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.