Psalm 33

Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous;
it is fitting for the upright to praise him.
Praise the Lord with the harp;
make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre.
Sing to him a new song;
play skillfully, and shout for joy.

For the word of the Lord is right and true;
he is faithful in all he does.
The Lord loves righteousness and justice;
the earth is full of his unfailing love.

By the word of the Lord were the heavens made,
their starry host by the breath of his mouth.
He gathers the waters of the sea into jars;
he puts the deep into storehouses.
Let all the earth fear the Lord;
let all the people of the world revere him.
For he spoke, and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood firm.
The Lord foils the plans of the nations;
he thwarts the purposes of the peoples.
But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever,
the purposes of his heart through all generations.

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people he chose for his inheritance.
From heaven the Lord looks down and sees all mankind;
from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth
he who forms the hearts of all,
who considers everything they do.
No king is saved by the size of his army;
no warrior escapes by his great strength.
A horse is a vain hope for deliverance;
despite all its great strength it cannot save.
But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him,
on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,
to deliver them from death
and keep them alive in famine.

We wait in hope for the Lord;
he is our help and our shield.
In him our hearts rejoice,
for we trust in his holy name.
May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord,
even as we put our hope in you.

This is such a beautiful Psalm.

It starts out by telling us that we need to worship Lord. We need to praise Him in song, joyfully and skillfully, as He deserves the best we have to offer. But why this praise? The psalm goes on to tell us why; For He is righteous and just. And as if that weren’t enough the psalm keeps on going and tells us about His greatness. By a word He made the heavens. He made the entire cosmos by uttering a word. The stars, these great balls of intense fire, were made by His breath. The oceans that we see and feel so small before, He simply puts them into jars. We are to revere this great God of ours! For He spoke and it came to be; He commanded, and it stood firm. What power is there in this one sentence? He uttered a word and it came into existence, He ordered and it stood firm. What a great God we serve! He makes void the plans of the nations - in light of the financial crisis we are facing these days, I believe it comes from Him, as His plans stand firm for ever. We have strayed so far from Him and His love, that I believe this is one of His last attempts to bring the whole world back to His thrown, before He comes back. He calls the nation blessed that follows Him - today what nation follows Him? What nation is wholly given to Him and His purposes? I think it is safe to say; none. But the Lord is watching us, He knows us inside out as He made our hearts. He loves us so much that He considers everything that we do. No matter what man does to resist, not even a king with his army can resist what the Lord has ordained. God’s eyes are on us who fear Him and hope in His unfailing love. He will deliver us from death and keep us alive during famines.
In light of who God is, this intense being that created everything that we know, that loves us enough to create us, to sustain us, to die for us, what else can we do but to cry out to Him and say that:

We wait in hope for the Lord;
he is our help and our shield.
In him our hearts rejoice,
for we trust in his holy name.
May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord,
even as we put our hope in you.

AMEN!

New Life

On Thursday night I went out with a ministry called New Life, whose work is amongst the prostitutes and transvestites of Athens. It was an interesting evening to say the least. Our night started at 22:30 down at New Life’s office, in the shady part of down town Athens, Omonia. We started with some orientation as we, Sarah Wheway, our friend Ioanna and myself, had never done this before. There we had a chance to learn a little bit more about the trafficking trade of Greece and the women involved. I was shocked to learn what I did. The women are told upon arrival that when they’ve earned 50-60.000€ they’ll be released. To my great surprise the pimps and madams actually do release them. Most women though, upon release, keep selling themselves. They’re logic is that since they’re bodies were sold for somebody else it might as well be sold for their own benefit. Upon being asked if they would have known then, i.e. prior to coming, what they knew now, would they still have come? Their answer is invariably yes. They’re situation here, although not the greatest, is still far better than what they had back home, and so they would still have come. I couldn’t believe my ears. If prostitution is better than home, how bad is home? Coming from my little bubble of protected Europe I can’t even begin to imagine what these women have gone through. The longer I work with the mercy ministries the more I realize that we in the West are the privileged few. After orientation we were told that, since it was Thursday, we would not be going to the prostitutes, as on these nights they minister to the transvestites. We had a time of prayer and worship, to prepare our hearts for what was to come and then we were split into three teams. I was glad to hear that my team was being sent to Sygrou Avenue. Now Sygrou is an avenue that I travel through every day on my way to the office. My eyes have been opened to how dark that place is as on every block there is a strip club. The Lord placed it on my heart, a year and a half ago, to pray for this place, which I do every time I travel through it. Part of my prayer has been “Lord, if it is Your will, use me directly to minister to these women” well, to my great joy, my prayer was answered... sort of. I had an opportunity to minister to those who walk that street but they were not women, they were men dressed as women, transvestites. We drove down the avenue and when we located one or two guys, we drove a little farther down and parked. Then two out of the group, typically women, went out to these guys with coffee & tea to talk to them, while the rest of us stayed back in the car and prayed for the encounter. By the way, in each team there is always one man for security purposes, in case things get heated. So at any given time there are two ladies talking to the guys, with at least two people praying for them in the car. To my surprise, quite a few of these men are Greeks who do this by choice. One man we encountered, who has been a friend of the ministry for three years now, supports his family this way. He has a wife and a daughter and, as far as I can tell, leads a regular life by day, although he doesn’t have a 9-5 job. Still now I can hardly believe it. What baffled me also was the amount of men that solicit their services! I will never understand this world.

Was I shocked to see what I did? I wasn’t as shocked as I could, or even should have been. I don’t know why. Maybe I’ve been habituated to this world by TV and movies, but the site of a man dressed as a woman didn’t shock or repulse me. I just felt a great swell of pity for them. It must be terrible to be so unsatisfied with oneself that one feels the need to dress up as the opposite sex and even to go to such lengths as to have an operation to become that opposite sex.

Well, all we can do is pray for them and continue to develop those relationships that hopefully will lead them to Christ. It was an eye opening experience for me and I sincerely hope that I’ll be able to go back and minister to these men again.

Back in Athens

Well this is it, ‘normal’ life has started again. This is my second day at the office and yesterday we had our first home staff meeting of the season, where all of us, families and kids, gathered after the summer. This was the first time we’d been together since before the summer and it was great to see everybody and catch up. Stories were told and we shared in a lot of laughter, like we do best here at HM. As we were talking and sharing I was reminded of how this summer has been a summer of milestones; for the first time ever we had various ministries operating at the same time. As the Sports Camps were happening, preparations for Operation Joshua and China Challenge were going on. During our final camp, where we received kids from Germany, (affectionately called German Camp), Joshua took place. Then during summer cleanup a good chunk of us left for China. And while all this was happening the Morning Star was doing ministry in the islands! For the first time in 10 years Alex saw her sail away! He is normally on board as skipper but this summer the previous captain of OM’s Doulos, Alexander Feddes, came onboard and took her in charge for the summer. What a tremendous blessing that was for Alex.

It is just so neat to see how the Lord used the HM family this summer in so many different ways and for so many different purposes. As we grow, more opportunities are coming along as new people bring new ideas and visions.

Stay tuned for the future as all things are possible through Him.
The sky is, quite literally, the limit!

