Rev. Ken Jasko - Monmouth Worship Center in Marlboro, NJ

Bible Superbowl prediction

2012-01-27T13:17:00.000-08:00

You may recall that I called the Superbowl within 1 point last year, based on scriptural references and inferences. I can't tell you the number of people who were amazed over my Bible-sports prophecy. One man in church was actually kind of in awe of me after. It was sort of scary.

Well, what does the Bible say for this year? (apart from the fact I am rooting hard for the Giants)

Giants were feared by the Israelites, and temporarily kept them out of the land (end zone?)due to unbelief. They looked strong and powerful until confronted. But ultimately the giants all were tackled and fell. They were evil. The bigger they were, the harder they fell (think about Goliath). They were finally fully exterminated. They were wiped out.

Another thought is found in 1 Samuel 2:12-"The sons of Eli were worthless men, they did not know the Lord." They were harshly judged by God. Surely this is also not good news for Eli Manning, the Giants' quarterback.

On the other hand, New England claims to be Patriots. But surely this is false advertising. New England is probably the least godly part of the country, having first legalized gay marriage, as well as slavery (just learned this Wednesday in the Black History class). It is easily the weakest area of the country for the Gospel. Churches are generally few, small, and weak up there. And Massachusetts ranks up there as among the worst in all this.

Tough prediction. Boston by 3.

Today is...

2012-01-24T15:15:00.000-08:00

Today is National Peanut Butter day.

I love pb. When I was a kid, we used to eat peanut butter on hot dogs (it is good). Now I love peanut butter chocolate ice cream.

What is your favorite peanut butter combo?

Vision of America

2012-01-09T14:54:00.000-08:00

Saturday night at the prayer meeting for the nation, state, towns, I had a vision. Someone mentioned that the US had been a place of refuge for peoples from all over the world. At this I saw a light-up map of the US. Then I heard the voice of God saying, "No longer will America be a place of refuge, it is now under my judgment. People will flee and leave it, no longer will peoples come to it. But there will remain a few cities of refuge in it." I saw the light of the map go out, but a few lights on the map remained.

Not such good times ahead. None of the lights were in the northeast.

Why go to Israel?

2011-11-04T13:33:00.000-07:00

Israel is a place every Christian should visit once in their lifetime. Why?-I broke the reasons into past, present and future-

Past-
-to walk in the steps of Jesus is incredible. It will bring the stories of the Bible alive.
-you can go to Capernaum (where Jesus lived), the Sea of Galilee (try walking on water there if you want!), Mt Carmel (where Elijah battled the false prophets), Jerusalem, the city of David- these are real places that still exist.
-there is an unusual sense of God's presence in Israel. I am not into holy places, but you can feel God's presence at the Western Wall so heavily.

Present-
-this will be one of the great spiritual experiences of your life. Believe me, it will be.
-Israel is the center of 3 continents, and a fascinating mix of cultures.
-it is small, the size and population of NJ, and thus easy to get around.
-it will give you a great understanding of the Jewish people and culture.
-God says His eye is always on it. To Him, it is the center of the world.
-you will understand the perpetual political struggles over this land when you visit it, and see how small and pivotal it is.
-it is safe, we will not go to any dangerous places, like Gaza.

Future-
-Israel is where world history ends. You can visit Armageddon, the site of the last battle, and the Mount of Olives, where Jesus will return to earth. This will so enrich your understanding of prophecy.
-you will walk where the Jewish temple was, and will be rebuilt in the future. People there are planning this now.

If there is any way you can get in on this trip, do it. It will be the spiritual experience of a lifetime. We have our interest meeting on November 20 after church.

Interesting facts about the Reformation

2011-10-31T11:50:00.000-07:00

In the course of studying about the Reformation for Sunday's message, I learned many interesting facts. Here are a few.

