $5,000 and possession of property obtained by crime.

According to a spokesman for the OLG, every lottery winner undergoes a security check, and if anything is turned up during the course of the investigation, the matter is turned over to the Ontario Provincial Police. Believe it or not the brother made bail.

In the midst of our government’s bailout policy, which the Brewer thinks is nothing but trouble for all of us; it is easy to dismiss the whole idea of bail –And I don’t want to.

Sometimes in life we just get overwhelmed and need our sinking ship bailed out.

A long time ago, God had a real bailout plan He instituted in ancient Israel called the Year of Jubilee. For most people this incredible celebration occurred only once in their life time. For many not even that, as it occurred only once every 50 years but it was something everybody looked forward to.

At the year of jubilee a horn would blow and all Israelites who had sold themselves into slavery because of debt, were set free and all land that had been sold, reverted to its original owner. This meant that no Israelite could ever be in permanent slavery; nor could any Israelite permanently lose his inheritance. It meant all debt and all bondage was absolutely temporary.

There goes my Papa again. Making sure people have hope even in the most desperate of circumstances.

The promise which is found in Jesus Christ is that no matter how tight things get, you can count on a clock to tick in your favor. God hates bondage and debt with a holy passion. He also loves freedom, reward and restoration with just as much fervor.

For those of us crazy enough to count on him, we believe our best days are not behind us and all trails are only temporary. You’re going to make it through your trouble my friend. Plus, some day soon the trumpet will blow and all debt will be cancelled for the last time. It’s the ultimate bailout and for those of us who look to the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ; we’ve got a serious Jubilee coming. See you at the Party.

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. Psalms 121:1

You can contact the Brewer at www.FreshFromTheBrewer.com

The Summer Of 69

The year was 1969. I was three years old and not really concerned with what was going on around me, except where was my blanket and binky was. While I wasn’t really aware of it then, the summer of 69 was a world changing season.

At the time when my world was mostly about trying to decide if I liked green beans, others were concerned with some of the following events which happened that year.

The Charles Manson Murders took place. Woodstock and the Hippies were in full swing.

The Vietnam War was raging. The Beatles played together for the last time. Richard Nixon was sworn in as president. Yassar Arafat became president of the PLO.

Golda Mier became the Israeli Prime Minister. Sesame Street came on the TV, and I found new friends. Sirhan Sirhan was convicted of the assignation of Robert Kennedy.

There was one more major event that happened that year. Yes I got potty trained…..well, for the most part.

Actually this year marks the 40^th anniversary of a very major event - mans first landing on the moon!

ONE SMALL STEP FOR MAN

On July 16^th, 1969 at 13:32 EDT, a three man crew with each one having two missions under their belt, soared with wings of eagles past the shackles of gravity to another place. It just happens that the lunar module was actually named Eagle.

In past confessions of this highly-caffeinated Christian, I have admitted that The Brewer does not like heights. I get a nose bleed when I put on my ropers and when I think about what these guys went through to leave our atmosphere, it blows my mind. With the computer technology of a modern wrist watch these three astronauts went so far and so high. I can’t help but raise my coffee cup to them.

Neil Armstrong was the Commander; Buzz Aldrin was the Lunar Module Pilot, and Michael Collins commanded the module. On July 20^th, the Lunar Module piloted by Aldrin started its descent from Columbia. At 8:17 UTC (Coordinated Universal Time, same as Greenwich Mean Time), placed its lunar legs on the surface of the moon. Neil Armstrong said “Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed”. And with those eight words being spoken, a new era of space exploration began. It is interesting to note that the number eight in the Bible stands for “New Beginnings”.

A little known fact about Buzz Aldrin is that he was a Christian. Approximately two and a half hours after the moon walk, he broadcasted to Houston that he would like to take the opportunity to ask everyone who was listening to contemplate the event which just happened and give thanks in their on way. He then took communion, there on the moon, and gave God thanks. This communion kit is in the possession of the Webster Presbyterian Church in Webster, Texas where Aldrin was an elder.

ONE GIANT LEAP OF FAITH

Two thousand years ago, there was a man who left His footprints in the dust of planet earth. Instead of leaving the earth to the heavens, He left Heaven for earth. His impact upon this world is felt today in the four corners of the world.

