What will we do in heaven?

I read a great verse this week. Revelations 22:5 says of believers in heaven that "they will reign forever and ever." This amazing- you and I will reign. How often do we think of ourselves as ruling in eternity? Whom or what will we rule over?- other races, people to be born, other galaxies? And we will do this forever.

We have a great future in front of us.

Edifying play in New York

Our family, including my three grown children, went into New York the day after Thanksgiving. We saw the highly recommended off-Broadway play "Freud's Last Session", which has been plugged by various Christian sources. It is a depiction of a meeting between a soon-to-die elderly Sigmund Freud and a roughly 40 year old CS Lewis. Though no one knows if this happened, it is quite possible, as they lived in the same area in England in 1939, and had mutual friends. Freud's diary speaks of him meeting and spending much of the day with a "young professor."

The two intellectual giants spar over the meaning of life, the existence of God, the problem of suffering, and all sorts of other issues. It is funny and thought-provoking. Go if you are in NYC.

Great verse for today

This verse was really quickened to me recently- Isaiah 45:3- "I will give you the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places."

Please pray for me that I finish successfully this building in time. It has been an enormous amount of pressure and stress. But I am convinced God will do incredible things through us with it when we are done. He will send us the hidden riches!

What was in the ark?

The ark of Moses contained 3 things. The 10 commandments on tablets of stone were there, reminding of God's authority and sovereignty. The manna was there in a jar, speaking of God's provision. And the rod of Aaron, speaking of God's salvation. These are 3 things we need to be continually reminded of. I wonder where the ark is today, if it still exists?

This is from "Leap Over a Wall", reflections on the life of David, a great book I am reading, by Eugene Peterson, the author of The Message.

Angel on assignment?

I had a funny experience on my first flight to Grand Rapids, to Cleveland. The plane was full, and the man in front of me cleared a space in the last overhead bin. He then turned to me and said, "I can't fit my bag in, but you could fit yours. You'd better take it, it is the last one on the plane" (he was right, and I did). I had a funny feeling about him.

When the plane landed I had almost no time till the next plane left, maybe the last one, for Christina and Grand Rapids. I pulled my bag off and ran, making it on with only about 3 minutes until they closed the door.

After I realized that I would have had to check my bag otherwise and wait for it, which would have taken maybe an extra 10 minutes, and I would have missed my connecting destination flight.

I wonder if he was an angel. The whole incident felt unusual.

Grand Rapids

Today is my third and last day in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Christina had emergency surgery for a twisted ovary Monday morning. This is when an ovarian cyst (or something else) tangles the ovarian tube, and cuts off blood flow to it, which is dangerous and very painful. Fortunately, I was able to get out here by Monday night with the help of God (see future post on angels).

Christina is recovering from surgery and is home, but still tired and with significant pain. Thanks for your prayers, she is getting better. It was scary to be so far away from her when something like this happened so fast.

Another dream

I dreamed that my three children and myself were with a group of about 20 people (Louise was in the group), who were sending us off on a long and important journey. Part of it was a hike.

I am sure this is prophetic, but not at all about what it means. Any ideas?

Pastor arrested on golf course

That was the headline in my mind! I am finishing prayer-walking Manalapan, and in my obsessive spirit of "walking every possible spot", I was on the Knob Hill golf course (staying on the paths, of course). Golf courses are just beautiful places to walk. But going down a path near the club house, a gold cart comes zipping towards me, and the man sharply told me I could not walk here- "This is private property!" How did he know I am not a member? Chastened, I walked back up the hill, my mission incomplete. Maybe I will go back there in winter when it is too cold to golf. Don't they want their golf course to be blessed?

But today I completed Pine Brook course on the other side of town in Covered Bridge. No problems this time!

Lost in the maze

Louise and I went to a corn maize last week. We have wanted to try one for a while, as they are becoming increasingly popular in recent years. Etsch Farms is only 2 miles outside of Englishtown in Monroe, and has an 8 acre maze (made of maize). It was a blast, and would be a great family harvest time activity. If you go at night (which is better), you take a flashlight and wander lost through the maze. Their maze is cut in the shape of Mount Rushmore, which was unique.

In case you are curious, we got through in about half an hour, but we took a lucky shortcut through the maze at one point, I think. Some might say we cheated (we did follow a small path), but Louise did not feel like walking much more either).

Accident

Louise was rear-ended in an accident off Rt. 9 in Howell last week. She was with the building finishes committee looking at tile for the new building. Her car was likely totaled. Please keep her in prayer, she is still having significant pain and discomfort.

It's Greek to me

My family is strange. We have discussions with each other about Biblical Greek words! I realized the other day that 3 out of 5 of my nuclear family can read the Bible in Greek. Andrew is taking a course in it at Nyack, I am reading a book on "Word Studies in the Greek New Testament" by Wuest, and Christina can read at a really high level (I have long forgotten most of the less common and complex verb endings and tenses, which are innumerable.) So now we often discuss shades of meaning in this or that word or verse when we are together. But it really is fascinating, as it gives you incredible insights into God's word.

If you don't believe me, look up the word "skandalon" some time.