1. The Reformation was promoted by a new technology, the printing press. Luther's supporters published countless flyers and pamphlets with his writings.
2. Luther's salary was paid in part by income derived from tourists who came to see his employer's extensive collection of relics. Frederick " the Wise" had over 16,000 relics, most of which were fake and incredibly superstitious.
3. Frederick was raised up by God to protect him, without him Luther would have been destroyed by the church and pope early on. Frederick the Wise was just far enough from Rome, strong enough, and smart enough to keep Luther alive.
4. Luther may have been motivated to post his theses by Halloween. The church replaced pagan Halloween with All Saints' Day, which was a huge time for people to come and venerate the saints and the collection of relics. Anticipation of this huge crowd may be why Luther posted when he did.
5. Columbus discovered America only 9 years after Luther's birth. Maybe God prepared America at this time for refugees of the religious persecution coming from the backlash against the Reformation.
6. Jan Hus, often called the Morningstar of the Reformation, gave basically the same message as Luther 100 years earlier in Prague. He was burnt at the stake by the church for heresy, but prepared the way for the Reformation. He is considered the national hero of the Czech Republic. His huge statue in the center of Prague (I was there about 4 years ago) brought tears to my eyes.
7. The Reformation only succeeded in countries which were never controlled by the Roman empire. Ex-Roman countries stayed with Catholicism, which was also tied in with a political commitment to Rome.
8. A century after the Reformation and continuing to today, the new Protestant Reformation countries became more prosperous and prominent than the Catholic countries, due to the teachings of the Reformation.

Dream

2011-10-31T11:47:00.000-07:00

Friday night I had an odd dream. I saw a very short ugly lady standing in front of me, who was a demon and blocking my way. I tried to rebuke her so I could move on, but could not. After several tries I was able to say the name Jesus, and she moved aside and I was able to move ahead.

Moneyball

2011-10-25T07:11:00.000-07:00

This is a really good movie, regardless of whether or not you like baseball (if you like baseball, it is a fantastic movie). It is a true story, my favorite type of movie.

Word to me

2011-10-25T07:09:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks God has been speaking to me, as He said to Joshua, "I have given you this city."
I believe this means an unusual turning to God in Marlboro, as well as much of the surrounding area.

Exciting times are ahead!

Visit to Joe McCain's church in North Carolina

2011-10-13T18:57:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago I was honored to be the guest speaker at Pastor
Joe McCain's church in Raleigh, NC, for their new building dedication. The rented space is in a strip mall off a main road. The area is booming with lots of building (a shock, there is very little construction in NJ right now). I spoke on "The Power of Dreams" from the life of Joseph (the origin of Joe's name). Several people in the church used to be in MWC (see the Fredericks on the left). Afterward we had a celebratory dinner at a local Chinese buffet, and then watched some football at Joey's apartment. It was a good time of being together, and hopefully giving the church a fresh vision for the future. Pray for God's blessing and growth on the church.

Our grandchild Lydia

2011-10-13T18:43:00.001-07:00

Lydia Xin-Mei Jasko was born in Lancaster, PA, on October 6. Her middle name means "beautiful heart." We are excited about being grandparents. I plan to do an extensive Bible study on their
role, and the influence of older adults on their grandchildren, to get me ready for this new role.

My son Timothy and daughter-in-law Jennifer are doing well as new parents.

Prophetic dream

2011-10-08T09:18:00.000-07:00

The other day I dreamed that we had bought a new house. It much much larger and newer than our current one. I walked around and almost got lost. Christina was asleep in a bedroom, and I was surprised to see her. We still had the old house.

I read a book on Christian dream interpretation a year ago. This is a common dream, and speaks of moving into new gifts, potential, and opportunities. It speaks of growth and blessing.
I look forward to the fulfillment!

Princeton vision

2011-09-17T13:11:00.000-07:00

For you fans of Princeton, last Sunday I had an unusual vision of Princeton. I was getting ready for our early service at my church on 9-11, which was a difficult day, as everyone in our area knows someone who died in the Twin Towers (14 people from Marlboro alone died there, and one from our church). My mind was totally on the service, but on way up to our church platform I had a vision of Princeton.

