Keeping the Sabbath

by Richard Long,

  Been reading a great book this summer by Mark Buchanan titled “The Rest of God”.  This is one of those books you have to slow read.  Which is the greatest compliment that I can pay a good writer.  So I have been reading it gradually, letting it soak in.

  It’s a book devoted to the true concept of Sabbath.

Here’s a great quote from chapter 5.  “As the rabbis are fond of saying, more than Israel ever kept the Sabbath, the Sabbath kept Israel.  I would alter this slightly: to the extent that they kept the Sabbath, Sabbath kept them.  Sabbath living orients us toward that which, apart from rest, we will always miss.”

  Throughout this book Mark Buchanan gives excellent wisdom about why we need to have seasons of rest in order to live the lives that God planned for us.  You must read this book!

40 Days for Life

By Kirsten Harty

In the US in 2007 alone, 289,750 children were aborted in Planned Parenthood facilities, racking up revenue for them of $336.7 million from American taxpayers.

The first 40 Days for Life event occured in the fall of 2007.

Eighty-nine US cities participated, 514 documented cases of babies were spared from abortion. Two major abortion facilities (Dallas, TX, and Rockland County, NY) – formerly in business for over 30 years – went out of business for good after the 40 Days For Life campaigns.

Now – this year – from September 24 to November 2, 2008, over 170 cities in the US and two cities in Canada (Ottawa and Toronto) will participate in 40 days of prayer, fasting and 24/7 grass-roots outreach to demonstrate that we are not okay with abortion facilities in our cities.

Those who have endorsed 40 Days for Life can be seen here.

There are three components to their action…. Do something…. pray – or fast – or sign up for a slot to peacefully pray outside the Morgentaler abortion facility… it will make a difference in an unborn baby`s life.

We are looking for new cooks

by Richard Long,

  A last minute change of plans for Bob and Janette Ryan means that we are looking for new cooks immediately.  The Ryans had taken a couple of months off this summer to go back to Newfoundland to sell their home.  Now they are heading out to Alberta where Bob has been offered a teaching job.  Our prayers and blessings go with them.

  In the meantime we have about 3 weeks to find some new cooks.  Several leads have already emerged, but we ask all our friends to pray for us and for these yet-to-be-discovered cooks as we have a full Fall season ahead of us with 14 confirmed Nazarites and many teams booked.

  Thanks for praying!

Stillborn brought back to life

by Richard Long,

Here’s a good news story for you that was in today’s Ottawa Citizen.  You gotta wonder if God isn’t try to say something to all of us on this planet about the value of life.  Quite timely after our vigil on Parliament Hill during The Cry.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – A stillborn Israeli baby who was pronounced dead by doctors “came back to life” on Monday after spending hours in a hospital refrigerator.

 

The baby, weighing only 600 grams at birth, spent at least five hours inside one of the hospital’s refrigerated storage units, before her parents, who had taken her to be buried, began noticing some movement.

 

“We unwrapped her and felt she was moving. We didn’t believe it at first. Then she began holding my mother’s hand, and then we saw her open her mouth,” said 26-year-old Faiza Magdoub, the baby’s mother.

 

The baby was pronounced dead several hours earlier, after doctors at Western Galilee hospital in northern Israel were forced to abort her mother’s pregnancy because of internal bleeding. Magdoub was 23 weeks into her pregnancy.

 

“We don’t know how to explain this, so when we don’t know how to explain things in the medical world we call it a miracle, and this is probably what happened,” hospital deputy director Moshe Daniel said.

 

 

(Writing by Avida Landau, Editing by Mike Collett-White)

“The Cry”

by Richard Long,

  It was a hot day!  In many ways.  It was very hot spiritually, but also naturally.  Our campers headed out on the cross-country trek to the first site of The Cry to be there when it started in Jauques Cartier Park at 9:30 PM.  They were on duty throughout the day, praying through technical problems, handing out leaflets, marshalling the prayer march, and cleaning up the grounds later at Parliament Hill.

  In between all of that they worshipped and prayed and proclaimed along with the hundreds of others who came to cry out to God for our nation.