There are millions who walk in his footprints. As Buzz Aldrin had communion in the heavens, this man had communion with his band of believers on this earth. As surely as Apollo 11 made history 40 years ago, this man made history 2000 years ago.

Man has vowed to return to the moon. This man that I’m talking about, has vowed He will also return and sooner than you think. His name is Jesus. His mission was devine. His goal was accomplished, and his vow to return will be fulfilled.

We may not be able to walk in the footprints of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, but we can certainly walk in the footprints of Jesus. He has already cleared the minefields of life for all of us. All we need do is step where He steps….one step at a time.

Nobody Like You

Hello to all our faithful readers out there.

Today’s sip from the carpenter’s cup has a little lipstick on it, because it is coming from the other half of the Brewer, his wife. My name is Leanna and I’m the one who brews the coffee for the Brewer every morning. Like you, I love to read and hear the stories and insight Troy shares with us every week

What a crazy life we live. I can tell you from first hand experience, that we are blessed to be able to do what we do. Troy and I have been married for 20 years, have 4 children of our own and have pastored Open Door Ministry for the past 15 years. We have traveled literally all the way around the world together and the best news is we love each other more today then the day we got married.

We have so many people ask us how on earth that happens. Well I’m here to tell you our secret. Troy and I have always had a lot in common, but as many of you know that’s not enough. What is enough though is the true love for God we share. We were blessed to learn at a very young age how to prioritize God in our own lives.

I know a lot of people believe if you surrender your life to the Lord and to your spouse, you lose your individuality. What you actually gain is your identity.

I can honestly say I am who I am today because of whom God and Troy are to me. I live a life most people only get to dream about or hope for. Now I’m not saying nothing ever goes wrong or we don’t have bad days, because we do. What I am saying is we not only survive those days but we overcome them. They have become fewer and fewer over the years.

I’m writing this column for him today not because I’m trying to take over his job, but because he is sick and the deadline is here. As his wife, it is my privilege to help him in anyway I can which can be kinda hard when you are married to an extremely capable man. As many of you wives out there know, you don’t really realize everything your husband does until you try to do it for him but the Lord knows they don’t know what we do either. Can I hear an Amen ladies?

The wisdom I would leave with you today is this; before you criticize what someone else is doing or not doing; try to do all that they do. What one person makes look easy is difficult for someone else. No one can do what you do the way that you do it.

You are very important to the Lord and no one else was created to be just like you. So go to the Lord and be all you were created to be, because you have something to offer that none of the rest of us do.

Psalm 139:14
I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

Contact the Brewer @ www.FreshFromTheBrewer.com

Mission Accomplished

Last week’s high adventure got a little bit higher this week. If you are a regular sipper of Fresh from the Brewer, you probably know I am in the anything-but-boring nation of India.

Oh Cowcutta! How I wish you could see some of what we are seeing over here. In fact I have posted some videos on YOU TUBE and if you do a search for Troy Brewer you should be able to find them without a problem. There are several fun little snippets of some of the site and sounds of our mission’s trip.

For the past ten days, my daughter and I have been in a whirlwind of activity and travel. It started with a 2 hour flight to Chicago and then a 15 hour non-stop flight to Deli. We flew straight north from Chicago and got back into daylight over Canada having seen the sun actually rise from the West before we flew South over Siberia. Once past mother Russia, we flew directly over Afghanistan and a few other stans. I had all I could ‘stan’ of the economy section of American Airlines flight 209 way before we hit India. I’m sure my skinny daughter was tired of me spilling over into her seat as well. Thank God she was with me or I might have gotten closer than a married man is allowed to get to somebody else.

Mission Accomplished

I have the privilege of leading and Pastoring a great group of people at Open Door Ministries. My wife heads up a ministry called SPARK which is an acronym for serving, protecting and raising kids. Between the two of us, we support or fully fund orphanages on four different continents. So a big part of this trip is to see and minister to the kids here. The house where I stay is also a home to hundreds of little boys and girls who would otherwise be victims of neglect or even worse. We have also visited another home for children way out west of Vizak. It’s just a fun thing to get to do.