I saw a cloud, which was clearly God's glory, hovering over the Henry courtyard. Later it occurred to me that day was the introductory day for freshmen at Princeton, when they are cheered on through the gates.

I am believing God for great things at Princeton this year!

Snakes

2011-09-17T13:08:00.000-07:00

For two nights I have had bad dreams of snakes biting me . The first night they were trying to wrap around my lower body, and the second night one was following me and trying to bite my feet. Both were clearly satanic, and I rebuked them in my sleep.

Such is the spiritual warfare cost of being a pastor.

We've got Jesus!

2011-09-15T14:21:00.000-07:00

I love this story! Two nationally ranked high school football teams played each other. One school started taunting the other (all-male Catholic school) with "we've got girls". The other chanted back "we've got Jesus!". This set off a firestorm, with the "girls' school" coach screaming at the chanting fans.

The team that had Jesus won 17-14.

9-11

2011-09-15T14:19:00.000-07:00

I am sobered that I was on top of the World Trade Center a few months before 9-11 with guests from France. Only God protects us.

Last week I was checking through some Psalms speaking of God's protection of us. Check out Psalm 9-11 (91:1)- it is most relevant! Is this a coincidence?

Rain

2011-08-22T08:02:00.000-07:00

It's funny how you never appreciate having something until you lose it.

We have had heavy rains the past 10 days. But when we were in Arizona the prior 10 days, I was stunned at how dry the desert is. Tucson has had a total of 2.7 inches of rain this whole year, and 5 plus inches the year before. All life in the desert is dependent on rain, which we take for granted in NJ. We had more rain this past week than Tucson probably had for the past year and a half.

I will complain about rain less!

General Council in Phoenix

2011-08-04T13:57:00.000-07:00

For those who don't know, I am in Phoenix since Monday. The Assemblies of God holds a general meeting every 2 years for inspiration and business. There are over 20,000 people here from all over the country and world. Youth are involved in the Fine Arts Festival. We have had services at night, and business metings and elections during the day. It has been a chance to see old friends (lots of missionaries and others here), and to catch up on what is going on in the larger body of Christ. Plus, there is a trade show area with many companies that sell products to Christians. Pastor Joe and I are having a contest to see who can get the coolest free thing and the most costly free thing (most of the venders are giving away promotional items ranging from candy to Ipads- the best stuff like Ipads are won via drawings, not given away)).

It is incredibly hot here, up to 111 degrees yesterday, with little greenery to absorb the heat (this is a hot spell even for them). They say that it is a dry heat, but so is the inside of my oven!

This is always a good spiritual experience.

Meijer sculpture garden

2011-07-30T19:01:00.000-07:00

This great photo is from the big Meijer garden. This is a replica of a 24' foot horse, the model of which was made by DaVinci, but never cast as he planned (his original model was used by the French for target practice when they captured his city).

As you can see, this horse can get pretty aggressive and tries to stomp people. Only by luck and speed was I able to escape being stomped.

Gerald Ford museum

2011-07-30T18:52:00.001-07:00

Last weekend we went to see Christina in Grand Rapids. It is a beautiful city, nothing like the Detroit and Michigan I imagined (it is 150 miles away from Detroit, and residents always say they live in "western Michigan").

The top attraction was the Gerald Ford Museum. He was from Grand Rapids. It was outstanding, a real time capsule of his few years as President. A few facts about Ford:
1. He is the only President who was never elected as President or Vice-President.
2. His original name was not Ford, as his mother was divorced when he was very young, and her husband adopted him, and gave him his name Ford.
3. The big issue of his day was whether to pardon Nixon and draft dodgers from Vietnam (he pardoned both).
4. The Bible verse of Proverbs 3:5-6 was a key comfort to him.
5. His ultimate goal in life was to become minority leader of the House, which he became. But to everyone's surprise, he went from there to Vice-President and President.