The Lord Tests His Own

“Blessed is the man who preservers under trial,
because when he has stood the test,
he will receive the crown of life that God has promised
to those who love him.” James 1:12

Well I feel like these past two weeks were a test.
I came home two weekends ago after three days of hard work at the property wanting only to relax, crawl under my blankets and watch a movie. When I walked in through the door and went to switch on the lights they didn’t come on. My first thought was “Oh great, another power cut” (we get one of those every once in a while) well at least the power would be on in a few minutes, right? Wrong. I walked into my kitchen and found a huge puddle of water in front of my fridge... the power had been off for quite a while meaning that this was not a short term power cut but a long term one. SHOOT! Since I hadn’t been home at all this summer, due to summer activities outside of Athens, I was unable to pay my summer’s electricity bill. When the bill came in September it was too high for me to afford. I can afford small chunks here and there but not the amount they were asking for. It looked scary and daunting but, like with everything else, I prayed about it and placed the bill in the Lord’s hands. Well, He didn’t provide on time, that is my time, and my power got cut. I must admit that I went through a small crisis of faith. Why did the Lord allow for that to happen? In His Word He promises to provide for all of our needs, and this was a definite need, why hadn’t He provided? Was I out of His will? Had I been disobedient and so was I being disciplined? I had no idea what was going on and I was totally confused - something I don’t really enjoy. Well anyway, what does one do when one has no power? One lights candles and gets on with life, and that’s exactly what I did. I lit candles and instead of watching a movie I read.
That night I was invited to a goodbye party as a friend of mine was leaving Greece. We have a lot of friends in common and so I met up with some guys I hadn’t seen in a while. Out of the blue one of them started complaining to me about HM, that we were a proud bunch of people that don’t allow anybody into our group. That caught me off guard (I don’t particularly think that HM staff is proud, by the way). I was already feeling vulnerable and confused with everything happening at home, so to be attacked like that, unexpectedly was definitely not a good thing. I started defending HM and tried to get to the bottom of things, trying to find out where he was seeing problems so that we, as staff, could remedy them. Anyway, as we were talking, he started asking me personal questions like if I was satisfied with everything, if I had any complaints etc. Again really odd questions. As I was answering him, thinking about my situation at home, I came to the realization that no, in the grand scheme of things, my slight discomfort was not severe enough to be grounds for a complaint. Can I complain about my life? No, I love it, every aspect of it. How many times do I encounter people in a 9-5 job thinking to myself “I would not want to be in that position, how board would I be, how meaningless my life would be” As a missionary, more specifically as a Christian, everything I do, we do, has eternal value. I might not be able to pay my bills on time, but who says that if I had a regular job I would be able to pay them? By the way, at the end of our conversation the guy told me that he was just messing around with me, testing, wanting to find out if I did the work with all my heart. I could think of better ways to find out, but anyway.
Before going to bed that night, still confused as ever, I read Day 5 in Purpose Driven Life. That chapter is about how everything we go through has a purpose and that the trials that we encounter might not be anything other than the Lord testing us.

“God continually tests people’s character, faith, obedience, love, integrity, and loyalty. Words like trials, temptations, refining, and testing occur more than 200 times in the Bible. God tested Abraham by asking him to offer his son Isaac. God tested Jacob when he had to work extra years to earn Rachel as his wife.”

All of a sudden it clicked. The power cut, my friend asking the all the weird questions, could it be that the Lord was testing me? I probably wont find out until I get to heaven but that’s what it felt like.
The Lord, as always, was faithful and provided, albeit, a week after the incident. I found out about the power cut on Saturday, Friday the following week the Lord provided. He did so through a lovely couple that were working on the Morning Star during that time. Thus Monday morning I was able to pay my bill. After letting out a huge sigh, I thought to myself “well at least the power to be back on tonight”. Well, when I came home that night, still no electricity. WHAT!? Tuesday I went on a Morning Star trip, Thursday I came home, still no power! You’ve got to be kidding me?! You have got to love Greek efficiency. Alex called the electricity company for me on Friday morning, as we got home too late on Thursday, and got really upset at them. By this time I had been out of electricity for two weeks. Friday night comes along and... still no electricity! OK at this point you have to just stop and laugh. Was this some kind of a sick joke? Saturday afternoon Alex came over to fix my hot water heater (which by the way had been broken since May, LOL - darn you Murphy!) when he found out that the power was still not on he called the company and got upset at them again. Within the hour somebody from the electricity company came over to see us, made a quick phone call, 5 seconds later I had power. WHAT the switching on took all of 5 seconds!? I kid you not, the guy put his phone away walked to the panel and the wires were hot!

I don’t know what the Lord was teaching me during this time, but I sincerely hope that I learned my lesson, LOL! I do not want to go through that again.
Anyway, now my phone, internet and TV, since they’re all on the same bill, have been cut. That, on the other hand, is not as serious as I can definitely live without it for a while. I just praise the Lord for having sustained me for this long and this far. Working for Him is a privilege I hope I will never loose.

Article

Oh by the way I thought you guys might be interested to know that there was an article written about us by the Associated Press during our time in China. Some of our team met journalists and were interviewed by them.

This is the article for those who are interested in reading it please click here.

Ready to go home

Well our vacation is drawing to an end; we are leaving within the next 3 hours to go back to Bangkok. It is sad but at the same time exciting. This time has been greatly needed for all of us and it has served our tired bodies well. Now I am ready to go back and tackle what the Lord has for me back home, back in reality. So many times when I’ve looked out at the see with the white sand and amazing view and it’s just seemed like we’ve been on a movie set getting ready to film and desert island scene. This just doesn’t seem real. The Lord’s creation just never ceases to amaze me.

We’ve also done a bit of sightseeing while we’ve been here. We went to Maya Bay (where the movie The Beach was filmed) that was pretty cool, and an actual movie set LOL. We also went to a bay called Monkey Bay where we saw wild monkeys and fed them watermelon – now that was probably my highlight. They were so absolutely cute and cuddly the only problem with them was that if we got too close they could potentially bite and give us rabies – well I don’t think so! One of them though, took my hand a couple of times and wanted to jump onto my lap. We also swam at a point called Shark Point where apparently sharks show up although, sadly, we didn’t see any. We saw a plethora of fish though and as the crewmembers of the boat fed them rice in our vicinity we were able to gaze at them and their multitude of colors. Like I’ve said it’s been a wonderful time, but now it is time to go back home and get back into life.

Good bye Phi Phi island, thanks for everything! I'll definitely see you again.

Phi Phi island

Hey guys!

I’m in Phi Phi island and it’s absolutely fantastic! The scenery here is amazing, the weather is good and the company is great; making for a great vacation. I don’t even know if I can describe what we see here every day. The sea is a turquoise blue with sand as white as it is soft. There are islands all around us, reminding me a bit of the Cyclades, with such thick foliages that it makes one think of patches of jungle. The food here is so amazing that you just don’t want to stop eating – I’ve experienced that a couple of times, you just don’t want to leave that last piece of meat on your plate for fear that you will regret it later on in life. On every street corner there are places to get the most amazing Thai massages you could think of while looking out at the sunset. Have I described paradise yet? Because if I haven’t this is what it truly feels like – paradise on earth. As we are swimming we just keep thanking the Lord for this most amazing treat. It feels like the Lord is looking down on us smiling and saying “Enjoy my children” It just feels so good to have nothing to do and not to feel guilty about lying around doing absolutely nothing but sleeping, eating, reading and swimming. We’re on our second day and I can’t wait for the next 5!

Phuket

Well guys, here I am in Phuket on holiday. These past few days, weeks actually, have been absolutely amazing. I've been to the middle of the Himalayas, where I stayed in a small, and I mean small, village called Haba; I've stayed in a place at an altitude of 3700m - higher than the highest mountain in Greece (Mount Olympus); I've been to Beijing; I've spent countless hours traveling (hours to be disclosed at a later time when I've figured that out); and through all of that the Lord has blessed me and my team incredibly. Throughout the next few days, as I'm slowly processing things, I plan on writing a little bit every day telling you guys about my amazing adventure in Asia, one that is not over as I am still in Thailand. For right now I just wanted to let you know that, yes I am still alive, yes I am well, and yes I'm back in civilization - not that Beijing isn't civilized but you know what I mean. Like I said at the beginning, I'm in Phuket on my way to Phi Phi island, yes it is pronounced Pi Pi, for an incredible vacation on the beach. It truly feels like a reward from the Lord and I can't wait to just sleep and see amazing sights in a gorgeous place.

