Our Trip to Jamaica, NY

June 18, 2008
We left last Wed. at 6 AM to fly to JFK airport in NYC. I had been invited 2 yrs. ago to speak at the 21st Fraternal Gathering held in the South Ozone Park ecclesial hall in Queens, NY. Due to my health I couldn't make that trip but decided to offer my services to them this year. They accepted and Sis. Windy and I flew up with anticipation of seeing my brother in the flesh, Clint Isbell, who was cruising up that way in his "Grand Banks" style trawler. We landed at 3 PM and Bro. Gideon Drepaul took us to Penn Station to catch a train via a whirlwind tour of the streets of NYC, dropping us off to catch a 2 hr. train ride down to Manasquan, NJ where Clint picked us up in a rental car. We toured the beaches of "Sea Girt" and then headed back to the boat for a great dinner and sleepover that night. Beautiful weather, calm seas and wonderful night of sleep.
Next morning we set "sail" (no sails, 125 hp engine) to NY harbor at 7 AM. The Atlantic was smooth and with just a few large rolling waves we made it safely to NY and cruised by the Lady of Liberty after 7.5 hrs. of travel. We moored at the 79th St. Boat Basin Marina run by Joe and stayed onboard for dinner and another sleep. During the day for some reason, the waves were rolling in so often that the boat rocked and rocked to the point of almost making items on the table slide off. No barges or large boats or even smaller boats were passing but these "ghost waves" kept rocking us until the sun went down and the tides had finished running. Then all went quiet. Very strange. We had a good, restful night's sleep. Next morning, Friday, June 13th, Clint rowed us over to the dock which was quite a row against those "ghost waves" and strong current until he managed to get the dinghy over to some shallower water. Then the rowing went easier. We headed out towards Central Park which took four city blocks interupted by lunch at Subway's. We made it down to the 51st St. Columbia Circle and got on the subway to the Queens area. Clint went with us for a ways then we all got off and he caught a sub back to the boat and we continued on to Bro. Gideon Drepaul's house via his phone directions. We arrived in time for supper with his dad, Bro. Clive Drepaul and Sis./Wife Christine Drepaul and brother, Bro. Tim and Sis. wife Gaitree and son Caleb. Lovely meal. We then went over to the So. Ozone hall where I presented a class on "Earthquake, Wind and Fire: Gentile Dreams Disrupted in Zion!" After the class we went with brother Roy Lindo who kept us at his home for the next 3 days and nights. Simply a wonderful host. His daughter, Patricia, cooked the most fantastic Jamaican cuisine for us the two next nights.
The four classes on Sat. went well, Sunday exhort and lunch with another class following. We stayed one more night and then left on Monday after a restaraunt lunch, "all-you-can-eat" buffet of West Indian food with Bro. Joe Badlu and Sis./wife 'Vee' and Bro. Roy. DELICIOUS!! SPICY! But now I'm back to boiled cabbage, squash and the bland diet of a dying man. Mmmmm!!
We left JFK airport at4:30 PM and Bro. Leroy picked us up at IAH around 8 PM.
We thank God for His mercy and gracious care through our trip.

Apathy in the Body of Christ

OH, MaN! What a time for us all to get apathetical in the Body of Christ!! He's got his hand on the doorknob of his 2nd coming and at such an important time as this, what in the world are we doing? Maybe that's the problem. We're all "busy in the world." This type of mindset will drain our thoughtfulness for God's business and concern for His people. We'll become interested in ourselves and families to the exclusion of those in the ecclesia who have left their "fathers' houses" like Abram to embrace the hope of Israel. We'll forget about those "for whom Christ died" that are beyond the pale of our own flesh and blood. We have lost our fist love like Christ warned the ecclesia in Ephesus (Rev. 2:4). The only remedy that Jesus offered them was to remember from where they had fallen and repent and DO the things they had done back then at the time their zeal and enthusiasm was so high!! The consequences for failure would be a very dark place to assemble. He threatened to remove their lampstand from its place. So regardless of all the good things that Jesus had commended the Laodicean brothers and sisters for, that clearly wasn't going to be enough to let them remain a bonafide spiritual lampstand of God's truth and spirit. Too much was missing. A genuine first love and works based upon that first love. We, as an ecclesia, might possess a "form of godliness" but still find ourselves "denying the power thereof." Without that power, or fuel and spark we're a "pretty car" without gas and a battery gone dead from trying to start it up over and over for the wrong reasons. Getting up on Sunday mornings in time to get to Sunday School for reasons that are anything but God-glorifying and ecclesially edifying and family fructifying is for the wrong reason and will soon manifest itself in our apathy. HELLO. We're there now.