Food miracles

In my devotions I have been reading through the reference "All the Miracles of the Bible", by Herbert Lockyear. He classifies miracles in a way I have never seen. Do you know there are countless miracles involving water, 5 involving fire, and 3 involving the sun?

There are also 5 miracles where food was created- food miracles! Our missionary in El Salvador Don Triplett says that he has seen food multiplied many times. Can you name the food miracles in the Bible?

A nonprophetic dream

I have gotten many comments about my prophetic dreams. I have had hundreds, if not thousands, of these over the years, and have started writing them down for the last 2 years. Recently I read a Christian book on the topic, "Dreams, Wisdom Within", by Herman Riffel, which gave me lots of ideas about this (maybe we will have a separate post on the book, it is worth it). But the question most asked is, "how can you tell if a dream is prophetic or not?"

Riffel's answer is that God spoke to people in the Bible countless times through dreams, and most societies see this as a valid way for God to speak. But in America, we tend to see dreams as nonsense, and to ignore them when God speaks to us through them.

My prophetic dreams have a different feel, a different weight than the rest of them. Last night I had a fun dream that I doubt was prophetic. I was in a house with people I knew (you may be one of them!). Gradually everyone but me turned into tigers. This became scary, as they lurked around hungry for something (or someone?) to eat. Then they became sick. But gradually they morphed back into people.

I am sure a psychoanalyst would have a field day with this dream!

The gain of death

This week I was studying Philippians 1:21- "for me, to live is Christ, to die is gain." After attending a funeral yesterday, I thought about the fact that Paul viewed death as a gain. This is the opposite of today's approach, where death is a disaster, and life is to be clung to at all costs.

Have you ever viewed death as a gain? Paul did.

What might have been

Saturday I went up to Yale University for a missions board meeting. Driving across the campus, I felt the strong pull of Yale, kind of like an old girlfriend you still have affection for. You see, I almost went there.

My life has been so tied up with Princeton that this is hard to believe. I lived there for the most formative 11 years of my life. My spiritual transformation, ministerial calling, and even church planting flowed out of my experience there. What might have been if I did not go there?

In 1974 I decided to attend Yale. After being accepted, I had a great overnight visit to the school, staying with students. But I went back and forth between there and Princeton. Finally I decided to go to Yale, and filled out the letter accepting their acceptance. I planned to mail it the next day in the mailbox at the end of my long street, when I walked our dog. But the next day it rained hard all day, and I never got to the mailbox. The following day I wasn't so sure about my decision. Finally, several days after the deadline, I reversed and mailed in the Princeton card, still unsure about the decision, but forced by time to do something. I wondered if it was right.

Did God cause it to rain in Mountainside, NJ, that fateful day in 1974? How would my life have turned out if I went to Yale? These sort of questions are the thing that we will learn in heaven.

But I enjoyed my fall day in New Haven this week!

Funeral for a 28 year old

I officiated at a funeral for a 28 year old suicide victim today. What a challenge, to encourage the family, and to get them to look to God for help now that the young man is gone. It will take me a day or two to shake this whole thing off emotionally.

I wonder how many others are so depressed that they are thinking tonight of taking their life.

God doesn't exclude-?????

Driving along I-95 in Stamford, Ct, this Saturday, I saw this large billboard. It promotes the United Church of Christ as an "inclusive" church, i.e., one that welcomes practicing homosexuals. As someone in the UCC till I was 11, this bothers me. The denomination has a whole publicity campaign built around this motto and idea.

The theology of this is interesting, especially in the light of Revelations 21:8 and 1 Corinthians 6:9-10.

This would be a great sermon- "does God exclude?"

Ask that your joy be made full

God spoke to me while I was reading the words of Jesus in John 15:24- "Until now you have asked for nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be made full." God said- ask largely from Me- what answered prayers would make you really happy?

Here is a partial list of what I told God-
1. Total healing of my daughter
2. Godly spouses for Andrew and Christina
3. Salvation for my mother and other relatives
4. Revival throughout NJ and the US
5. Completion of our new building with minimal debt
6. Salvation of lots of people

What would you ask that would fulfill your joy?