Finding the family cat

2011-07-30T18:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we rescued our family cat. Before dinner she was outside on a leash, and got free. When I got home, Louise was frantically looking for her all over our property and nearby, but she was nowhere to be found. After searching for half an hour, a severe rainstorm began, and we went inside to eat dinner, planning to go back hunting when it slowed down.

After dinner we began the hunt again. Finally Louise found her under a huge thicket in woods on our property. But it is almost impossible to get in there, and then the storm restarted, this time with torrential rain and lightning nearby. We went in the house for cover.

After more time, we went out to the thicket. The cat was terrified and wet, and would not come.
We circled around it, and after many mosquito bites, were able to grab the cat.

I hope she appreciates this!

My garden

2011-06-24T12:00:00.000-07:00

Most people don't know that I am a hard-core gardener. My dad taught me this when I was young. I have always loved nature and outdoors, along with animals and of course minerals and fossils. In high school I even took care of the family garden, weeding and all. If I had a thousand lives, one of them would be spent as a gentleman gardener (to do it all the time would be hot and hard work, others would do the weeding!)

Tuesday was a great day, I spent half of it planting my garden. It was cool and overcast, perfect planting weather. I put in green beans, pole beans, okra, lettuce, 2 kinds of tomatillo, 4 types of pumpkins (regular, dill giant, white and jack-be-little), gourds, squash (zucchini, yellow, butternut, others), cucumbers, shallots, kohlrabi, and many tomatoes (better boy, brandywine-an Amish heirloom-the best tasting tomato, roma, polish linguisa, sweet million and a few others), which I grew from seed.

The coolest thing, which has never happened to me before, is that a box turtle was in our garden a week ago, and buried a nest of her eggs there, right in the middle! So we may have baby turtles along with our tomatoes from our garden.

If you are by our house, stop by and I will show you the garden.

Building dedication

2011-06-24T11:54:00.001-07:00

We had a glorious celebration last Saturday. We have been in the building about 5 months now, and have it in pretty good shape. It was nearly a full house, with lots of music, speeches, prayer, food and rejoicing! The mayor of Marlboro (Jon Hornik) and the superintendent of the NJ Assemblies of God Carl Colletti addressed us. It was a memorable day.

The Board of Chosen Freeholders celebrated "this auspicious occasion and proclaims this day, Saturday, June 18, 2011 as 'Monmouth Worship Center Day'." This is kind of cool. You can see the declaration on the plaque on the welcome center.

Church location facts

2011-06-13T18:07:00.001-07:00

Here are some interesting facts about our new location-
1. The original marl pits after which Marlboro was named are in the back of the church property. People say all sorts of fossils, including dinosaur bones, have been found there.
2. We are across from a very new development, and right down the street from the original Marlboro Village, built around the Civil War.
3. The bike path intersecting Vanderburg will be 26 miles when finished, and go from Freehold Borough all the way to Sandy Hook when completed. It is beautiful.
4. Witherspoon Street across the way is named after a famous American (not Reese!) John Witherspoon was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and President of the College of New Jersey (today Princeton). He was a major influence in the colonies, and a great Christian.

Question- who was Vanderburg?

What a way to wake up

2011-05-28T11:30:00.000-07:00

Wednesday I awoke to the loud sound of a car crash right in front of my house. There was a loud thud of metal hitting metal. We live on a main road, and people often go faster than they should. When I looked out the window, an SUV had hit a mini-van. I hope everyone was OK. The minivan's rear was pretty crunched up, and the vehicle had to be towed away on a flatbed. The other car drove away. Broken glass and car parts were all over the street.

Kind of a jarring way to wake up.

Will Graham celebration

2011-05-18T11:13:00.000-07:00

Last night was the training for supervisors in the celebration this weekend. This is shaping up to be a big event, with the Ocean Grove auditorium expected to be full every night. I pray that we as a church step up to this and bring and invite many people. Our goal is 20 new people to be added to the church through this.

Stay tuned for more details.