Psalm 137 questions for us

3 questions for us- what do you dream about, cry about, sing about?

For the Psalmist-memories of Zion (his home), living in captivity in Babylon, and the blessings of God.

For me- revival across the US and a great church in Marlboro, the lost perishing and going to hell, and God's goodness.

Unusual dream

I dreamed someone handed me a large coin. I realized that the coin could be peeled like an onion, and had lots of things inside. As I peeled it, there were several gold coins, and wood furniture and other things unfolded from it. The coin seemed to have an endless supply of treasures in it.

I am not sure exactly what it means, but I think I like it!

A house of prayer?

Perched above our bed the other night on the light/fan, we found a praying mantis, several inches long. It looked like it was praying (preying?), perched on the light, probably catching bugs attracted to the light. How it got there, I have no idea. I got it into a cup, and put it outside on a bush, where it hopefully continues to catch and kill evil bugs. I have been told it is a crime to hurt a praying mantis.

Does this make our home a house of prayer?

The biggest lie ever

Seen handwritten in white paint letters on the back of a car driving near Monmouth Mall in Eatontown...

"THE DEVIL IS YOUR FRIEND"

I looked over at the driver- was he a raving Satanist? He was about 30, wearing a baseball hat backwards. I wish we could have stopped and I could straighten out his theology. But what message could be a bigger lie?

Where is this?

On my prayer-walking in Manalapan, I took the following two photos. The second is of what may be the largest house in town. It was so big that this photo is only part of it, the house did not all fit into the photo- it is really two big houses joined together. The first photo is of a beautiful public place that is totally deserted- I walked around for nearly an hour without seeing a single other person. This was unprecedented!

For bragging rights- where are these spots?

Sharks and other fossils

Our church trip to Big Brook Sunday went well. There were about 15-20 people, a small group. The sharks were hiding, we found relatively few shark teeth (but everyone got one), with Timmy Forquignon winning the coveted biggest shark tooth prize. Joe Hewes and I found a spot with nice belemnites (nautiloid relatives, look like large brown bullets), Bill Forquignon found a snail shell, and I found the most unusual thing, a saber-toothed salmon tooth. The weather was perfect, and we all had a good time in the cool water in the hot weather.

If you want to see more about the fossils, check out www.njfossils.net or www.fossilguy.com/sites/bbrook

Most people don't know that Marlboro is named after the marl layer which contains all these (and many other) cool fossils. The marl was mined and used as fertilizer. Some of the original fossils pits are on the back of the new church property. They say dinosaur skeletons were even found in them, so who knows- when sitting in the new church, you may be above a dead dinosaur!

She's gone!

Thanks to all who prayed for my daughter Christina to get a job. She received and accepted an offer last Friday, and arrived in Grand Rapids, Michigan yesterday. She will be working as an editorial assistant with Baker Book House, a Christian publisher (I have many of their books, which are published under several names).

Why did she go so far? (I ask that myself!). There are only about a dozen major Christian publishers, of which about 4 are in Grand Rapids, 4 are in the Wheaton, Illinois area (where she spent the past 4 years, and interned with IV Press last semester), and 4 are scattered in other places. She is blessed to have gotten a job with one of them.

So, Thursday on our anniversary, Louise and she loaded up the car and drove out to Grand Rapids over 2 days. I am told it is a beautiful city, a very different world from Detroit, which is 150 miles away (and what I usually think of Michigan as). They have 3 days to get Christina a place to stay, to furnish it, and to move in. We believe that since God opened the door, He will provide all this quickly, plus a church, friends, etc.

But I miss Christina a lot already. After coming back from college, we were just getting used to her being home again. Michigan is so far away!

28 things I did on vacation (see photos on post)

1. See sloths (like the guy on top) up close
2. Milk a cow
3. Sight about 10 "resplendent quetzels", a holy grail of birders (the green iridescent bird)
4. Swim in the Pacific
5. Watch capuchin monkeys on the beach (that's a monkey in the tree)
6. Ride a horse (it was really a lot of fun, see the picture)
7. Look for birds at 6am (the early birder gets the...)
8. See Arenal Volcano puff smoke
9. Eat rice and beans, over and over
10. Soak in thermal springs
11. Travel about 10 feet into Nicaragua (this counts as another country) on a river
12. Spend quality time with Louise, my great nature companion
13. Get drenched by tropical rain at a butterfly farm
14. Meet missionaries Bob and Michele Perez
15. See a living ctenosaur in the wild
16. Eat lychees from the shell
17. See the biggest ox cart in the world
18. Have a bat buzz my ear during a night walk in the jungle
19. Appreciate about 25 incredible hummingbirds in one spot in the cloud forest
20. Eat fruit- pineapple, watermelon, and papaya- for every meal
21. Kayak Lake Arenal, near the active volcano
22. See Montezuma's oropendula (a cool bird with a cooler name)
23. Read Mike Bickle's "Passion for Jesus" & George Will's "Men at Work" (about baseball)
24. Get sick and miss the forest zip line (Louise zipped, ask her)
25. Admire scarlet macaws and toucans (the fruit loop bird) in the wild
26. Watch Iron Man 2 on the plane
27. Visit the "paramo", a high altitude environment at 11,000 feet, very unusual
28. Eat flan every night for desert

Pictures from Costa Rica

Where is this?

