Breakfast with Will Graham

Pastor Joe and I attended a very inspiring breakfast with Will Graham yesterday with about 30 other pastors. As you can see from the photo, he looks just like his famous grandfather Bill Graham. And he talks like him too!

Some points to take home-
1. There is unusual momentum in our area for the celebration. There has been a much greater response than normal to the classes and seminars. The Graham staff think that an unusually large number of people will come to Christ based on the interest, and that God is doing something special in our area. We want to be part of this.

2. Will said that at this time we need to make prayer for the lost a priority, with only 2 months to go.

3. Will exhorted us NOT to invite people, but to bring them with us (like in our car). He said upwards of 80% of those who come who need Christ are brought by others, not invited, and certainly don't come via media or ads. He also said he did not want us to bring Christians, as believers so often do. Bring someone who needs Jesus!

It was all quite inspiring. Hope you can attend the life and witness classes this week.

Listen to the Spirit

An unusual thing happened recently. I was walking and praying the whole week at Battleground State Park in Manalapan. There are many walkers and joggers there on any given morning, but one caught my attention for no reason. I almost stopped to talk to her Thursday, but did not.

The next day as I drove in, there was Julie Verdi walking with her! It turns out that Julie has been extensively witnessing to her at the park, and walking with her too. I guess I should have doing this also. She is very open.

How many times do we miss hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit?

News

Several people have asked how Christina is doing. The answer is "great"! Her job was just upgraded to full-time from part-time and she is handling it well physically. Thanks to your prayers and God's help, she is getting stronger every day.

Check out my comments (and Lamarr Rivers') on rap music in 3-20-2011 issue of the Asbury Park Press. But the best things I said never made the article.

Sailor's valentine

We saw these at the Shell museum on Sanibel Island, a great place to visit. Sailors used to make incredibly complex pictures out of shells for their wives and girlfriends. They were popular to give them for special occasions. Each spot is a shell, some small and some larger. These must have taken days to make, but are beautiful. The picture does not do them justice, enlarge it to see the detail.

Where is this?- answered

Welcome to what may be the largest home in Manalapan. You are looking at One Precedent Place, in the south below Rt. 33, on the left. It is basically 2 large homes with a connector which is a small home. On the right is a lake at Thompson Grove Park, a beautiful and solitary place to visit, also in Manalapan. This lake backs up to Millhurst Mills. Susan Hassan ultimately figured out the home photo, but no one got the park photo.

Henry Ford needed encouragement

Here is a statue of Edison at his summer home in Fort Myers. Surrounding it is the largest banyan tree in the continental US. Edison and Ford both had adjacent summer homes here, which today are the area's biggest tourist attraction. You must see them if you are here, it is amazing all that Edison invented- the electric light bulb, motion pictures, much improved batteries, phonographs, stock tickers, and countless other things we take for granted today.

Edison was about 20 years older than Henry Ford, who looked up to him. History tells us that the unknown Ford met the famous Edison when Ford was working on producing his first car. Edison was intrigued with Ford's ideas for his car (especially his fossil fuel internal combustion engine), and encouraged him to keep at it. Ford said that this encouragement from his idol kept him going through dark and difficult days until he created the model A.
Ford ultimately became famous and much richer than Edison, and they became great friends. But Ford never forgot Edison's encouragement when he was unknown and needed it.

If Ford needed this, how much more do we? Let's encourage each other to keep going.

Enemy territory

Imagine my shock driving back from the "Southern Kitchen", a southern style restaurant in Fort Myers (really good, inexpensive food like my mother-in-law cooked). There we are right in front of the Boston Red Sox spring training stadium! It is right in the middle of the city, and of course is an incredible eyesore (look at the picture). We drove around and took a few pictures for those misguided friends of ours who have yet to appreciate the glory of the New York Yankees.

Living down here would be a trial. I saw Boston Red Sox hats and shirts all over. With all its beauty, Fort Myers is enemy territory.

Mighty molluscs of Sanibel Island

Several weeks ago we went to Sanibel Island in Florida, a mecca for shell collectors. I can't say I know a lot about shells, but they had fantastic things on the beach. On the left is a live fighting whelk, the state shell of Florida. On the right is me looking through the flotsam at some pretty cool stuff.

There is a college in Washington whose mascot is the banana slug. They call themselves "the mighty molluscs!"

Japan

One thing amazing about the chaos in some parts of Japan- there are no looters. Even as people in the tsunami affected areas are running out of food, people are still law-abiding.

If you want a great ministry which is already reaching out to the people in need, try supporting Convoy of Hope. They are an emergency ministry of the Assemblies of God which is set up to send food, medical aid and the Gospel to crisis areas.