Trip to Brooklyn

All my Brooklyn friends should be proud of me for venturing into the heart of Brooklyn this week. We had to get Christina to LaGuardia airport in the morning, and were looking for places to hang out for the day before seeing "Elf" that night (a lot of fun, with several good moral messages). After looking around, we chose the Brooklyn Museum of Art, only about a half hour drive from the airport.  This is a beautiful museum, newly renovated and spacious. It has a great and large Egypt collection of artifacts, which have always fascinated me, since they are just about the oldest civilization in the world (thousands of years older than Israel, which is itself incredibly old). We spent an enjoyable 5 hours there without even seeing everything. And it is not half as crowded as any of the famous Manhattan museums.

Bible reading

Each year I read through the Bible on the church reading plan, along with all the notes and annotations of a different version.  I have been through the Dake's Bible, John Maxwell Leadership Bible, Message, Cottonpatch Bible,  and various other Bibles this way.  But the Archaeological Bible this past year was by far the best one I have read through.  I originally picked it up in preparation for the trip to Israel, but was enthralled by its history and description of places and customs.  It is really good, and has pictures of most of the famous places we saw.  If anyone wants to borrow it, let me know, it is that enriching.

On to the "Life Application Bible" this year.  Ask me in 12 months how it was.

God speaking

The other day I read Col 4:2-3, where Paul talks about God opening a door for him.  I felt God speak to me that He was going to open a new door for me and the church in the coming months to share the
Gospel.  Let's see what it is!

Haiti trip

2010 earthquake memorial  (over 25,000 buried here)

Beautiful Haitian orphans at orphanage

Food at Convoy of Hope warehouse-note the label

Last week I traveled with a group of 18 NJ ministers to Haiti. We were sponsored by the Convoy of Hope ministry, which does incredible relief and emergency work throughout the world . We visited schools, orphanages, a Bible school,  churches and a huge warehouse full of relief food and supplies.  The country has rebounded some from the 2010 earthquake, but still needs lots of help. We met many Christian and secular groups helping out. Most churches have grown dramatically since the quake. We took a team there in 2010 six months after the quake. Maybe we will go back!

Ken and Pastor Dort from Elizabeth