A Fox day

2011-05-18T11:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I finally met Herod the fox. Several people around church have seen him, but only yesterday did he appear to me. He was trotting at a good pace around the water detention pond, where many upset geese and goslings were watching him. He looked like a small red-brown dog, but pretty thin. I have named him Herod, as Jesus called him a fox. He has a bird in his mouth.

The irony is that I was photographed on fox (news) the same night (was Herod prophetic?). They were doing a story on the ACLU threatening Neptune on the use of the Ocean Grove auditorium for graduation. I was there for the Will Graham celebration supervisor training, and ended up clearly seen in the news the next morning (sorry, no words of mine). I guess this was my 2 seconds of fame!

Let me know if you meet our church pet.

A movie not to be missed

2011-05-07T16:55:00.000-07:00

We went to see "Soul surfer" the other day. This is a great movie, the true story of Bethany Hamilton, a 13 year old Christian surfer girl in Hawaii who had her arm bitten off by a shark. It is currently at most movie theaters.

Why is this so good?
1. Great message, of how a person coped with personal tragedy.
2. PG
3. Great surfing footage
4. Beautiful pictures of Hawaii, a number of which I recognized.
5. The youth pastor is a hero.
6. Her breakthrough happened on a missions trip, great depiction of what God can do on them.
7. Good movie for a teen.

This really is too good to miss.

Jersey Boys story

2011-05-01T15:42:00.001-07:00

For my birthday we went to see the Broadway show "Jersey Boys", which I have wanted to do for a long time. I am an oldies junkie, and also grew up in the area where some of them were from. The show was a lot of fun, I would recommend it.

I got a great sermon illustration from it too, illustrating how God blesses us when we give. The songwriter was at an intersection in New York when a grubby street girl starting squeegeeing his car. He thought she looked like a rag doll. When he reached into his pocket to give her something, all he had was $10, a lot for the occasion. But he gave it, and as soon as he gave it, the words and idea for the song came together instantly. You might say that it was a good investment, as they made a fortune on the song "Rag Doll."

As we give, God gives to us.

Pumpkins

2011-05-01T15:36:00.001-07:00

I love to grow and have pumpkins! When I was young, I once grew 36 in one year on our back yard, with vines running all over our hedge. Our neighbor was pretty tolerant.

It is also a mini-interest to see how long we can keep our pumpkins. This year probably set the record, as the pumpkin I bought (not much action growing them last year) lasted almost to May, from a mid-October purchase (see the winner at the left). Alas, by then it was rotten, and I had to toss it in our garden.

But if we are lucky, its seeds will give us a pumpkin this year, and it will last even longer. We will see.

David Wilkinson's death

2011-04-29T08:51:00.000-07:00

Certainly a great Christian passed away yesterday. David Wilkinson impacted incredible numbers through Teen Challenge and the church he began in New York, Times Square. He also was a true prophet, with a strong word to speak to America and the church.

It is interesting for me to reflect that our church here in Marlboro in some ways owes its existence to him. Wilkinson came to the Princeton college campus in 1975 and presented an evangelistic meeting (which had minimal results) . But out of that, the person who hosted the event got burdened for Princeton, and helped restart a church there. Wilkinson had a burden for the town, and supported him financially in the very beginning. It was through that church that I got going spiritually. Eventually I went on staff there as a pastor, and then came to Marlboro to start Monmouth. So if Wilkinson did not exist, our church probably would not be here.

A godly man's life has unexpected influences for good in many places.

Necessary for salvation

2011-04-21T18:17:00.000-07:00

Romans 10:9 says that a belief in the resurrection of Jesus is necessary for salvation. I memorized this verse when I was a new Christian, but never thought of it this way.

Where do you get all those books?

2011-04-21T18:05:00.000-07:00

Guests in my office often ask me where I got all my books, and if I have read them all! I have not read them all, but can give you a summary of pretty much all of them (most I have at least skimmed).