Thank you for all your prayers.
Blessings

Thailand

My journey to Asia started uneventfully by me loosing my passport. I got home after my last yet long night from the office to not knowing where my passport was. Umm, considering the fact that I was leaving within 24 hours the panic was minimal. I searched my house in every crook and cranny, wherever I thought it could be, praying fervently but not finding it. Out of sheer fatigue, since it was 4 in the morning, I resolved to go to bed, having a sneaking suspicion that the darn thing might be at the office. The next morning at 9, as I woke up 2 hours later than I had planned, I called the office and sure enough, Jenny our secretary, found it in one of my folders. Praise the Lord! Now all I needed to do within the next 3 ½ hours was pack for a month, shower, exchange Euros into Baht and RMB, buy small gifts for the Chinese, buy some personal necessities AND get my passport from the office (a journey that usually takes an hour each way) – no sweat! Let’s just say that it was a lot of running around but by God’s grace, and lack of traffic on the roads, I managed!
The rest of the trip was really relaxing. Sarah, Debbie, Noel and I, got to the airport in good time, we had a good and healthy lunch at McDonalds and were on our way. The airplane was really nice. It was a 9 hour flight that went by really fast as we each had our own personal screen. I watched like 3 movies and had a grand time :o) We arrived in Bangkok and boarded our next airplane within the hour. I love Bangkok International Airport. It’s huge, and I mean HUGE, we walked a good 20 min to our connecting flight. The second ride was shorter but equally as sweet as I slept through the entire thing! I fell asleep before takeoff and slept all the way through till about 15 min before landing. Then all of a sudden we were in Chiang Mai. It’s so weird, you board a big, white contraption, you sit still for 9 hours, watch a few movies and all of a sudden you’re in a new country with new sights & sounds and definitely new smells. I love Thailand with its lush vegetation and exotic foods.
I’ve just come back from a wonderful day that has just felt like a reward for all the work this summer. I have just spent a day riding elephants and a bamboo raft down a river. I absolutely loved it. As we were riding the elephants I was just gazing at the jungle, listening to its sounds mingled with the clinging of the equipment on the elephants and people’s laughter in the background. What made it even more interesting was that it rained the entire time, resulting in us fighting gravity, trying to stay on the elephant and not land under it, as our seats were so slippery! LOL It must have been a funny sight seeing so many white people on elephants, pulling strange faces trying to keep from falling. It was amazing, though, sitting on the back of such a big animal walking in between the trees surrounded by God’s serene creation. What an experience.
The second thing we did today was bamboo rafting down a river. That was probably my highlight. We spent 45 min on a raft constituting of, probably around 10 big thick bamboo shoots, floating down a river. It was awesome. As we slid down the river my thoughts went to ‘The Jungle book’ when Mogli was floating down the river on Baloo’s stomach right before the monkeys came and took him, lol! We were 4 people on my raft, the driver, a couple from South Africans and myself. We stood the entire way, ducking for branches dangling over the water, trying to stay balanced on the raft as our driver tried to make us fall overboard, while having a water fight with him. Like I said we had a blast! We ended the night by going to Chiang Mai’s night market where we had another amazing meal constituting of curry rice with cashew and pineapple, pork with greens and rice and then sticky rice and mango for a desert. My stomach is very satisfied and happy right now.

Oh, I’ve got to share one major praise before I end this. I was leaving on Thursday mid-afternoon for Asia, on Wednesday morning I still had no idea how I was going to finance my time there. I had bought my tickets, with some money on my credit card but had still to pay my participation fee and have some kind of spending money. Well, I’m not going to go into all the details but by the end of the day I had paid my fee, given money I had promised to other people and had loads more money to spend and use during my time in Thailand and China! Praise the Lord Jehovah Jirah, our Provider, He did it again. Why do we ever worry about finances? The Lord promises that as we seek Him first, as we put Him in the driver’s seat, He will provide for all that we need. It is a promise I have clung to during my last 4 years in Greece yet it never ceases to amaze and stress me out at the same time. One night, as I was sitting out on the barge at Proto Astro worrying about how I was going to pay for all of this, the Lord rebuked me and basically told me that I didn’t trust Him. That was painful to realize. I’ve been living by faith for the past 4 years, I’ve seen Him provide for me time and time again yet I still worry about this. Why are we so fickle? Am I just like the Israelites who, after witnessing and living through all of the miracles the Lord did, turned right back to their old ways again? I’ve seen Him provide for me, I’ve never gone hungry, I have everything I need and then some how I still worry about what I’m going to eat, what I’m going to ware and where I’m going to sleep. Why can’t we just let go of our fleshly nature of doubt and desire of relying on oneself instead of the Lord?
I just want to leave you with this quote that’s helped me more than any other quote I’ve ever heard:

If you’re worrying you’re not trusting and if you’re trusting, you’re not worrying

I don’t know when I’ll be able to write again but until next time,
Blessings

The Beginning and the End

We plan things, they happen and then they end, that is the natural process of life, but it’s always sad when it’s over. One of the last short term teams, the guys from Quebec, have just left Porto Astro and as a result my heart is heavy. The Lord blessed me so much through them. I have been given such a hard time for being French throughout my entire life and often these jokes hit harder than people think, so being at ‘home’, surrounded by French believers was such a tremendous thing for me. Since my first TEMA Missions Conference in Holland 2001-2, I’ve had a desire to be part of French worship and for the first time the Lord has granted me that desire. I didn’t have to go anywhere, He brought them to me! :o) I’ve rarely been moved to tears during worship but singing to the Lord in French made me cry. I know that a lot of people wont understand this but singing to the Lord in your language of love, your mother-tongue, is moving. Something happens in your heart, somehow it clicks. Your heart understands it, your soul feels it. It’s like when we say “I love you” in a language not our own, we’re saying the words but the true meaning of it is lost in translation. On the other hand when we say it in our own language, the language closest to our heart, we’re saying the same thing, the person is receiving it the same way but it feels different to you, it feels right. That is exactly what happened to me during French worship, my heart connected to the Lord in a way it hasn’t before, it was beautiful beyond description. I don’t think the team realized how much the Lord worked through them to encourage me and how He ministered to my heart. It was a beautiful time for me and I am really sad it is over - until the next time - and there will be a next time!!! Thank You Lord for everything you have done for me this summer, it’s only August and I am so blessed!!!!
I praise You Lord!

A Good Reminder to Christians

I know this article is speaking more to pastors and church leaders in general but I believe that all Christians should be aware of how the public perceives us. Are we the ones putting people off Christianity with our actions? Or are we encouraging people to come to the Lord? People watch us like hawks! Our lifestyle is being scrutinized every minute of the day. Something that might seem small to us, or even not harmful, can be viewed by someone else as un-Christian-like-behavior, and thus make people believe that we are hypocrites. I will always remember this one experience that happened to me when I was 16 years old. I was at a friend’s party, I had been going to youth group for about a year, but I was still what you’d call a carnal Christian. One foot in the church and one in the world. Like all “good” parties there was alcohol involved. Because of my upbringing I have always viewed drunkenness as a bad thing, a sign of weakness, but alcohol as a substance to be enjoyed and drunk in moderation. So thanks to my parents I went through the peer pressures of adolescence without being drunk once. At this particular party though, my friends had decided to get me drunk, it was the goal of the evening for them. So to have them back off I accepted a drink, it was drink I would have normally accepted even without that “goal” of theirs, but what I did is I acted drunk. I became louder (if that’s possible ;op) than usual and more flamboyant. Apparently I was convincing as my friends backed off satisfied. An unexpected thing happened though, a friend that I had met through youth group arrived. He was a young man that was searching, attracted to Christianity but unwilling to commit. Well he saw me “drunk”. Later I found out that he’d gone up to a friend of ours stating that he was so happy to see me drunk because if I was drunk it was alright for him to be drunk too! My appearing to be drunk gave him the permission to do the same with a good conscious. This whole situation was kind of a life changing experience for me. I decided that my “friends” who were on a mission to get me drunk were no friends at all, as they were not respecting my principles. And the fact that my actions had given a weak brother in Christ permission to sin, was such a wake up call to me. I hope that few of us out there need to have those types of wake up calls. Anyway I was going to paste an article on here but it seems like I’ve written one myself, LOL. The article is on how young Americans aged 19-29 view Christians. Let’s face it, American or not, most young people in the Western world view us this way. This is the link to the research paper. Let me know what you think about it. If you have any stories yourself, please don’t hesitate to comment.