This old sign was seen on my daily prayer walk. The first person who can identify exactly where it is on this blog wins a Starbucks gift certificate!

Marlboro prayer walk

Sunday night we prayer-walked some of the key spiritual power points in Marlboro. Along with the usual (town hall, high school), we visited 2 sites most people don't even know exist, but which set the tone for the town. First, we prayed over the Collier School area, where Peter Collier (a wealthy publisher from New York) settled. It is a beautiful spot, on the side of a huge hill. His parties set the tone for western Monmouth becoming an affluent town, with many addicted to luxury. Today his estate is a Catholic school for special needs kids, and convent.

Later we visited the Old Scots cemetery on Gordon's Corner Road (see pictures above). This was the site of the first church in our area, which was settled by true Christians fleeing religious persecution in England. They built a small church early to thank God for the miraculous story of their deliverance (ask me it some time). Some of them are still buried there. Later the church moved to Manalapan and became Old Tennent church, which was a center of revival in the Great Awakening of the early 1700's.

Eating well

This weekend was the height of summer church picnic-BBQ-party season. I had 5 to go to (Latino, Jester, Berman, young adult, care center), but could only make it to 3. For the sake of our weight, it is good pastors can not be cloned!

Port au Prince tour- Haiti final day

This morning we flew back to the capital and were given a tour of the capital. Needless to say, the quake devastation was depressing. Many buildings were destroyed and many more were damaged to the point where they can not be rebuilt. Tent cities are in some of the nicest areas of the city.
Above is the famous photo of the Presidential Palace, where people were killed and are still buried.
Many of the main government buildings were destroyed, and many workers were killed, which has massively hurt the rebuilding effort.

Day off- Haiti day 8

Today was a day off, and we went to a beautiful island off the coast of Les Cayes. The resort was as beautiful as any I have seen anywhere, and is a picture of what Haiti could be. It is Abaka Bay resort, and was pristine.

I got into a discussion with the daughter-in-law of the owner, who was about 30, and was a graduate of Wheaton College, where my daughter and son attended. It was weird to be talking about an American college at a Haitian resort, but this shows the long arm and Christian influence of Wheaton college.

The umbrella- Haiti day 7

Today was the most unusual spiritual experience of all for me. We had a last medical clinic in the mountains. Right before lunch I looked at the crowd waiting, and one girl stood out. She was about 12, and was a pure albino. She had pale skin and white hair, though she was racially black.

She received sunglasses and medicine. Then the doctor asked, "can anyone give her an umbrella?" She really needed one, with the intense sun she got in Haiti, and her ease in getting a sunburn as an albino. I suddenly remembered that I had brought an umbrella in case it rained hard again. I had just gotten this beautiful umbrella before the trip, and now God was asking me to give it to a poor person. This was so hard! I hoped someone else would come up with one, but no one did. I am embarassed at my indecision, but after a few seconds I went and got the umbrella, and gave it to her. I felt such a relief when I parted with it- "he who gives to the poor lends to God."

The girl left the clinic crying for all her gifts, and the kindness shown her (in contrast to the abuse she often endures). I felt such a release in my spirit. It is hard to let go of things, but an incredible blessing to give.

The land of mountains- Haiti day 6

Haiti means “land of mountains”, and today we drove through some of them on the way to our clinic. This is a beautiful part of Haiti, with beautiful beaches that beg to be developed as they have been on the other side of the island in the Dominican Republic. The Haitians on our team complain that only the bad things and not the good and beautiful about Haiti are ever reported. They have a very good point- when was the last time you ever heard something good reported about Haiti? And there are many good things here.

In the clinic we had a woman come in with vague pains who was 103, and looked pretty good. She passed her medical exam with a good report. She said her secret was working in the fields and eating lots of fruit. She has great-great grandchildren!

Culinary dream fulfilled- Day 5

It was truly a great experience of my life to see the appreciation of lambi is (this is the Haitian version of conch, popular throughout the Caribbean). We ate it for dinner with fried plantains and avocado, and it really was terrific- the best meal I have had here yet.

In the morning we experienced one of the worst storms I have ever seen. Rain fell torrentially for a long time while thunder burst over us, which was so loud that it sounded like bombs going off over us.
The electricity here goes off several times a day, always in the early morning for a few hours, and usually in the late afternoon. Many people have generators to supply electricity in their homes, which uses a lot of gas. I have always taken a steady flow of electricity for granted until now, but no longer. Funny how a missions trip helps you to look at things differently.

Clinic- Haiti trip day 4

Today we had a medical clinic in a small town. We treated some people with great names- Johnny American was my favorite, followed by Kenlove. Every other woman here seems to be named Marie, so much so that they go by their middle name often..

At night we went to a Christian school which is supported by the Pierre’s Children Heritage Foundation (www.childrenheritage.org). The children waited for us for over an hour in a dark room. When we got there, they had a special assembly to thank the
Pierres. Jose made a great speech exhorting them to work hard. It was truly a great experience of my life to see the appreciation of the staff and children for the support.If this country is going to turn around, it is going to happen with the next generation.