But in my heart, the ultimate reason for this trip or the purpose of the actual mission was a chance at visiting the persecuted Christians in the state of Orissa.

Last year, the communist gorillas attacked a Hindu commune and killed the Hindu Priest there. The Hindu hierarchy used the occasion to do its best to get rid of Christianity in the region by announcing the murder had been perpetrated by Christians. What happened next was nothing short of an attempt at genocide. Backed by money sent in from Hindus working in the United States, they gathered thousands of radicals from all over the nation. They paid them a wage, liquored them up, handed them big sticks and transported these thugs to the villages of Orissa where for weeks the murdered, molested and brutalized anyone suspected of being a Christian. Not a person in the world would lift a finger to help these people. Even the Indian government set back for more than five days before the first response or rescue attempt.

Last night we were at a church which had actually been torn down in the uprising. More than 400 people gathered outside and sat on the ground for the service. I told them they were heroes to the rest of the church. I told them they were not alone... I told them we loved them and looked up to them. I did the very best I could do to try and relay how important, significant and precious they are to the body of Christ. It was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had.

Remember them in your prayers. They really are worth remembering.

A Guy Worth Forgetting

Haters have always been around. The famous French writer Voltaire often spent his expensive ink and wasted life writing about his hatred for God and God’s people.

He too wanted to wipe out Christianity. Full of Communism and himself, he wrote from his library in Paris, “I will go through the forest of scriptures and circle the trees with my words so that in 100 years Christianity will be a vanishing memory.”

A few years after his death, the British Bible Society purchased that same library and filled it from top to bottom with thousands of copies of the Bible he so hated.

Christians will suffer persecution but never annihilation. Jesus himself illustrated the point through His death and resurrection…You just can’t keep a good man down.

Contact the Brewer at www.FreshFromTheBrewer.com

HIGH ADVENTURE

The last time I worked on this column, I was sitting at home where I always write. Tonight I am pounding with my incredibly agile two fingered writing style from literally the other side of the world. I am currently in Vizak India on my third mission’s trip to this amazing country; this time accompanied by my daughter Meagan.

Good googly moogly! What an amazing difference 12 times zones, 2 continents and a couple of oceans can make. Yesterday Meagan and I hired a guide to drive us out to see the world wonder known as the Taj Mahal. It was a four hour drive from Delhi to Agaba, crammed full of near head on collisions and near misses with everything from ox carts, rickshaws and pedestrians to crotch-rocket motorcycles and dump trucks.

We saw camels going down the highway and even an elephant. Not your typical Sunday drive through Johnson County. We stopped at one point to pay a toll and these guys with monkeys came running over to our car. Within a matter of seconds, there were five baboons in my window. I don’t much like monkeys and had a bad experience with a baboon in Uganda several years back so I was not happy when one of the guys opened my door. After an exchange of heated words and my needing an exchange of drawers, I got the door closed and off we went.

A few minutes later the 109 degree heat had me pull over again to get a new bottle of water. We had to walk past a guy playing with a cobra with his left hand and holding some kind of a giant boa with his right. There were all kinds of orange-clad Hindu priests inspecting worshippers at a giant cement statue of a blue sword-wielding monkey god. I just stopped and looked around for a minute trying to take it all in. With all of this said, I have not even began to describe how extremely different the sites and sounds of India are.

This week’s confessions of a highly-caffeinated Christian come perking with a little Indiana Jones music in the background.

I think God loves for us to live a life of high adventure. The road to making a difference is sometimes lined with the unusual and can sometimes be a little overwhelming. God is not always found in the familiar, safe and comfortable. I think it’s better to be familiar with Him and His presence when we are a little overwhelmed with our environment and circumstances. Instead of inviting us into safe and comfortable places He offers to be our safety and our comfort while pointing to a barbaric way and saying, “every place the soles of your feet touch, belong to you, you own it so go get it”.

So get up and get out there and live your life while you still can. To live a life that is boring and insignificant is just as silly as living a life without God altogether. God set you free for freedoms sake the Good Book says, not to spend life on a couch.

I speak blessings on you and next week I’ll write you from some place that is a little everything except boring. I pray for you and appreciate you doing the same for me.

Contact the Brewer at www.OpenDoorMinistries.org