Refugee Camp

This week we have been hosting a refugee camp for Afghan families up at Porto Astro, and it has been a tremendous blessing. All of the worries about having Muslims on the property, that we felt prior to the beginning of camp mounted up to nothing, it was smooth sailing all the way through. There was joy and laughter everywhere we turned, except for the occasional child crying after having fallen and scraping his knees. It was strange having all the women walk around in head coverings and our staff dressed so modestly that shoulders and knees weren’t even showing, all this in the effort of becoming all things to all men as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9:22b.
Every day we allotted a "man free" time period at the beach, between 17:00 – 18:00 for the women to go swim, as otherwise they would have been unable to do so. What a joy it was to hear them scream with pleasure as they first entered the sea, some for the first time in their lives. To see them play in the water like little children with their faces beaming in the sunlight, is a sight I will be slow to forget. Furthermore, what a joy it was to see all the children playing football with our staff, running around chasing each other with not a care in the world, allowed to simply be the children that they are. We also set out one of the ski-boats last Monday and took groups out for rides, again, the smiles on their faces were absolutely priceless! All in all this camp was an absolute success and one that we will definitely repeat in the future.

During one of our morning staff meetings Alex Macris shared his dad’s original vision for Porto Astro. The property was to be used to bless people from the Middle East. It was to educate and equip godly men and women, form the east, before they went back to their respective countries to share the good news. Praise the Lord for Costa’s vision came to be realized during this camp as this was the first time we hosted such a large group of Muslims. Costas' legacy and awesome work lives on. What a challenge it is for us young people when see how one man, Costas, can make such a difference in Kingdom work. We need to take hold of the torch that he has passed on to us and keep running and tackling the work that the Lord has set before us since the very beginning of time. As I complete this thought I want to leave you with this; How can you make a difference in this world? It only takes one person burning with passion to make a life changing impact on so many others.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers as this was only the first camp of many this summer. To follow there will be a children’s camp, a teen camp, a leadership camp and a camp dedicated to our friends the Germans. Pray also for continued safety and for unity within the body of workers up at Porto Astro and in the office, as dissension is one of Satan’s most powerful tools against us. Pray also for Operation Joshua’s preparations as well as Operation Gideon 3; China Challenge. I also would like to ask you for personal prayer, as our trip to China is coming up fast, to pray for the financial needs involved with that. Praise the Lord, though, as I have about 52% of the finances needed to go.

It is such an encouragement for me to know that you are our there praying for us all, and His awesome work, that He has allowed us to be a part of.
So thank you all for your prayers.

Totally Brilliant

I found this on the internet as I was doing some research. I just thought it was a brilliant answer and so I wanted to share it here with everybody - enjoy!

Is Hell Exothermic or Endothermic?

Dr. Schambaugh, of the University of Oklahoma School of Chemical Engineering, Final Exam question for May of 1997. Dr. Schambaugh is known for asking questions such as, "why do airplanes fly?" on his final exams. His one and only final exam question in May 1997 for his Momentum, Heat and Mass Transfer II class was: "Is hell exothermic or endothermic? Support your answer with proof."

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law or some variant. One student, however, wrote the following:

"First, We postulate that if souls exist, then they must have some mass. If they do, then a mole of souls can also have a mass. So, at what rate are souls moving into hell and at what rate are souls leaving? I think we can safely assume that once a soul gets to hell, it will not leave.

Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for souls entering hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Some of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, then you will go to hell. Since there are more than one of these religions and people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all people and souls go to hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in hell to increase exponentially.

Now, we look at the rate of change in volume in hell. Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in hell to stay the same, the ratio of the mass of souls and volume needs to stay constant. Two options exist:

1. If hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter hell, then the temperature and pressure in hell will increase until all hell breaks loose.
2. If hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until hell freezes over.

So which is it? If we accept the quote given to me by Theresa Manyan during Freshman year, "that it will be a cold night in hell before I sleep with you" and take into account the fact that I still have NOT succeeded in having sexual relations with her, then Option 2 cannot be true...Thus, hell is exothermic."

The student, Tim Graham, got the only A.

LOL!!!!!! Like I said - BRILLIANT!!!!

Harry Potter

OK so major accomplishment - I’ve just finished reading all of the Harry Potter books! It took me a month and a half but I’ve done it. Sunday I read the last 100 pages of book 7: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I loved the books, and I think that JK Rowling is a very talented writer. She is able to captivate her audience and keep them from page one. I, for one, definitely want to own the whole series and I can’t wait to reread it.

Since I’ve been reading the books, I’ve had a few conversations with some Christian friends. One of them told me that the names Rowling uses in her books are actually names of demons. Being curious as to which names were actually demonic, and whether that was accurate information, I started doing some research. As I was looking for information I found a couple of sites claiming that the books are in fact a manual to witchcraft, or more specifically, a manual to Wicca.
I had heard that concern before and, to be honest, as I was reading the books I was on the lookout for any red flags that might pop up. In my opinion, there were no red flags and I would definitely allow my kids to read the books, albeit I’d wait till they were bit older because of the violence in the stories.
I found an online “track” that supposedly an ex-witch turned Christian, wrote. And since she is one of the loudest people out there, and I believe she is the one that started the whole Wicca and demon thing, I read what she had to say.
According to her, these are the actual names of demons: Azkaban, Circe, Draco, Erised, Hermes, and Slytherin. Now I did some research and this is what I found:
The name of Azkaban which is the prison within the fantasy world, is derived from Alcatraz, which is a prison off of the coast of San Francisco.
Circe is a goddess in Greek mythology that can turn people into animals.
Draco is the latin word for dragon, it is also a constellation.
Erised is simply desire spelled backwards.
Hermes is another Greek god
Slytherin is a dorm within the story. The dorm symbol is a snake and what do they do? They slither, hence slithering or Slytherin.

All the names that I researched have some kind of a meaning behind them pertaining to their specific character. The names are usually taken from ancient mythology, whether Greek or Norse, or they are French, Latin or Greek in origin. An example of that is one of the more clever names, Sirius Black. Sirius can come from the Greek seirios, which means burning, but it is also the brightest star in the Great Dog constellation. Sirius is a man that can change into a black dog, hence Sirius Black becomes, and ultimately is, the black dog. Rowling has obviously researched her names and I think she does so brilliantly.
Voldemort is also a good example. The name is compiled from French; vol de mort, or flight from death, which is the one thing that the character is aspiring to do - become immortal, he is fleeing from death.
I think that the people that are trying to pass the names off as some kind of demons are going a little bit awry. I realize that some of the names in mythology, whether Greek or Norse, might be actual demons but they are also literary names within the common language, which is where, I think, Rowling got them from.

As to the books being a manual to Wicca, I highly doubt that. Anybody who has been around actual Wiccans and spoken to them about their religion would know that they do not use broomsticks, or wands, or even use their own innate abilities. Wiccans call upon “spirits” (which, incidentally, I do believe are demonic) to do their bidding. In Harry Potter, a witch or wizard is born with magical abilities, sort of a gene X factor. This reminds me more of the X-Men than actual Wiccan practice. Wiccan’s also believe in a god and goddess, which Harry Potter makes no mention of at all, actually there’s not even a god in the whole story. Now the books tell a story about a magical world, whether Rowling gets ideas from Wiccan practices, I do not know, but she probably did some kind of research to gain ideas for her plot. She probably researched myths, other religions, and even children’s books, but as far as I can tell the story is not a manual for Wiccan practices.

I have to admit that there are probably more cons than pros to reading Harry Potter but still, I think that every Christian needs to make his or her own choice. Although it makes for a great read, and I’m a sucker for good stories, the fact of the matter is, the plot does deal with the occult and magic which is something the Bible is clear about:

"There shall not be found among you anyone who
…practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer,
or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer,
or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist,
or one who calls up the dead.
For all who do these things are an abomination
to the LORD, and because of these abominations the LORD
your God drives them out from before you.
You shall be blameless before the LORD your God.
For these nations which you will dispossess
listened to soothsayers and diviners;
but as for you, the LORD your God
has not appointed such for you."