  We are so proud of them and their great attitudes all week.  Last night we had a pizza party and debriefed until 11:30 PM.  Today we have been gradually driving them to the train and the airport for their return home.

  Please pray that all that the Holy Spirit had sown into their lives will now grow into full fruition.

Getting Ready for “The Cry”

by Richard Long,

    Our CampFire kids joined with many others tonight in a pre-rally gathering to worship, pray and prepare for the big event tomorrow.  Earlier in the day we had toured Parliament Hill and took some time to pray onsite for “The Cry”.

   NHOP leadership have been busy promoting this effort and lending a hand to Faytene Kryskow and her team as they prepare.  Most of our staff having important roles on the day.  So we headed over to the City Church tonight to get ourselves ready in spirit.

  The highlight of the evening was a challenge from Rod Bruinooge, a Metis M.P. for Winnipeg South and now the deputy minister for Indian Affairs and Northern Development.  He talked about the process of finding his voice in Parliament especially on the issue of abortion.  We were all touched by his passion to see the unborn protected in this nation.

  We have kept our campers very busy for the last 5 days, so we would ask you to remember them in prayer as they give a final push of spiritual energy to join in The Cry.

The Leadership Here Is Insane!

by Brent Harris (big guy on the right)

So far, God’s been doing an incredible work.  I came here at the first of the week with a completely empty cup, and after the first night it was filled.  Everything I gain from the rest of the week is overflow that I am more than happy to bring home to university.  The amount of wisdom on prayer that is held by the leadership is insane, and I just thank God for blessing this nation with a house and leadership that will seek God and be sensitive to the Spirit.

Happiness hits Angel Square!

by Richard Long

   We hoped we would have 100 kids and parents show up for the fun night that we planned in “Angel Square” Park across the street from NHOP.  The flyer advertized free hot dogs, and hamburgers, inflatables and facepainting.  We also ran kids games, but it was the giant inflatable slide, and other huge colourful rides that drew them in.

   We’re not sure how many actually came.  At least 300.  We served 600 hot dogs and hamburgers!  (We had to run out and buy a lot more once we saw the line ups.)  There were tons of kids.  Many with their parents, and many were obviously Muslim and Francophone. 

   Some of the youth group from Woodvale Pentecostal came in to help us, so we had about 40 volunteers, all wearing our “CampFire” black t-shirts, ministering to our neighbours.

   In our debrief time, over pizza and pop, one of our campers said she had never seen so much happiness in one place!  There were many stories of neighbours saying thank you for the free party.

We are praying that these seeds of kindness and joy that we sowed this evening will bear much fruit down the road around Angel Square.

Chillin’ at the “Fire”

by Richard Long

  Our CampFire kids spent the afternoon handing out flyers inviting the neighbourhood to a free “Fun” event we are doing tomorrow afternoon.  We will be doing face-painting, games, inflatable rides and free hot dogs and hamburgers.  So we had flyers printed in French and English and handed out a thousand of them this afternoon.

  The pic above is some of the Fire Campers chillin’ out afterwards in our lounge.  That’s Krista, Shantelle, Rachel, Carmen, Josh, Kayla, Brent and Jenn from left to right in the photo.

   This morning they had a great session with Rob Parker as he talked about the Spirit’s ministry to us and through us in prayer.  Tonight Rich Janes will be sharing about the role of prayer as we see it revealed in every page of the Book of Acts.

  Keep praying for these awesome high schoolers!

We welcome the FireCampers!

by Richard Long,

  We’ve just finished supper and all our high school campers have now found their rooms, got their T-shirts, and met some new friends as they have settled in for a week with us at NHOP.

  From just a little interaction we can tell we have been intrusted with the cream of the crop.  They come from across the nation.  St. John’s NFLD, Saint John NB, Quebec, Ontario, and 5 from Edmonton AB. 

  We ask for your prayers for them as they get inspired and trained to go back to their campuses and youth groups this Fall and become a spark plug for God.

  We will keep you posted with pics and stories throughout the week so be sure to check back at this blog every day to see how your prayers are being answered.