First medical clinic- Haiti trip day 3

Day 3- First medical clinic

Today we had our first medical clinic day at the American University, which is an old CIA building, large and massive (some say there are bugs planted in the walls!). About
150 people came, and were treated, according to the records, and maybe many more.
I did “spiritual counseling”, and a doctor, physician’s assistant and nurses diagnosed, while a dentist treated and pulled teeth. Bernie Pierre and I had the best job, as we prayed with 6 people to accept Christ, and 3 to rededicate themselves. We spoke and prayed with everyone after they were treated. We saw countless unwed mothers, one as young as 17 (apparently it is very common and acceptable here for women to get pregnant without a husband, and not to expect the man to be involved with the child). Women who were married were the exception- very sad.We also saw many quake refugees, one of whose foot was broken by it. Many people lost jobs and homes, and went to other places in the country. They are homeless throughout the country.

Church in- Haiti missions trip day 2

Haiti missions trip- Day 2- Church in Haiti

Church in Haiti was very similar to the many Haitian AG churches in NJ. I spoke at a church here today which met under a metal roof, as its building was cracked by “ January 12” (as they call the big quake down here), and later had to be pulled down. The church is a pile of rubble now, which our construction team will pulverize and move into one big pile (this is their project for the week, we are calling them the “destruction team”).

I spoke on Bartimaeus the beggar stopping God by his faith and persistence, and there was a great response at the end. A number of people wanted prayer for deliverance from spirits, much more than in America. Half our team is Haitian, so they related well to the people,and vice-versa.
We had Domino’s pizza for lunch- yes, they do deliver even in Haiti. And then me and our medical team flew on a small 16 person plane to the southern city of Les Cayes, and left our destruction team for the week

He brought a tent- Haiti missions trip- day 1

Haiti missions trip- Day 1- He brought a tent

We had a smooth trip down to Haiti. The Port-au-Prince airport terminal is still heavily damaged, with cracks through the concrete buildings rendering many of them unusable.
US helicopters are in the airport, and US troops still live in tents at the airport.
Several people wondered why one of our party carried a Coleman tent down. It turns out that it is for his niece to live in, since her home was destroyed. The tent cities are everywhere, blue and white tents amidst lots of hot and dry dust. Houses and their rubble are everywhere. Some people have an address in the tents, but don’t live there, since you can get free food and other things by doing this from the relief groups. But many people do live there, and it looks squalid.

Shady Maple

You haven't lived until you have eaten at Shady Maple Smorgasboard in the Lancaster, PA, area. It has an enormous buffet, and must seat near a thousand people or more. On Monday night, there were huge lines just to get into it. We went there to celebrate my daughter's birthday (keep praying for a job for her), and to see my son Timothy, who lives nearby.

Shady never ceases to amaze me. I learned that they have a senior discount (10% off), but also a super-senior discount (over 90 years old- 50% off), and a gastric bypass discount (also 50% off). Maybe I will take my mother to Shady for the super-senior discount some time!

Trenton makes

How many of us have ever visited the capital of NJ, Trenton? We went last week to it. First to the NJ state museum, which is a nice 2 hour visit, with a planetarium. They have a room highlighting all the things which were invented in NJ (including baseball, the cranberry picker, and football). Then we ate at Rossi's in Chambersburg, the old Italian section (now mostly Latino). They claim to have the best burger in NJ, and after tasting it, they might be right. The suburb of Trenton, Hamilton, has the best thrift store in the country, "Red, white, and Blue", bigger, better and different from any other store you have seen. You can get clothes and all sorts of home stuff at ridiculous prices there.

Trenton has a bridge crossing the Delaware with a sign remembering its industrial heyday, "Trenton makes, the world takes!"

Sci-fi dream

Last night I had a dream which reminded me of an Asimov science fiction story I read when I was about 17 (yes, I do remember it well). In the dream, I was in a basement in a place which had incredible fatal storms constantly on the surface, except for about an hour break every few days. At those times everyone went out onto the soaked surface and celebrated.

At the weather break I went out with about 5 people on to the surface. With 5 minutes left before the fatal storm came in full we began to run back to shelter, as the winds intensified. Suddenly the woman next to me collapsed. I picked her up and threw her over my shoulder.
She was surprisingly light, but I could barely run. The winds reached a dangerous pitch, and I was panting for breath. Everyone else was back in, I had maybe a minute before the storm became fatal. My heart was pounding- would I/we make it in?

Then I woke up! This would make a good TV show.

Any ideas what it means?

From the foundation of the world

Matthew 25:34 really grabbed me last week. It says that God has prepared His kingdom for us
"before the foundation of the world." This is amazing- before we were created, or the world, God had created heaven for us! I am looking forward to it enormously, sometimes I think about it before going to sleep. God has made a personal paradise for you billions of years ago.

Haiti missions trip

Thanks for praying for our trip to Haiti. We are leaving Sat, and returning next Saturday. We have 28 people going, with about half doing construction in Port au-Prince. Pray for their safety and protection. It is supposed to be as hot as 100 degrees this week, fairly typical for this time of year.