Deut. 18:10-14

I shall say one more thing though. If you are reading, or planning on reading the books and don’t want to know how the story ends don’t read this following part.

Once you’ve read all the books and reflect on the story you realize that it starts with a prophesy about a boy that will be the end of the evil Lord Voldemort. The evil “king” seeks to kill the boy but doesn’t succeed. The boy is forced into “exile” among people that are not his own, muggles. Starting to sound familiar? He comes out of “exile” and takes his place amongst his peers where he starts learning about who he is and what his life is about. At the end of the story he faces Voldemort, not as an adversary, but as somebody willing to sacrifice himself to save the world and especially all of his friends that he loves. He dies, but he rises again. Now his sacrificial love protects his remaining friends from evil and in the end he kills Voldemort. To me, although the imagery is not exact, there is still an analogy of what Christ did for us on the cross.

Like I said, this is something that every Christian needs to discern for him- or her- self. I loved the books, and I thought that they made for a great read.

I’d love to hear what your thoughts are on the matter, please comment!

Our Part

The coolest thing just happened to me yesterday but before I can tell you the story I need to give you some background information:

Last summer the Lord placed it on my heart to give money, monthly, to a young girl as she went on a one year missions trip out of Greece. I gave faithfully every month up until January. Since I've been back from Iceland I've had financial difficulties, having to use my tithe money for various expenses, although I gave back what I took, I haven't deposited the money into that girls account for the past 5 months. Lately though, as I’ve been wondering why I’m struggling so much financially, the Lord has been convicting me, bringing Malachi 3:6-12 to mind, reminding me that I am robbing Him as long as I have that money in my purse and not giving it her. Verse 10 says:

"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse,
that there might be food in my house.
'Test me in this,' says the Lord Almighty
'and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven
and pour out so much blessing that
you will not have room enough for it.'"

This is the only place in the Bible where the Lord says "Test me".
Through this verse the Lord is saying: “When you give, I’ll give right back to you! Hoard your tithe and I’ll keep my blessing away from you” This is our part of the bargain. We need to step out in faith and sometimes give of what we don’t have and the Lord will meet us where we are at - and it’s a challenge too! The Lord says “Test me in this!” It is a promise that He is giving us, give and you shall receive!

Anyway, so yesterday I went to the bank and deposited that money into her bank account. As I was walking away from the bank it felt like a burden had been lifted off of my back and I prayed "Lord I have done my part, I really need you to do yours." And what happened?! Two hours later I received a letter from from a friend telling me that her and her group of friends, after having been on a missions trip, had some money left over that they didn’t know what to do with. So they prayed about it and the Lord brought me to their minds! They wanted to give me the overflow and were wondering about my bank details! Isn’t the Lord amazing!!! True to His promise, He met me where I was at.

One of my favorite sayings says:

If you are trusting you are not worrying
If you are worrying you are not trusting

So many times we, and I’m including myself into that we, we worry. Wondering what is going to happen if this or that comes about.
Worrying means that we are not taking into account that we serve a God, THE God, the Creator of the Universe, and He has promised, as our Father, to provide for us.
Worrying means that, as we look at the equation of life, and all we see are the human digits, the outcome becomes finite and limited. So many times we forget to add God to those digits, but when we do, the outcome becomes infinite and limitless and we see hope at the end of the tunnel.

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more
than all we ask or imagine,
according to his power that is at work within us,
to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus
throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

Ephesians 3:20-21

Easter

Last weekend was the Greek Easter. Now you’re probably going - what the?! We celebrated Easter a month ago! Well the reason why the Orthodox (Eastern) and Catholic (Western) Easter dates differ is because they use different calendars. The Catholics base their dates off of the Gregorian Calendar while the Orthodox base their dates off of the Julian Calendar. I’m not going to go into the details of how they work as they use different algorithms with either the solar or lunar cycles and it’s actually kind of complicated. What I did want to share with this blog entry is what I did.

Every year HM staff celebrates Easter together at the property, and this year was no different. We were all together about 80 people, with HM families and kids along with some good friends. It was a lot of fun and really quite relaxing. For me it was nice to get away from the city and just relax. Lately I’ve been feeling like I can’t breath, like I’m drowning in a vast see with no land on the horizon. So, as I was walking up the path towards the central building, I had to stop myself and just breath for the first time in days. It felt amazing! I was also able to get away from everybody for the first time in a long time, find my usual spot in the shade by the water and just get into the Word. That was as refreshing as the weekend was. I started reading in Mark, about Jesus’ miracles, and as I was reading there was just this theme that popped out, one that had never noticed before. It was one where Jesus, right before He did the miracles, made sure the people believed and had faith that He could accomplish what He said He would.
One example that really stood out was in Mark 9:17-27

A man in the crowd answered,
"Teacher, I brought you my son, who is
possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech.
Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground.
He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid.
I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not."
"O unbelieving generation," Jesus replied, "how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me." So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked the boy's father, "How long has he been like this?"
"From childhood," he answered. "It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us." "'If you can'?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for him who believes."
Immediately the boy's father exclaimed,
"I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"
When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene,
he rebuked the evil spirit. "You deaf and mute spirit," he said,
"I command you, come out of him and never enter him again."
The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out.
The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said,
"He's dead." But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.

The father here, as he brought his son to Jesus, said “If you can do anything” at that point it is was like Jesus was offended as His reply was “IF you can?” and quickly added “Anything is possible for him who believes” It was like He was saying “who do you think I am? Of course I can heal him! The question is do you believe I can? If only you would believe, I could do anything for you” to this the father replies “help me overcome my unbelief” that is help me believe, I want to. To this desire of having faith in Him, Jesus healed the son. This story is in stark contrast to Mark 6:4-6

Jesus said to them,
"Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house
is a prophet without honor."
He could not do any miracles there,
except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them.
And he was amazed at their lack of faith.

Because of their lack of faith Jesus didn’t do any miracles. Not that He couldn’t do any miracles, but rather He chose not to ‘reward’ their unbelief by doing any. If we believe God can do something in our lives He will reward us according to His good and perfect will. Like Peter we need to step out of the boat, make that first step of faith before He will take the next one with and for us. Another good example of this in Joshua 3:14-17

So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan,
the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them.
Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest.
Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan
and their feet touched the water's edge, the water from upstream
stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away,
at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the
water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah
was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho.
The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD
stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan,
while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had
completed the crossing on dry ground.

The Israelites needed to cross the Jordan at full flood, this was not a small stream, but a river flowing at full capacity, that they needed to cross! What did they have to do before the Lord did anything? The priests needed to take that first step into the river before the Lord stopped the flow. They needed to step out in faith, believing that the Lord would save them from assured drowning and get them to the other side safely. Talk about stepping out of the boat. As their feet touched the water the flow stopped. God immediately rewarded their faith by doing a miracle.
In my life, a good example is my original trip to Greece. The Lord didn’t start providing for my trip until I bought my plane ticket, by faith, on my visa card. My exact thought, as I was clicking the button to place the orders was: “Well Lord, either I’m getting myself into debt or You’re going to have to provide.” And of course He did!
Anyway all this to say that stepping out in faith is just something the Lord reinforced this Easter weekend, as I’m worrying about Operation Joshua, finances for China and finances for my YWAM training. Do I really believe that the Lord can provide? Of course I do! Am I willing to step out in faith and go for it...? Now, more than ever - YES!

This is for all of us, an encouragement that the Lord is by our side always looking out for us, providing for our next steps, if only we would step out in faith.

Happy Easter to all of you - HE IS RISEN!

The Grail

The Tradition: The Holy Grail was a vessel used by Christ at the Last Supper. Given to his grand-uncle, St. Joseph of Arimathea, it was used by him to collect Christ's blood and sweat while Joseph tended him on the Cross. After Christ's death, Joseph was apparently imprisoned in a rock tomb similar to the one he had given for the body of his grand-nephew. Left to starve, he was sustained for several years by the power of the Grail which provided him with fresh food and drink every morning. Later, St. Joseph travelled to Britain with his family and several followers. He settled at Ynys Witrin (Glastonbury), but the Grail was taken to Corbenic where it was housed in a spectacular castle, guarded always by the Grail Kings, descendants of Joseph's daughter, Anna (Enygeus) and her husband, Brons.

