Uncle Tom's Cabin

I have been trying to read some classics lately, and just finished "Uncle Tom's Cabin".  This book is truly great in that it was written by a strong Christian with a very strong Christian message and goal, at a time when almost the whole audience of Americans saw themselves as Christians.  It also had a huge impact in ending slavery by showing how it worked in daily life.  What touched me most, though, was how the slaves, especially Tom, dealt with suffering as Christians.  Their comments are moving and timeless.

This is a great book for you to read some time.

Easter attendance

Several people have asked me how many people were here on Easter Sunday, seeing the large crowd spread over three services.  Our total was 1151, a new record for a Sunday morning.  God has really been blessing the church lately, with many new faces from all over.  I attribute much of this to our 21 days of prayer and fasting starting the year.  God spoke to me a few years ago that the church would one day have 2500 people in attendance, but I am not sure when.  But there are many others who need Christ in the area, keep praying and working.  We may need the next phase of the building plan sooner than we thought.

New ask the pastor question

"Does God want us to be happy?"

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.