But the best place to get books are used book sales, of which I go to 3 in the spring. The Bryn Mawr book sale in Princeton is enormous (Louise is an alum and works at it). Like all the others, you can take all the books you can carry in a box on the last day for $5, which can mean a lot of books. The Freehold Association of University Women is pretty good too, and I got a lot of Christian books there last year. (It is still coming in June, if you are interested).

But for Christian books, nothing comes close to the Princeton Seminary sale last week. Imagine a gym with thousands of books, and whole tables devoted to old testament, counseling, preaching, practical issues, or commentaries, etc. You can pretty much find any Christian book older than 2 years there. I got a lot for myself, as gifts for others, and for our church library. The cost was $1 for a paperback, and $3 for hard covers. The cost steadily declines as the sale progresses.

Our first grandchild

2011-04-04T17:21:00.000-07:00

Here are the pictures of our first grandchild, due in October. If you look carefully, you can see a head and... well, they assure me that it is all there, if you know how to read these photos.

For those who don't know, Tim and Jennifer live in Lancaster,PA, and have been married for 5 and a half years. Tim is a computer software engineer, and Jennifer is a chemical engineer (she oversees the making of listerine, keep using it).

This is the best gift I could have gotten for my upcoming 55th birthday this month.

Any ideas for great names? There are only 2 words which rhyme with Jasko.

700

2011-04-04T17:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the first regular service (ie, not Christmas, Easter, special event, etc.) that we had over 700 people present (714 to be exact- last week was 699). It seems like each week more and more people are coming. God is blessing us! And we have some big outreaches in the next few months, drama, Graham celebration, marriage seminar and building dedication.

Keep praying, working, and being faithful, God is honoring it.

Graham celebrations

2011-04-02T16:10:00.001-07:00

The life and witness classes went well this week. The Graham people said that a combined attendance of 2000 per week would be outstanding. But there were over 3000 who came! On youth night, so many came that they ran out of books (and pizza) to give out.

You can still get in on the classes this week, and make up the first class.

Aslan is on the move in central Jersey! Keep praying and believing.

Borders' loss...

2011-04-02T16:06:00.000-07:00

... is our gain. As you know, many Borders book stores are closing due to financial problems. The Freehold store is selling beautiful furniture and fixtures at fire-sale prices. I have been there 3 times this week to buy various items for a song. If you see nice new furniture around the church (about 20 different items), it probably came from there.

We need to keep an eye out for more of these bankruptcies, these are great chances for the church (and you) to buy good things inexpensively.

Breakfast with Will Graham

2011-03-26T15:18:00.001-07:00

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

2011-03-26T15:14:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-21T06:46:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-17T18:12:00.001-07:00

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

2011-03-17T18:03:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-17T17:46:00.001-07:00

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

2011-03-17T17:36:00.001-07:00

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

2011-03-17T17:29:00.001-07:00

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

2011-03-17T17:18:00.000-07:00

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.

Year of the lagomorph

2011-02-21T07:32:00.000-08:00

The other day I went to a Chinese New Year's party. In honor of this I want to point out that this is the year of the lagomorph (really!). According to Wikipedia, the first lagomorph fossils are indeed from East Asia (China), so this is appropriate. I was also stunned at some of the differences between lagomorphs and rodents- check it out.

Of course, lagomorphs are another name for rabbits.

Wind storm

2011-02-21T07:25:00.000-08:00

Friday night we hosted a concert of prayer for the Jersey Shore Will Graham celebration at Ocean Grove in May. Leaders and intercessors from many churches came together to pray. The theme was Ezekiel 37, life coming into the valley of dry bones. Person after person prayed that God would send his spirit and wind to the dry bones of the church.

What amazed me happened when I stepped outside the doors of our church after the service was over. An incredible wind was blowing, our trash cans, wood bench and door mats were all being blown away. As I retrieved them, I realized that we prayed for such a wind. I believe that what we prayed for and birthed in the spiritual was being manifest prophetically in the physical realm right after.

Let the wind blow!

Prophetic rodent?