I asked dad this afternoon if he wanted to get a movie for tonight and if yes then which one. For some reason he mentioned the Da Vinci Code, which I promptly went to get. I love that story. The Da Vinci Code is one of the few books I have read more than once. I love history, art and mysteries which the Code has loads of.

Because of my background, I grew believing that Jesus had a wife and child, my mom taught me of that fairly early on, and why not? Jesus was human after all, why couldn’t He have loved a woman and fathered a child with her? Well one thing, the world’s most reliable historical source ever found to date, the Bible, never mentions it. Other authoritative historical sources, not alleged gospels written under the aliases of someone else 200-300 years older than the closest eyewitness, do not mention Christ’s alleged family either. Also another of the many problems that particular theory has is that it assumes that Christ is only fully man, it disregards His dual nature. Christ is also fully God. Being fully God, and so the father of humanity, He would have viewed all humans, men and women alike, as His children. To me it seems like a twisted kind of love where a father falls in-love with his daughter.
I personally believe that because people couldn’t grasp the reality of God, and therefore grasp the divinity of Christ, it was easier to undermine Him. It was easier, for all purposes along with their consciences, to make Him out to be fully man and not even remotely divine but made so by His human counterparts. Enter the quest for the grail. Why the quest, what is its purpose? To what does it lead? Does it lead to some enchanted chalice, the heir of Christ through His bloodline or to something completely different? Who started it?
I want to start a mini series where I want to attempt to answer these questions. I’ve always been fascinated by the grail stories. There is such an air of mystery surrounding them with the Nights Templar and the Priori de Sion, the secret societies allegedly charged with hiding a big secret. I first heard of the Priori de Sion and the Nights Templar in France with my grandparents. They live in the south and in the part of France that has the most Templar and Sion lore, apparently a lot of the story after Jerusalem and their fall happens there.

Anyway it’s an interesting story that has always fascinated me and I hope to dig in deeper.

Back to Basics

This is it. I am on the ferry right now on my way home from Patmos. Its been an amazing week, but I’m ready to go home. I’m walking away so much richer than before. At the beginning of the week I was anticipating a lot of blessing as the spiritual warfare was high during the organizing stages - my anticipation was rewarded. This week has been a leap of growth in my spiritual walk as the Lord humbled me by taking me back to the basics. Bottom line, no matter how much work we do for the Lord, if it’s not followed by heartfelt prayer and spending time with Him in His Word, the work is getting dangerously close to becoming meaningless. The Lord doesn’t want our work He wants our hearts. In the church of Ephesus in Revelation 2, the Lord found no fault in their work:

“I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that
you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to
be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered
and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.”

The church of Ephesus were hard workers for the Lord, they persevered, fought battles for Him, found out false prophets and kicked them out, they did not grow weary, all in all they were generally good Christians BUT the Lord found one fault with them:

“Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love."

They had lost their first love. They were working FOR the Lord not WITH the Lord and He does not like that for He keeps on going:

“Remember the height from which you have fallen!
Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, 

I will come to you and remove your lamp stand from its place.”

The Lord views it as a fall, a matter of which that needs repentance - a complete turn around. If our heart isn’t in the right place - in tune with the Lord - no matter what we do for Him, it wont be pleasing to Him, so much so that He will remove our lampstand from this place! Working for the Lord, out of tune with His heart, is a dangerous place to be.
Mark 12:33 says:

“To love Him with all your heart,
with all your understanding and with all your strength,
and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than
all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

To love Him is more important than offerings and sacrifices. What are the offerings and sacrifices of our day, since we don’t slaughter lambs and bulls to Him anymore? Our offerings and our sacrifices up to the Lord are our lives with all of our deeds and works. Yet if we do it without loving Him completely everything we do is meaningless. Non-believers do a lot of good works too, yet our salvation is not by works, but a gift from God. A gift He gives us in exchange for our hearts.
I really feel like the Lord was telling me “ Janet you are Ephesus, come back to me” Recently a couple of people have called me a workaholic, that’s how much I work for His Kingdom, but in all that, prior to this week, I can’t remember when was the last time I spent time with the Lord in His Word or in prayer. I really feel like those verses in Revelation 2 were directed right to me. Another blow to me during this week was when all of us HMers, that were in Patmos, got together for about 30 min every night to pray. As we were praying I was finding it very hard to stay still before Him on concentrate on His glory and love for us as my mind was always racing to the next thing that needed to get done. During those times the Lord was telling me “You see Janet you cannot even be still before me and know that I AM God”
Through all these experiences I really feel like I need to slow down and spend more time with Him in prayer and studying His Word. Not because I have to but because I want to for I do love Him with all my heart.
Please would you pray for me in this? I need to find a delicate balance between the work that I do and spending time with Him.

6th Day on Patmos

As our time here is drawing to an end it feels really sad. The first part of the group is actually leaving the hotel in the next 15 min. Its been the most amazing time of rejuvenation for me, I’ve just really appreciated getting away from the craziness of life and just taking a break and focusing on the Lord.
As I drive the group back and forth in between the places we need to be in I invariable spend part of the trip on my own, where I usually sing my heart out (as I have no radio to keep me company). One of the songs which I keep singing over and over again is an Icelandic favorite of mine which goes like this:
Ég vil dvelja í skugga vængja þinna
Trúfesti þitt er skjöldur minn
Ég vil finna þann frið er færir þú
Nóttin nálgast en ég mun ekki hræðast
er ég dvel í skugga vængja þinna.

:,:Í skugga, í skugga, í skugga vængja þinna:,:

Which means

I want to dwell the shadow of your wings
Your steadfastness is my shield
I want to feel that peace You bring
Night will come but I shall feel no fear
for I dwell in the shadow of Your wings

:,:In the shadow, in the shadow, in the shadow of Your wings:,:

As I’ve been here it really feels like I’ve been dwelling in the Lord’s shadow. Being rejuvenated by His presence in my life and digging deeper into who He is. I really am not ready for this to end but as I look forward I can’t wait to start tackling all the things He has for me in the next few months. He has been preparing me for something and I can’t wait to find out what that is.

UNBELIEVABLE!!! OK I’m picking up from where I left off about an hour and a half ago. So I took the four people that needed to take the ferry tonight, Bill - who needs to catch a flight on Friday morning, Helen, Sarah and Andre - all of which have business to attend to in Athens. We get down to the port in good time, it’s a quarter to two and the ferry was supposed to leave at ten past, we’re 25 min early at this point. So we unload the car and get comfortable inside it in the heat. Helen is out for a walk at this point talking to people. All of a sudden she comes up to the car and announces the news - the ferry that is coming now, at 2:10, is from Blue Star Ferries and is going to Rhodes while the ferry that we are waiting for is G.A. Ferries to Athens at precisely the same time. OK this is odd and slightly worrying. So I get out of the car and start investigating. Helen comes with me and ends up going to the port police with the tickets. Yes, there is no ferries going tonight to Athens! Excuse me? We have tickets here that prove that there is a ferry going to Athens at 2:10. You’re tickets are wrong. I’m sorry, did I miss something, how can tickets be wrong? Have you ever bought an airplane ticket and it be wrong? So a long story cut a little shorter, we reloaded the car up with all the luggage and I drove everybody back up to the hotel. I simply cannot believe that this happened! I have never heard of this happening to anybody I know, absolutely unbelievable! So hopefully tomorrow the ferry that was promised to us will leave on time and arrive on time in Athens because Bill will only have maximum 4 hours, and that is cutting his check-in time by an hour, to get to the airport.

Well I wasn’t ready for the group to be split up and to go home and so for this whole experience to end, well I got my wish!

Absolutely inconceivable!