I will be with our medical team, the other half, in the southern city of Les Cayes. We will set up medical clinics and share the Gospel in 4 different towns. Pray that we will see supernatural healings!

About half our team going is from a Haitian background, so we will be well translated. I have wanted to see their country for many years, though I am sure the earthquake impact will be depressing. They are wonderful people.

Christina prayer

It is a hard time to get a job, and especially if you are a recent college graduate. My daughter Christina just graduated and wants to do editing and writing for some form of publisher. It is hard to break into this area, and usually necessary to take several unpaid internships (she already has done two). Now she has two interviews for real jobs, one of which seems ideal. I appreciate your prayer in the next 10 days that one of these jobs will be offered. Thanks!

World cup questions

Today at the missions barbeque, many people were following the US-England World Cup game. One person was even rooting for England! I noticed almost everyone who was really into it was born in another country where soccer is big, not in the US.

Here is what I don't get about soccer. Yesterday the two matches ended in ties, 1-1, and 0-0, and today's match was also tied at 1-1. No winners and no losers. Imagine, after working and training for this match for months, and having your whole country root for you during it, ending up tied, or even with no points! This is so inconclusive to me. Why can't they just keep playing until someone scores, as in baseball or football? And a game being exciting when no points are scored by anyone? I would want a refund as a fan. I asked one of the fans today about this, and they said (with a straight face) that the game was great because the defenses were so good that neither team could score any points!

I don't get soccer. Can anyone explain the appeal of no scoring to me?

God's will in dating

Sunday night I went out to the dinner after our worship night with a bunch of young adults. I haven't had so much fun in a long time just laughing!

When the food was served, I threw out a comment that provoked an hour of intense and often hysterically funny discussion. It was this- "does God have a perfect will for whom we should marry (which therefore we can miss) or can we choose anyone (or from a small pool of people)?" Since the young adults present were either single or recently married, they all had strong thoughts on this. Someone said that if you subscribe to the perfect will theory, if you do not choose the right person, your perfect will spouse also misses God's will! Another person wondered how second marriages fit into this whole scheme. But the group seemed to be divided half and half as to whether God has a specific person for us to wed.

Any thoughts- did/does God have a perfect will for you to marry?

Haiti dream

Recently I had a dream that I was in Haiti (we will be there for a missions trip in 3 weeks). I was standing in front of the Presidential Palace. As I was looking at it, a man walked in front of me and faced the palace. He had a big bag, and pulled out a huge spear. He was planning to throw it at the President, or anyone in the palace, and wanted to kill them. As he prepared to throw it, a uniformed guard came behind him, pulled out a big knife and stabbed him in the chest. The spear-thrower fell dead. I was only about 10 feet behind this event, and watched it with a mix of amazement and fear.

Any ideas on the meaning of this? My dreams are rarely violent!

Pray for protection as we go to Haiti on July 3.

Sandy Hook fortificatons lantern tour

Louise and I went on a really cool tour recently. When I was young, we went to the beaches of Sandy Hook frequently. I did not realize that many of the extensive military fortifications of the hook are still there. The tour started at 7:30pm and went almost 3 hours, with guides dressed in WW2 attire escorting us through the old batteries and buildings.

Sandy Hook juts out about 5 miles into New York harbor, and has always controlled the harbor, as the main channel into New York goes up the Jersey shore and past the hook. There have been military forts to protect the harbor since the British settled the area. About 20,000 soldiers were stationed there during WW2. After WW2 and into the 1960's ballistic Nike missiles (nuclear?) were based there. Today there is still a coast guard base. But most of the buildings from WW2 are empty, looking like an abandoned city. Today lots of people come to the hook to swim, bike, and fish. It is a beautiful peninsula with a view of New York across the water.

Some of the WW2 guns are still in place. The gun in the picture could accurately target a ship over 15 miles away, and had a barrel about 20 feet long (they had much bigger ones too). In the photo I am looking into the sight, which is targeting a tour boat about a mile off the coast.

It is incredible that so much cool military history is right next to some hugely popular beaches. If you like military things, take the tour.

Vampires and twilight

I shared in church a few weeks ago some of the many things wrong with the current vampire fixation. Here is another, from Charisma magazine, June 2010.

The author of Twilight got the idea in a dream of a handsome boy in a meadow who was in love with a human girl and having a hard time resisting his desire to drink her blood. The author felt compelled to write the story out when she woke up.

After she wrote the story, she was visited by Edward, the main character, in another dream. "Edward actually showed up and told me that I got it all wrong and like, he exists and everything but he couldn't live off animals... and I kind of got the sense he was going to kill me. It was really terrifying and bizarrely difference from every other time I've thought about his character."

This is a classic demonic visitation. Christians should avoid this stuff like the plague.

Israel and Gaza

What is happening in Israel is both prophetic and scary. Israel is becoming increasingly despised and isolated through the world. America no longer strongly supportS Israel, and will reap judgment as a result (do you know that the gulf oil spill happened on Israel's independence day?). Also, Turkey has turned hostile to Israel and joined the Muslim bloc after years as its friend. Prophecy clearly says that the final attack on Israel will come heavily from the north, which is exactly where Turkey and Russia are.

