Jury duty

For the third time in my life, I was called this week for jury duty.  Five years ago I was called for 3 days, but did not serve (I was bumped off a trial by the attorney when he found out I was a pastor!).  About 15 years ago I served on grand jury for 3 or 4 months every Wed.  This was interesting, we would hear 10-15 cases a day to determine if there was evidence to go to trial.  I gained a lifetime of stories and sermon illurtations, but since it is confidential, I can't share any of them.

So guess what happened this time?  I was "on call" for 3 days, but did not even need to go to the courthouse.  I had lots of ministry work to do, so I feel like I dodged a bullet!

Prayer for neighbors

I was greatly encouraged to keep praying for our church neighbors by something that happened last week.  I went out to lunch 40 minutes away at a business in Cranbury with someone new to church.  At lunch he said, "Did you notice the lady at the first desk on the right as you came in?'  I said yes. Dave told me that she lives right across from the church, she sees the church out her window. This is right off my adopted street of Witherspoon.  I said I would like to meet her when we returned to the office.

Dave introduced me as the pastor of MWC.  She told me, "I live right across from it!"  I told her she should stop by and visit some time.  She said that she and a neighbor friend have been  thinking of it!  I will be inviting them for Easter, the drama, Vanderblast ,etc.

God is hearing our prayers, keep asking. It amazes me to think that God brought a Christian to her workplace over half an hour away in answer to our prayers.

Mountain climbing dream

Here's a dream from early Sunday morning that I think was prophetic.  I was climbing a huge mountain with another local pastor I have not seen in several years.  We reached the top, and spread out below it was a beautiful long valley half full of bright gold mixed with dirt.  Past that valley were several others, also full of gold and dirt.  Somehow I felt that since we had discovered this, the valley contents belonged to us.

What does it mean?  Someone said that the gold represents souls.  I like that better than real gold, which is not bad either! In any case, it is a good dream.

Any thoughts on what this means?

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