Speaking of music, if you're at all in to Coldplay, you should check out their website, www.coldplay.com and click of the section that says "free download". It's a live recording. It's amazing... like all of their stuff. And IT'S FREE!!
On a totally different note, I want to write about my brother. Sometimes I'll mention my brother in conversations with people and they say "I totally forgot you had a brother!"... My own mother-in-law did that a few months ago. Needless to say, he and I aren't very close. And it isn't because we had a falling out, or don't get along or anything like that. In fact, part of the reason I'm writing this post is to better understand my relationship with him. My brother is 6 years older than me. We have the same mom, but different dads. When my family moved out to Vegas, my brother chose to stay with his dad in New Jersey. Once we moved to Vegas we would visit my brother during the summer, and he'd visit us at Christmas. For lack of better words, I guess you could say that over the past few years my brother became a bit of a "black sheep" in our family. When he visited for my wedding, it was the first time I'd seen him since the 8th grade. Isn't that crazy? Most people see their siblings every day. Or, at least every year. But for some reason, as each year would go by, it just got easier, and easier to go without seeing him. That sounds terrible, doesn't it? It's not that he wasn't given the opportunity to come visit for free. My parents would offer to buy him tickets all the time. But something would always seem to come up and before we knew it it had been almost 8 years since we'd seen him last.
Anyway, we got some bad news about my brother last weekend. I'm not sure how much detail I want to get in to, but let's just say my brother has always been really good at making bad choices. My family and I have been praying for his Salvation for years now. And finally it seems that our prayers are slowly, but surely being answered! Not exactly in the easiest possible way-- but I feel it in my heart that my brother isn't always going to be "lost" and that this whole situation is just going to bring him one step closer to the Lord. Last weekend my brother ended up in jail. Then he ended up in the hospital... On Monday he was released from the hospital, and now he's in a treatment facility that's run by The Salvation Army. Because this facility is run by The Salvation Army, he's going to be required to attend church each Sunday and Bible study during the week. When my mom called the facility, the lady who works there told her "If he doesn't know Jesus now, he's sure gonna know Him pretty soon!" And for my mom to hear that was a huge weight lifted off her shoulders.
I know that just because my brother is being forced to go to church and bible study for the next 7 months, doesn't mean that once he's released he'll be a Christian. That's the other reason why I'm writing this blog. I know there aren't many people who read my blogs, but if you do-- and if you happened to have read this entire thing (for which you deserve to be hugged)-- I'd appreciate any prayers for my brother and for my family.
My personal prayer is that God would use this situation to draw my brother close to Him. That once he is back on his own that he wouldn't fall back into the life of addiction and deception. My prayer is that through all of this my family will become closer to one another than ever before. And most of all I pray that my brother would someday know what it feels like to show someone who Jesus is... Wouldn't that just be cool?
I came across this verse today and it seemed fitting. Isn't it funny how a simple bible verse can mean one thing one day, and something totally different the next?
“May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”- Romans 15:5-6
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