We live in prophetic days.

Odd dream

I am not sure this one is prophetic, but maybe it is. I was at home, and someone gave me a big shipment of new nice gray polo shirts, at least 20. I washed them and took them to church. Then I gave them out to people, and the shirts just kind of kept coming as I gave them out, as if they were multiplying.

Any thoughts on this? We are going on a missions trip to Haiti in a month, maybe it has to do with this.

Spiritual experience

A few minutes ago I went out to the front of the church to spray poison ivy, which was entangled in the shrubs. As I turned around, I had a strong sense of a person next to me. But no one was there! It was an awesome experience, and made me feel like worshipping. When I looked at the spot, I realized that it was an angel right there. Maybe it is a visitor, an angel assigned to the church who is always there, or one assigned to me.

I believe that angels are continually with us, but only once in a while do we sense them. It is cool when this happens.

My GPS made me do it

The other day a 17 year old driver in Manalapan caused a 4 car accident by making an illegal left turn on Rt. 33. His alibi?-"My GPS told me to turn left."

This does raise an interesting question- how much do you trust your GPS? How often do you "disobey" it? Would the "GPS defense" stand up in court? Are GPS devices a form of robot who are out to control and eradicate the human race?

Dream

I had a strange dream last night, and have no idea what it means. I walked into the lobby of a NJ church, Calvary Temple in Wayne. I walked all around the lobby, but kept getting lost in it, and could not leave, either into the sanctuary or outside. I was stuck in the lobby indefinitely.

Such are the dreams of a pastor. Maybe I need counseling! Any ideas what it might mean?

Cute cat photo

Here is Tabitha playing with a stream of water.
She is looking at you!

Aardvark

Chicago has a great zoo, Brookfield. We have been to a lot of zoos across the country, and we saw some animals at Brookfield which I have never seen before. Here is a picture of an aardvark- pretty handsome, right?

On the right is an unknown creature. I think when Jaskos graduate, they morph into strange animals.

Christina graduation

Well, Christina finally did it! We attended her graduation in Chicago last weekend, and it was a good ceremony (usually these things put you to sleep. I remember sitting through a long address in nearly 100 degree weather at my brother's graduation when I was young). John Ortberg, the pastor, writer of many Christian books, and Wheaton graduate, gave a great talk on "For Christ and His Kingdom" (Wheaton's motto).

Thanks to so many who have prayed for Christina's health. She is stronger now than at any time since she first got sick in 8th grade. I am believing God for a full recovery. She is looking for a job in Christian writing of some sort- she is a phenomenal writer.

Another dream

Today I had a dream which I think was prophetic. I walked into a post office, and there on the floor in front of me was a white #10 envelope. I picked it up. It was stuffed full of money, lots of big (100 and 50) bills, as well as small bills. It also had a passport and an airline ticket (I think). I thought "I need to look at the passport so I can return this." The name on the passport was William (the name of my father and also oldest brother). After seeing that, I felt that this somehow meant that I was being sent on a trip or mission by/representing my family. Then I awoke.

Any interpretations?

Prayer in Covered Bridge

Today I prayer walked up and down Rt. 9 by Covered Bridge (a huge adult community) in Manalapan. I have always wanted to explore the constructed covered bridge on Rt. 9 marking the entrance to the development. So I walked in it and found just 1 thing inside on the seats- a copy of the Jehovah's Witness Watchtower magazine! I was shocked. I picked it up and threw
it in the next trash can, so no one would be deceived by it.

I wish we Christians were as zealous as the JWs.

Ministering to ministers

Thanks to those who prayed! I spoke at 3 separate seminars last week to about 150 ministers. It was great, and went very well. This is something I have a burden for, to share what I have learned, and the mistakes I have made, to help other pastors to reach people for Christ and to get their churches to grow. I spoke on "Maximizing Your Ministries", which included starting ministries, managing them, stopping them, and training ministry leaders.

Some of the toughest questions asked-
-what are the biggest mistakes you have made? (ask me in person, and I will tell you)
-what do you do with a ministry/leader who has their own agenda?
-can you fire a volunteer?

Pastor Jasko #2 (or is it #4?)

It's official, my son Andrew is becoming our new youth pastor (Obadiah is going to start a church in New York City). He introduced himself Sunday as Pastor Jasko. Someone said he was Pastor Jasko #2. Actually there are 2 other NJ Assemblies of God Rev. Jaskos, my brother and my nephew, though neither is a pastor. But this makes 4 of us at family gatherings, which may intimidate some! In any case, I am very proud of my son, and looking forward to having him work with the church.

Free at last

Recently I finished a 10 year project, putting 3 kids through college. It is hard to believe that I have been sending outrageous amounts of money to the midwest monthly for so long. The hardest part was during the time when Andrew and Christina overlapped in school for 2 years, and we had to pay double (at the same time as our church building campaign). Here is a picture of my last college payment.

But now I am free! I plan to increase my giving sharply.

