50,000 people--not news?

Have you seen ANYTHING in the mainstream media about the Harvest Crusade in Los Angeles Saturday night? Dodger Stadium, capacity 56,000, held 50,000 people. We counted. No, we didn't but we could see the crowd filled the entire stadium except for some sparse bits at the very ends. Many of the people (average age early twenties) were clapping, waving, shouting, hugging each other, and singing their heads off! At Greg Laurie's invitation to confess their sins and receive Jesus Christ as their Savior, 20,000 people streamed onto the field--so many that fire marshals had to stop them. There were 5,934 decisions for Christ.

Fifty thousand people praising God, exchanging anger, hatred, prejudice, lust, shame, pride, addictions and bad habits for forgiveness, unity, and joy, committing to serve God and love one another--50,000 people gathered in one place doing anything--NOT NEWS?

Watch the webcast.

The 9/11 - Hiroshima link

     At 9/11 Ground Zero there is a statue to Sadako Sasaki, the little girl who made paper cranes an international symbol of peace and hope:

From Hiroshima to 9/11, a girl's origami lives on
December 17, 2009|By Wayne Drash, CNN

• 

Sadako Sasaki, a survivor of the Hiroshima atomic bombing, made this red origami crane while dying of leukemia.

When Sadako Sasaki lay in her hospital bed sick with leukemia, she showed her father origami cranes from local school girls. "When you fold 1,000 paper cranes, you will get well," her dad responded.

Sadako was just 12. Hoping to get better, she began folding tiny origami cranes, using paper from get-well gifts and wrappers from medicine. She had survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Yet 10 years later, her fragile body suffered the effects of exposure to radiation.

"Please treasure the life that is given to you," Sadako said before her death on October 25, 1955. "It is my belief that my small paper crane will enable you to understand other people's feelings, as if they are your own."

Sadako's death inspired a memorial in Japan's Hiroshima Peace Park, complete with a statue of her holding a golden crane. Now, one of her last origami cranes resides in a new memorial thousands of miles away, in the country that dropped the bomb.

It was given to the Tribute WTC Visitor Center in New York by her aging brother.

"I thought if Sadako's crane is placed at Ground Zero, it will be very meaningful," says Masahiro Sasaki, in an education program produced by the tribute center and the Japan Society. "Commonly, in Japan, the crane is regarded as a symbol of peace. But for us, in the Sasaki family, it is the embodiment of Sadako's life, and it is filled with her wish and hope."

"I hope by talking about that small wish for peace, the small ripple will become bigger and bigger."

The delicate red crane, smaller than a fingernail, is on display at the center. Hanging near it are origami cranes that were placed on the fence around Ground Zero after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Another 10,000 cranes from families and colleagues of Japanese victims of 9/11 surround Sadako's.

"This little girl believed that the world could be made better if we all worked together," says Lee Ielpi, the co-founder of the center, whose grown son, Jonathan, was killed on September 11.

"It sends that beautiful message: Even in death, we're going to carry on that little girl's wish. ... I'm so tickled we can carry on her wish."

Meriam Lobel, the center's curator, says staffers were speechless when Masahiro Sasaki presented the gift. "He lifted it out with this little, tiny tweezer and there was this beautiful red glistening crane," Lobel says. "It was like a gem, like a little red ruby."

For Tsugio Ito, the symbolism of the crane holds special meaning.

Corrected correction re Wake-Up Call

Click here to join Wake-Up Call. Time has been changed to 7 PM ET.

9/11: A Pilot's Story

Join us on 9/11: Wake Up Call with Joel Rosenberg

REMEMBERING 9/11: HOW HAVE YOU CHANGED OVER PAST TEN YEARS? Please join us for the "Wake up Call" webcast on Sunday

Posted: September 9, 2011 by joelcrosenberg in Uncategorized

Ten years have passed since the horrific terrorist attacks on America by Radical Islamic terrorists. That was a wake up call for our country. But were we listening?

Are you morally and spiritually better off ten years after 9/11? Is your family? Is your church? God didn’t cause 9/11 to happen. Fanatics devoted to the false teachings of Radical Islam caused 9/11 to happen. But the True and Living God – the God of the Bible – let it happen to shake America. To get our attention. To wake us up. Were we listening? And where do we go from here?

On Sunday night, 9/11, Anne Graham Lotz and I will host a special event to remember that event and to call the Church to fasting, prayer and repentance, to a deeper walk with Christ, more hunger for His Word, and more faithfulness in proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Hebrew Prophet Joel wrote: “Wake up and weep, you drunkards!” Why? “For the Day of the Lord is coming; surely it is near.” (Joel 1:5, 2:1)

I hope you will join Anne and me for this “Wake Up Call” special event which begins Sunday night, September 11th at 7pm eastern — you can watch it for free on-line by clicking here and walking through the simple steps. On this site, you can also find out where you could watch the event at one more more than 300 churches Sunday night, or listen on one of more than 500 Christian radios that will be simulcasting the event. Or you can watch on satellite TV in anyone of 200 countries, including Israel. Please also be praying for us and for the event and for those who will be watching and listening. Please pray, too, that the Lord would use this event to wake up more of His people to love Him and serve Him ever more faithfully. And please invite family and friends to participate in this event as well. May it be a blessing to them, and to you as well. Thanks so much, and may God bless you.

INVITATION: Memorize 100 Bible verses in 1 year

     Okay Diana, I'm in. I expect it will mean reviewing verses I learned at Multnomah Bible College umpty-ump years ago. I was torn because I had just determined to start memorizing verses in Spanish. But I realize I can do both. When you post the verse on your blog, I'll just take the reference to http://www.biblegateway.com/, scroll down through the translations, click on La Biblia de las Americas, and memorize that instead.
     For those of you who don't know about this, but are intrigued by the idea, check out Diana DePriest's blog, My Walk of Faith or her Facebook. Then, summon all your wandering IQ points and get ready. We start in ten days.

     Question: Do I get extra Brownie points for learning them in Spanish?

Eggs Benedict on our balcony

What would we have to pay for a room with a view like this? Thank You, Lord!