5th Day on Patmos

We went to see the Cave of the Apocalypse today which, as legend has it, is where John received and wrote down the Lord’s revelation. It was interesting to see it, but somehow there was an element of lore about it. Did John really stay there? We don’t know. Is this truly the cave he received the revelation in? We don’t know. As we were visiting the cave a guardian told us a bit about the history of it. He told us about where John slept, where he would put his hand to rise up from bed (ehem you know that how exactly?), where his scribe wrote (another tradition, we don’t know if John wrote or somebody else acted as a scribe for him), the guide told us where the Lord’s voice came from, apparently it came out of the rock etc. They left nothing out, they explained every little detail and I couldn’t help but sit there in the damp darkness and go “How do you know all this? Where you there? Did you ever meet John and ask him? Did YOU get a revelation about what happened there?” The whole cave experience was just about speculation to me. I don’t know, I’ve been really excited all week about going to see it and now that I’ve seen it I’m walking away disappointed. The reverence for the place that I had is totally gone - they’ve explained it all away somehow, with false knowledge. Plus they’ve changed the cave into a small church taking the cave aspect of it all away. Anyway it’s a nice memory, and it’s neat to be able to say, “Yes I’ve been there”, but that’s about it. The real mystery, the most interesting part and the most exciting, is not the cave, but the result - what John wrote. The guide was focusing on what John did in the cave and all the things that happened there but he totally missed the most important part - the book of Revelation itself. People, let’s not ask about the meaningless where’s and how’s but lets get back to the basics, lets get back to the Scriptures.
What I’ve been thinking about all week, and what the Lord has been convicting me about was just reinforced today; we need to stop in the busyness of life and just stop - we need to come before the Lord and be still. I love the Scripture verse in Psalms 46:10 that states “Be still, and know that I am God.” I don’t remember the last time I was still before the Lord and just knew that He is God. Just sit there in the silence, in the stillness and know Him. Come to think of it, the last time I stopped was last summer in France when I was on vacation - that’s 7 months ago! I haven’t been still before the Lord in 7 months! It just reinforces the notion that I am the Church of Ephesus I am a doer but not a listener that has lost his first love. I focus on what I can do instead of whom I’m doing it for. I need to learn to stop. I took a 10 min walk tonight on my own to pray and gaze up into the starry hosts, and just those 10 min were the most rejuvenating time I have had in a very long time. He longs to fill us up with His peace and serenity if we would just let Him.

Oh God this is my prayer for tonight, help me to be still every once in a while. Give me wisdom to say no to the things You don’t want me to do and instead go away, tuck up somewhere and be still before You. For You are holy and worthy of our time. You long to be with us but we don’t give you of our ourselves. Lord I am so sorry. Please Lord, remind me, knock on the door of my heart and let me know when I need to stop and just kneel before You, my King, in Your presence. I love you Lord and thank You for everything You do for us, Amen.

4th Day on Patmos

Ok so today was supposed to be our day off. We were going to go down town, that is, to the port Skala, which we did, and rent motorbikes. Now, we all got down there with high hopes and soaring spirits but as we start asking around we quickly realize that nobody’s going to rent us a bike! First none of the guys had their international driving license on them and second we needed to have a motorbike license, which none of us except for Andrew has, so dejected we decide to have class instead. Unfortunately since this was unforeseen, Bill isn’t ready and Mr. G is off doing his own thing with no cell phone on him. So we go out for lunch instead. We’re all hungry for a gyro.The first place we stop and sit down at doesn’t have any, so we keep on moving, I think we must have looked for a good 30min for a gyro place, and it wasn’t until we got smart and asked a local that we realized that none of the gyro places are opened for lunch! What is this place?! No motorbikes and no gyro, is this island Greek or what? Anyway we find a nice little place and have pizza. Now as we’re sitting down, Andrew and Nate come over to us and low and behold with a BIKE! Andrew had been able to rent a motorbike. Anyway that created a whole bunch of jealousies, which faded fast. Now as we are sitting down at our table and the guys are drinking their beers as they are waiting for the pizzas, we are all just minding our own busyness talking Nate all of a sudden sprays the table with beer - no warning, no nothing just sprays us all with beer

Oh boy we had an amazing dinner

Fish for dinner

What a blessing to have learned about finances in HM it’s helped me out today
The dog, walking to Insoo’s for lessons, see it pat it, drive everybody home, walk up the stairs, see the dog again, go down stairs tell the story come up he’s in my room!
tell the girls, they’ve seen him
guys know about him he followed them home we’ve all given him seperate names

3rd Day on Patmos

This morning was really cool, it was Sunday today and so we had church. I went to pick up Insoo down in Skala, the port, and he joined us for our services. Bill shared and then we had communion. There’s just something neat about being in Patmos and doing all these things, knowing that John was here. What am I talking about?! It’s just cool that we’re here in Greece where a lot of this began!!!!
Today was painful. The Lord convicted me of so many different things. The first thing was when it came time to start class, I had just finished my last drive down, everybody was in Insoo’s house and I had just parked the car when I realized “Where’s Helen?” Helen wasn’t there. So I asked Mrs. G if she had seen her, no she had not. So we called her and she said that she was walking! She didn’t inform anybody just took of - that was my thinking then. Later I found out that she was in her room and the “last” people didn’t know about it. So as I was on my way up to pick her up I was grumbling inside of me. As I was driving up I saw my dad walking down the hill and offered him a ride to wherever Helen would be, which at the time I thought was the Cave of the Apocalypse half way up the hill. I get to the cave and no Helen, meanwhile I had been complaining about this whole situation to my dad. We finally found Helen, right outside of the Chora, which is the main town where we’re staying. She had barely started to walk! I couldn’t believe it! I was so upset that I was made to drive all the way up to pick up one person who didn’t have the good sense of letting people know she was still around. So I pick her up and we start driving down, then came the first blow “Janet why are you so impatient with me?” POW “Well Helen because they have started the classes and everybody was meant to be down there, I had just parked the car and was getting ready to enjoy class” lame excuse. As I was driving down I started pondering of how I had and have become the worst version of myself. Usually I am a patient person, ready to help anybody and go out of my way for “anybody” “Are you really Janet?” “No” Am I really the servant that everybody pictures me out to be? A servant is a servant to anybody not just to a select few and the Lord showed me today that I have been a servant in my life, yes, but only to a select few - who is worthy of my time? OK I’ll serve them. But that is not what true servanthood is all about. Servants serve the unlovable also. That is one lesson I have learned today, the meaning of loving and serving the unlovable. My prayer now, is that I will be able to put that into practice.
Another blow was in class as Bill was teaching. He stared talking about spending time in prayer thanking the Lord and as the first person is praying the second one is going “oh man he took everything, now I’ve got nothing to thank the Lord about!” POW - nervous laughter. How many times do I sit and listen as people are praying and think to myself, oh man what can I pray about?! As Bill was making fun of that and I was laughing nervously along with the joke, the Lord was telling me “now Janet is that truly what you want in your spiritual walk?” “No” as I was driving back from taking one of the first groups up to the Chora, the same feeling as yesterday came over me, a desire to spend more time with God. Again that same thing, I am not spending enough time with God. I do, do, do, work, work, work to the point where two people have called me a workaholic recently. I resent that comment but then the Lord brought back a description that Johnathan recently said about me, “she works like 3 missionaries”, the question is now - can I cut anything out of my schedule and then what should I cut out of my schedule? There’s nothing, everything I do has a heartfelt commitment to it. The Love Meals, the Worship Events, the Morning Star, being Alex’s assistant, Operation Joshua - it’s a lot but can I give anything up? I don’t know , I truly don’t.
Another thing the Lord showed me today is my lack of patience. As I was frustrated with that whole thing with Helen, (it’s funny how little things can really get to you isn’t it), the Lord reminded me of my road rage that I never used to have. I am a lot more aggressive person than I used to be with a lot less patience and that is something that I need to be prayerfully working on.
I also had a couple of scares today as my laptop’s battery stopped working for a few hours. At one point, in the middle of the class if it was not plugged in it died. Then a few hours later, and as I am typing this, the computer works just fine on the battery. I have no idea what happened but it was not OK! At the same time my computer wasn’t working I was unable to take pictures on my camera! All of a sudden it would not snap a picture. Again I have no idea what happened but it all works fine now. It was really weird, like a demon got into it and then left.
Through all this that happened today and all the conviction I was placed under one major encouraging thing happened, as I was getting ready for the last session of the evening, a session on leadership, dad asks me if he can read my Bible! Peter Grant had told him on the last day of the conference in Glyfada to read Ecclesiastes and he asked me tonight if he could read it! Hem I was not about to say no, “Of course you can dad!” I have no idea where he got to or how long he read for because when I came in he was sleeping and is still snoring merrily next to me as I am typing. But what a blessings for me to hear my dad ask that question! Thank you Lord!
Another thing that was brought to my attention tonight is the importance of being yoked to a believer. The lady from whom we are renting these rooms is married to an unbeliever and just tonight she was telling us of her guilt and lack of willingness to keep on fighting. I think she is broken woman because she made the decision of marrying an unbeliever. It’s hard enough to stand up for your faith in everyday life situations outside of home but when even your home cannot be a safe haven where you fill up your batteries, the fight is close to lost. My friends, if there is one thing you take away from today’s blog let it be this: we are called to be in the world but not of it. When you marry somebody you become one with that person and if that person is not a believer he is in the world and so you become one with the world, and that is a very dangerous place to be.

