The first day was great!
We started with continental breakfast.
A slow start to the day, a unexpected scenic tour of Washington.
We got there late for the 10:30 opening, only to discover that we were four hours early (they changed the time of registration).
So, we went on a walking tour to the White House.
We ate lunch there, and watched the protesters – for peace, banning bombs, baking bread, universal health care, Tamil refugees, and one man opposed to Tamil protesters.
We rang the doorbell, but Barack could not come out.
We went to the museum of natural history, part of the Smithsonian.
All museums are free here!
Then to registration.
They have a huge activity room with inflated slides and bungee jumping and ping pong and four square and basketball, as well as some displays and stuff to buy.
We first went for dinner, then the big session began.
They are going through the bible from Genesis to Revelation – really well done, short sections, a variety of mediums – speakers, bands, skits, media presentations.
Final concert was Family Force 5 – very loud and wild (moshing and body surfing).
(Instead, I went to a QA with Shane Claiborne (very quiet and inspiring).
Back at the residence at 11:45, a time of sharing the highs of the day, and then to sleep.

Our drive to DC went well, uneventful, which is how we like it.
We met the Belleville group at 8:30, and we followed them (they have GPS).
The van ride was pretty quiet, the group is still gelling, but by the end of the night it was better.
They are mixing with the Belleville group fine, though that group is younger.
We arrived at 7:30pm, traffic into DC was not as bad as feared (thanks for praying).
We found our rooms – the elevated plastic mattresses will take getting used to, but the rooms are air conditioned.
The lady who manages summer accomodations is also a tour guide for the Catholic University of America (which is where we are staying, in the residence), so she gave us a walking tour, nice.
We had pizza for supper, ironed on our logos onto our t-shirts, and played Jungle Speed in the lobby.

One of my God-moments was stopping at a gas station and filling up – on caffeine.
I made myself the biggest cappuchino I could get, but when I went to the counter the lady said, `have a good day, its on the house`.
She said they randomly do this for customers, to give them a good day!
I thanked her for giving me a God-moment, an experience of unexpected grace!

Church Cancelled!

Tomorrow our ‘service’ is being canceled, so that service can happen.
Crossroads people are spreading out in Durham region tomorrow morning to perform a variety of community service assignments.
These are not projects planned by the church, just individual and family initiated efforts.
Handing out flowers at the hospital, picking up garbage, planting trees collecting donations for the Oshawa animal shelter, car wash for Ajax-Pickering food bank, bike repair clinic at Falby Court… and more…
So cool, the creativity and enthusiasm are inspiring me!!!
Please pray for God encounters.
Please pray that we are impacted, as well as our community.
Please pray that this is just the beginning of an ongoing relationship with the community.
We are meeting tomorrow afternoon at Falby Court (Bolton C. Falby) for a BBQ, and to look at the facilities for a possible new location for our ministry efforts.
Check out www.crossroadsinajax.org for more information!

My wife’s cousin Ruth and her husband Nitin, who is from India, sent out this request for prayer in the volatile religious, political and cultural tensions in their area. Please pray for the whole community, as well as for our brothers and sisters in the Lord who face unbelievable conflict and threats for the name of Jesus. — Norm

Dear faithful friends and prayer partners,

Greetings to you in the name of the most High God.

On Sunday, 19th of April there was an attack on a church about 40kms away from Nagpur. The name of the village is Saoner. The church is in the center of the village. A fanatic Hindu organization first made a police complaint saying that forcible conversion is taking place. Ten minutes later they attack the church wielding swords and guns as well as knives, sticks and stones. They verbally and physically abused the women and children. They vandalized the churches instruments and a school bus. They pointed the gun towards the pastor and threatened that he would be killed if they continued having church. The attackers brought a TV camera and showed it on the news just to please their leaders and bring terror to the minorities. As elections are going on they want to use this to consolidate Hinduhood. They also aim to get political party ticket to contest election. This 150 year old church has only 60 members. There was no conversion going on at all. To get famous, to get Political ticket and to prove their patriotism and to satisfy their nationalistic pride they do these evil things. Continue reading pray for the church in India