2011-02-12T12:20:00.000-08:00

We can all note that the weather is notably warmer, without any more snow storms, since Groundhog Day. This raises the question of whether Phil (and all his other rodent friends) truly were prophetic in their predictions that winter was coming to an end ("no more 6 weeks, we have had enough snow"). Today is nice and sunny- I want to affirm Phil's word of faith.

What do you think?

By the way, I want to note that I predicted the Packers would win by 7 (they won by 6), and the Jets would lose by 5 (exactly correct). It is amazing how much respect I have gotten over this. Maybe I have a new career in predicting, along with Phil.

Super Bowl- who will win?

2011-02-05T17:40:00.000-08:00

I will unfold this issue from the Scriptures in church tomorrow, don't miss it! Check out these verses for further guidance- Exodus 20:15, Ephesians 4:28, Psalms 37:35 (original King James is essential for the correct interpretation), and Psalms 23:2.

In our new building...finally!

2011-02-01T12:51:00.000-08:00

What a great achievement... the day I returned from India, we received our certificate of occupancy in the afternoon. This meant that we could officially meet there.

God truly helped us at so many stages of this process. For example, we had to pave the parking lot before the weather turned bad. As soon as we paved, it snowed the first and huge storm, and has not stopped snowing since!

We had a glorious celebration that Sunday, with many new people present. The building looks so big, and the stage seems so high and far away from the people! It will take some time to get used to. But it has a good spiritual feel to it. Last week I was praying in it alone several days, and God was very present then. For those who don't know, our new property holds the marl pits (in the rear) which Marlboro is named after and which caused it to grow (ask me about the spiritual significance of this).

We certainly needed more room to grow. Now we have enough parking for a while too, and no one has to walk across the street! The challenge for us is to work and exercise our faith so that God can fill this building also.

Thanks for all your prayer and hard work which made this possible. I am so proud of our church and how we came together as a team to build this, with God's help.

Prayer needed

2011-01-10T10:50:00.001-08:00

Please pray for the completion of our building, as we may have the final building inspection Tuesday or Wednesday. If we get a certificate of occupancy, we can then move in!

I will be on a pastor's trip to India the next 10 days. We will be visiting churches, Bible schools, seminaries, etc. Andrew feels a call there, so I am very interested to meet some of the people he will be working with. We will be in Delhi, Bangalore, and Chennai. I will likely be speaking there at least in one church, and possibly to local ministers and in other settings. This is organized by the NJ Assemblies of God, and will be all pastors going. I am believing for fresh vision and anointing from this, and to come back and occupy our new building!

What will we do in heaven?

2010-12-12T11:10:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-30T14:47:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-25T06:58:00.000-08:00

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?

2010-11-25T06:51:00.000-08:00

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?

2010-11-10T19:17:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-10T19:06:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-10T19:05:00.001-08:00

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

2010-10-28T13:40:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-28T13:33:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-28T13:30:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-16T12:05:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-05T19:32:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-05T19:28:00.000-07:00

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?

2010-09-23T13:27:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-23T13:23:00.000-07:00

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?

2010-09-13T18:10:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-01T12:34:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-08-28T13:23:00.000-07:00

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)

2010-08-19T19:11:00.001-07:00

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

2010-08-19T18:49:00.000-07:00

Where is this?

2010-08-18T19:53:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-04T06:09:00.001-07:00

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

2010-08-04T06:07:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-27T19:48:00.001-07:00

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

2010-07-27T19:42:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-27T19:33:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-27T19:09:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-27T19:06:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-27T19:04:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-27T18:59:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-27T18:56:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-27T18:53:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-21T16:00:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-21T15:54:00.001-07:00

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

2010-07-02T12:23:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-02T12:14:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-02T12:06:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-22T14:01:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-12T19:02:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-10T19:00:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-10T18:53:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-10T18:15:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-04T10:25:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-04T10:19:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-04T10:16:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-04T10:09:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-20T17:28:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-18T19:17:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-18T19:12:00.001-07:00

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