2nd Day on Patmos

It’s been an interesting couple of days. Yesterday, which was my first day here, was a good and productive yet restful day. I got up at around 11 and dad and I went out to hunt for food. We found the local (to our hotel) supermarket and bakery, got ourselves some eggs, bred and butter, and a couple of Won Ton noodle soups for dinner. Went back to the hotel and cooked ourselves some eggs. By the time we were done it was around 15:00 and since everything on the island is closed at that time, I decided to go for a nap. Man did I need that nap!!! I slept for about 2:30 when I finally got up at 17:30 dad and I walked down to the port, it took us 1:30 but it was nice walking with him and spending some time alone with my daddy. I really feel like I haven’t capitalized yet on him being here. Like everything I do is on the go and he just follows, my poor dad. Anyway we get down to the port, I located the AB store and went hunting for a car. I found the local car rental and found that a car for the day was only 19 euros so I took it. Then we located Imsoo’s house, a Korean missionary here in Patmos. We are going to have our lessons in his house while we’re here. So my mission accomplished - I had located everything that I needed to locate for our week-long stay here AND had acquired a car. I think I did pretty good - if I do say so myself. That night I was pooped and we went to bed early, if for no other reason than the team coming in about 5 hours later, at 3 in the morning. So I got up at 2:45, by 2:55 I was walking outside towards the car and by 3:20 I was at the port. I basically parked the car as the boat was docking. Perfect timing! So I started shuttling everybody up to the hotel, which is a good 7 min uphill drive. Andrew and Mike, of course (for those of you who know them), started walking while I drove the rest. Anyway as I’m getting the last people Sarah Wheway calls me and tells me there are some problems with one of the rooms. Two of the guys are not happy with sharing a bed, I can understand that, so I figure out what to do and solve that problem, then Popi - the wife of the owner of the hotel - comes up to me and tells me that somebody had come up to her and wanted to know if there were any other hotels he or they could stay at. I couldn’t believe my ears! Somebody walked up to the person who has graciously opened up her hotel for us and asks if he/her can go somewhere else! Anyway that is when it started. I was lying in bed and going over all these scenarios in my mind and imagining all these different fires I would have to put out in the morning and I basically tossed and turned for an hour in my bed! I never do that, I am not a worrier - and then it hit me, this is Satan planting seeds of doubt in my mind, and not only that, but depriving me of sleep!!! Once I realized that I prayed about it and went right to sleep!
This morning when I woke up everybody was enchanted by the place, the loved being here and they were thanking me for everything! You see how Satan can work in our minds, if we are not careful. We need to have our guards up constantly. Constantly alert against the fire darts of the enemy. Today was such a blessing. We had the most amazing brunch, as soup with potatoes and carrots and lamb, and not the stingy type of soup where you hardly have any meat at all - it was abundant. After a hearty brunch we went up to the monastery to look around and then off to class down in the port at Imsoo’s place. Class was wonderful, I really have missed going to school and being part of that class setting. The one thing I am taking away from today’s lesson is from Revelation chapter 1, the Ephesus Church. The Ephesus Church was perfect in all aspects, they worked hard for the Lord, found out falls prophets and cast them out, reached out to the poor - they were Christ like but then came the blow. God told them BUT there is one aspect I do find at fault in you - You have LOST your FIRST LOVE. That was a blow to me. I am a doer, I do things for the Lord, I do ministry, I work 12 hour days frequently, I reach out to the poor and needy through the Love Meals, I’m involved with discipleship through the Morning Star, I give of my services at the Worship Events, I give, give, give but when was the last time I actually sat down and read my Bible? When was the last time I sat down and prayed? When was the last time I had quality time with the Lord? I can’t remember!!! Have I lost my first love? I think yes, I am guilty of the same thing that the Ephesus Church was guilty of. And what happened to them? They are no more. God took them out. He told them if you don’t stop and get right with me I’m going to stop you. Now this is something that I’ve been feeling for a while now but I have never before heard it with that ultimatum, “get right with me or you’re out” What was interesting is that all of us in the HM team that are here felt it drive right home. They thought about it on the more corporate level, the individuals within HM need to be spending more time together in prayer and worship and fasting, as a group. It’s interesting that we all feel the need to be spending more time with God on a personal but also on a corporate level. After dinner and worship that we had together, us from the HM team, got together and discussed the issue and prayed about it as well as for HM. It was a good time that we all needed.

I really feel as sense of spiritual warfare going on around this program, more so than any other I’ve been involved with. Maybe because this is the first time I am completely responsible for a program, I don’t know, but I really feel like Satan is not happy about us being here. I think that there are going to be major decisions made here this week for the Lord and that something great is going to happen in all our lives, something, after the first day, already is happening.

Lord I just pray that you might please protect us from the evil one. Keep him at bay so that You might minister to our hearts unhindered by anything. Mold and shape us this week and let us be all of one mind, seeking your face and your will for our lives. In Jesus name I pray AMEN.

By the way went to see the monastery in the Chora today and it was really cool.

On the way to Patmos

As I am writing this I am on a ferry to Patmos, one of Greece’s many islands. Finally the big moment has arrived. A few months ago, Johnathan had a vision for a new ministry, the Omega Course, one I later volunteered to organize. It’s been a fun challenge and a huge battle, I don’t think I’ve ever had as much spiritual warfare as I have organizing this particular event! I can’t wait to find out what the Lord has in store for us.
In this course we are to go study the Bible in Biblically relevant locations, in this case, Patmos. Many of you know that Revelation was both revealed and written in Patmos by John. Now we are on our way there to spend a week studying Revelation with Bill Vassiliou and John Gianopoulos as lecturers. During this week we will also be studying Daniel as the two books relate to each other as well as being eschatological in nature. One of our main aims is to challenge the young people that are attending the course to go into missions, as we are living in the end of times (we believe) and who knows how much time is left?

I feel so blessed to be part this course and I can’t believe I’m going to be studying a book of the Bible where it was actually written!!!
I’ll keep you posted.

Worship Event in Thessaloniki

Last weekend I went up to Thessaloniki where we kicked off the first Worship Event there in the history of the events. It was an amazing time of gathering as about 150 people showed up. The energy there was great as young and old gathered to worship. Those you could would frequently jump up and down in rhythm with the music while the others contended themselves with bobbing their heads and singing along.
Those of us who came from Athens gathered in the city centre at First Church at 9:00, we climbed into the bus we had ordered and started our road trip up north. We arrived in Thessaloniki at 16:00 or 7 hours later, for those of you who don’t want to do the math. The event was held in a hotel on its top floor. We helped with setup and since sound was being taken care of without me I set out to explore this city I’ve heard of so many times before but never had the privilege of visiting before. So Andrew, Lyndon, Natassa and I set out to explore. We walked around for about 3 hours and saw, amongst other things, the city symbol known as the White Tower. It’s a cool little town - small on a worldly scale but big for one coming from Iceland ;o)