Today I went prayer walking in the Falby Court area.
This is the area that we are looking to relocate our services at Crossroads.
Its south of the 401, Harwood and Bayly.
At first it was nothing deep or profound… until I asked the Spirit to pray through me [Romans 8:26].
I really had no clear thoughts about what to pray for.
So I asked the Spirit to pray for me.
And what came from that was the Names of Christ.
I prayed the Names of Jesus over the apartments, the school, the vehicles, as well as the people that I saw.
That was cool, it left me with a deeper sense of how this community needs Jesus, and the ways that they need Jesus.
And also me, a deeper sense of how I need Jesus!!!
Care to join me in prayer walking?

OK, this just goes to show that Jesus can use anyone.

I am sorry, this was very serious and sincere at the time.
But I could not resist… look at that hair!
The one looks like the Great Gazoo’s wife.
I know, I know, one day someone will post a picture of me and my hair (what’s left of it), and laugh.
But… look at that hair!

Thankfully, Jesus does not judge us by our hair.
He judges us by our heart.
The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. [1 Samuel 16:7]

And if these ladies were sincere, which I’ve no reason to doubt, then the Lord did use them…
Hair and all!

When Texas pastor Jim Denison was in college, he served as a summer missionary in East Malaysia. While there he attended a small church. At one of the church’s worship services, a teenage girl came forward to announce her decision to follow Christ and be baptized. During the service, Denison noticed some worn-out luggage leaning against the wall of the church building. He asked the pastor about it. The pastor pointed to the girl who had just been baptized and told Denison, ‘Her father said that if she was baptized as a Christian she could never go home again. So she brought her luggage.’ (Raymond McHenry, Stories for the Soul (Hendrickson, 2001), p. 48)

This story shows the seriousness of the decision to follow Jesus. For me it was easy, my family encouraged me to follow Jesus. But would I have made this decision if I had faced rejection like this? I wonder whether the ‘ease’ with which my decision was made makes me less serious in following it through. I wonder whether an ‘easy’ decision to follow Jesus can actually lack depth and conviction. I wonder whether the relatively small cost of following Jesus for me makes it less passionate, less intense. I can drift through my walk with Jesus, not much is at stake. The idea of ‘packing my bags’ makes me think about how much of myself I am investing in following Jesus. Have I packed my bags? Is my whole heart and life invested in being a Jesus-follower?

With Valerie, Tim and Nathan, in Juarez, and Tim staying there for the next few months, I am especially aware of when Juarez makes the news…
Pray, pray, pray!

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico, Feb 26 (Reuters) – Mexico is sending up to 5,000 new troops and federal police to the country’s most violent city, where law and order is on the brink of collapse in a war between gangs supplying drugs to the United States. Continue reading Juarez in the news

So this morning at Crossroads I talked about God moments.
I also talked about giving up our snow blower when we moved “south” to Ajax.
And meanwhile the snow keeps falling, and falling, and falling.
After spending the afternoon socializing, we came home to shovel the driveway.
And guess what we found in our backyard…
Today, God prompted my brother Rick to make the drive from Ancaster to Ajax to deliver our old snowblower – without being asked.
Today, when I mentioned the snowblower in our service, and talked about God moments.
This was a God-moment!
Thank You God, and thank you Rick!!!!

Today I had a visitor at the ministry centre, a lady named Prima who came in out of the cold, waiting for a neighbouring office unit to open.
We enjoyed a coffee together, and a fascinating conversation.
Prima is a practicing Hindu, and she was very open to talking about her faith, and answering my questions.
One discovery was that Hinduism teaches that the one God manifests Himself in three forms – Brahma who is the Creator, Vishnu who incarnates himself in the world (often), and Shiba, who is also known as the destroyer, who contemplates us (broods over) us.
Sounds like a echo of what Christians teach about the triune nature of God. Continue reading a lesson in hinduism