A rush from Greek

Lately I have been reading Wuest's "Word Studies from the Greek New Testament" in my devotions. You don't need to know Greek to read the book. I took Greek years ago, and it is an incredibly expressive language. Reading it (or about it in English) gives you a spiritual rush.

For example, Wuest points out the famous verse "Faith is the substance of things hoped for (Hebrews 11:1). He notes that the word "substance" is used for the concept of "title deed" in secular Greek. So faith means we have what we possess faith for without full possession, as long as we have the title deed of faith. This is staggering.

Also, consider Eph. 5:18-19, "be filled with the Spirit." In Greek, this is an imperative- we are ordered to be filled, and sinning if we are not. It is present- now be filled. It is continuous, we are to keep doing it. It is corporate, we are to be filled as a church and group. All this is in the 1 word "filled".

I love Greek.

Our cat Tabitha

Here are some photos of our cat Tabitha, and the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey says. After we got her a few weeks ago, she became deathly sick. She stopped eating, drinking and moving. Louise took her to a vet, who said she had feline distemper, and would probably not make it ("but there's always hope").

Thanks for those who knew and prayed! After two days of constant sleep, she gradually began to eat and drink and strengthen. After several more days, she was totally back to normal.

We named her Tabitha after the woman in Acts who was raised from the
dead. Also, she is a tabby cat, and you
can call her "Tab" for short. She has
energy and personality ("cuteness to
women") in abundance. Feel free to
come by some time to see her while
she is so young and playful.

Someone said she is the most
prayed for cat in Manalapan!

Church after the big storm

Yesterday morning was an unusual service. With a thin early service crowd due to the time change hour loss, a huge storm erupted during the message. The lights flickered several times, and then one-third of the electricity went out in church until evening.

We couldn't use our video projectors to show either of the two videos (we will show "rooftop evangelist" in the future to the later service, it is a classic), message notes, scriptures, or song lyrics in the later service. Some of our classrooms were dark. Several of our members were up most of the night bailing out their basements, since their sump pumps were out due to an extended power loss.

Jesus didn't use technology, but I never realized how dependent we were on it.

Manalapan- a great place to live

This was an exciting week for my town. Thursday, a mountain lion was likely seen off my road, about a mile away. Several people saw it, including an animal control officer who was certain of it. No one knows where it came from, since mountain lions only live out west- was it released, did it escape? Be sure to keep your pets and children inside.

The same day, the police arrested a man in southern Manalapan (15 Stayman Court) who had turned his rented home into a pot farm. In this and 4 other rented homes in nearby towns, the group was growing over 33,000 marijuana plants with countless internal lights and equipment, some of which illegally tapped non-metered electricity.

There is a sign coming into town- "Manalapan, a great place to live." With its mountain lions and pot farm, it's a jungle out there!

Alice in Wonderland

This movie is fun- we saw it last night. It reminds me of Narnia and Lord of the Rings at the same time.

I have the answer to the unanswered riddle which Johnny Depp (the Mad Hatter) keeps asking- "What is the connection between a raven and a writing desk?" Both tie in with Edgar Allen Poe- he wrote "The Raven" at a writing desk (there were no computers back then). A little known fact of trivia is that Poe's poem is about Charles Dickens' pet bird, whom Poe acquired after it died and was stuffed. Today the raven is in a museum in Philadelphia, and a minor tourist attraction.

I'll bet you didn't know this!

Purim, 2010

Most of us know the story of Purim. An evil man (Haman) got into a place of great power in Persia, and nearly destroyed all the Jews in the empire. But God intervened and turned things around, rescuing the Jews, and turning potential disaster into victory.

What is interesting are the parallels today. The Jews in Israel are threatened by the same power- Iran, which is modern Persia. The same old Iranian demon is still trying to destroy the Jews! And the leader (Ahmadinejad) today is a modern Haman. He has spoken openly about wanting to erase Israel from the middle east, and has developed nuclear weapons with the goal of destroying Israel. Yet few people see him as that dangerous, except the Israelis. This reminds me of the way Hitler was viewed in the 1930's.

The lesson of the book of Esther is that God will raise up deliverance from somewhere for the Jews. But it could be really messy. Keep your eyes on Iran.

Dream

The other day I had two unusual dreams in one night. One was prophetic, but private, and I can't share it here. But here is the other. We were looking through our house. Every drawer, cabinet and spot was filled with drawings and stories by my son Timothy. But one drawer had an incredibly valuable treasure created by him. We were hunting everywhere to find the treasure when I woke up.

Any ideas on what this could mean?

Chinese New Year

Last week we saw the Chinese New Year celebration in Philadelphia. There was a parade where store owners hung out long (about 8 feet) strings of fireworks. A man dressed up lit the fireworks, whose noise is supposed to drive off demons, and then he waved a stick around to scare off the spirits. Meanwhile, several lions made up of people danced in an effort to help drive away the demons. The store/restaurant owner also hangs a head of lettuce out as some kind of offering.

It was all very weird and festive.

Our new kitten

Here is a picture of our new kitten, whom we got from a local pet store Saturday. We are soliciting names- we think the cat is a she (but are not sure). If you want to visit and meet her, let us know and come by.

Any ideas for names?

Ralph's

How many people know that the second oldest Italian restaurant is in... Philadelphia? It is Ralph's a great place right near South St., and not far from the historic district. We had a good time there-I recommend it if you are near.

Cooper's hawk

Last Monday an incredible bird fly into our back yard and sat on our well. It was about a foot and a half high, and very cool looking. Here is a photo from the back- beautiful feathers. It is a Cooper's hawk, also known as a chicken hawk, since it primarily eats smaller birds, including sparrows, robins and chickens. When I tried to get a closer photo, it took off. I have never seen one close before, we usually see red-tailed hawks around here.

US national debt

Last week in church I spoke about getting out of debt, and shared some statistics which shocked a lot of people. Here is some info on what we as Americans owe-
-Each of us now owes about $40,000, much to enemies of America, which is $160,000 for a family of 4.
-2010 government spending is now 40% borrowed- from the future and our children. This is equal to a family making $60,000 a year, and spending $100,000 every year, while also having huge debts to pay out of the 60K. Clearly this can't go on very long, but our irresponsible government is doing exactly that.
-The national debt of about $12 trillion is hard for anyone to comprehend. Imagine it this way- George Clooney just hosted a relief effort which raised 66 million for Haiti, a lot of money. If this was applied to the debt every day, it would take this amount of money every day for 156 years to pay off the debt!

Unless we demand a balanced budget and the reduction of the deficit and debt, it will destroy our country's economy in 20 years. We (if we are young) and our children will have a standard of living much lower than what we have now. Our economy will probably collapse.

The saddest thing is that the destruction of our country is being done by us to ourselves.

Jesus as a child

While studying James (the brother of Jesus) I read some about Jesus as a child. Imagine as a parent, having a child who was perfect-really! Never a lie, exaggeration, attitude, nothing but perfect obedience and attitude. I wonder how his brothers and sisters (Scripture records at least 6 of them) related to Jesus. Did they try to emulate Him as their oldest brother? Did His perfection convict them? Were they jealous of Him? What did they think when He was proclaimed Messiah?
Early in His ministry they thought He was crazy, but later they came around to believe.

It's interesting to think about having a perfect child/brother, an issue none of us have!

The cop and the fox

It was a weird night yesterday. On my way to church, I was stopped by a cop in front of Marlboro town headquarters. When I asked her why I was stopped (bracing myself for a ticket), she said "Your license plate lights are off." I said, "I had no idea!" She said, "Most people don't, you won't get a ticket if your paperwork is in order." I drove off, determined to fix those light bulbs!

A mile away, driving up Rt. 79, a fox ran across the road in front of my car.

Are these connected?

Responding to Haiti

The Haiti earthquake has been heartbreaking for us here, especially with so many in our church with relatives there. The sister of one of our members was crushed under her home, and died a little while later.

Here's how we can respond-
1. Pray- for relief, workers, supplies, comfort, salvations- there are no end of things to pray for.
2. Give- the Convoy of Hope, a large Assemblies of God charity formed to respond to crises like these, is the best option there. They have a program which was feeding 7,000 people a day before the quake, and the huge food warehouse was restocked right before the quake, by the hand of God. In the first week after the quake, they already handed out 290,000 meals, and their work is accelerating now. Your money goes much further with them, as they do not have to hire new workers (they have staffers and local church people volunteering), and they are using existing church and warehouse space (instead of renting space like other charities). They also will share and minister Christ to the people, which will not happen with secular charities. Convoy (www.convoyofhope.org) works with the 66,000 plus AG members and 270 churches which are already on the ground. I already gave online to them, and encourage you to do so too, if you haven't yet.
3. Go- as you may know, our 2010 missions trip is scheduled for Haiti. I have 50 tickets reserved for us in July. We are hoping to change the emphasis of the trip to relief work. As more details come out of Haiti, we will let you know. But I am sure they will need relief, medical and construction help for a long time.

Keep it all in prayer.

Gay marriage vote

As you probably know by now, the bill to legalize gay marriage failed in NJ this week by a vote of 20 to 14, with 5 senators either not voting or absent. This is a victory, though the gay lobby is turning to the courts now to get marriage legalized here. But thanks to the many who contacted your representatives, especially senators. Our local senator Jennifer Beck said that she was very personally conflicted about the issue, but decided to represent the views of her constituents (us!), who overwhelmingly told her office that marriage should not be redefined. Your calls and emails mattered!

If you want to see Beck's statement, or the inside scoop on how the vote went and your senator voted, send me an email.

It's so cold...

It's so cold that iguanas are falling out of trees in Florida. I heard twice on the news this week that when temperatures fall into the 40's, iguanas lose their grip, and fall out of the trees (watch out below!). They don't die from the cold, but just stop moving basically and lie there on the ground. They get started again when it warms up, sometimes days later.

Gay marriage vote

Please pray today that gay marriage will not be legalized in NJ. Tomorrow our state senate is scheduled to vote on it. If it passes there, it will likely be approved in the state assembly, and would definitely be signed by our departing governor (may he depart soon!). There has been an outpouring of popular opposition to its legalization- hopefully our representatives have heard.