Monday, February 16, 2004

2:44 PM Diane Sawyer interviews Mel Gibson about “The Passion of the Christ” on ABC Primetime at 9 PM tonight. 8:08 AM Overnight I received a report from Caleb Lucien on the uprising in Haiti and the situation in Pignon. Here is part of what he wrote:

From one moment to the next it is unpredictable. Towns surrounding our community from the north, west and east are controlled by various parties. From St. Mark to Cap Haitien, to Dondon and St. Raphael roads are blocked. You don’t know who is in charge. When stopped you don’t know if you’re dealing with real police or with anti-government factions. One thing for sure everyone is well armed. We do not know how long this will last. Travel is very limited. We can get to coastal cities, like Port au Prince only via small charter plane (Mission Aviation Fellowship). We were surprised with how quickly conditions have changed in Haiti in 10 days time.

To read the whole report, including his comments on the food shortage in Pignon, click here. 8:03 AM Passion Watch: We started with 450 tickets. By the end of the fourth service we had 10 tickets left. Those are no doubt sold by now. I saw people buying blocks to tickets to give to their friends. Even if you didn’t get a ticket to the February 28, 4:30 PM showing of “The Passion of the Christ,” you can still come to the fellowship/discussion time afterwards in the Dining Room. One caveat I mentioned yesterday: This film is not suitable for children. Too intense, too graphic. There are other films about Jesus that children should see. The Passion movie is suitable for teenagers and adults. 7:59 AM We had breakfast on Saturday morning with Jim and Shelley Nichols, whom we had not seen for 18 years. Jim served in the first group of elders at Northeast Bible church in Garland. The Nichols moved to Omaha in early 1986 and we had not seen them since then. They came to church yesterday with their daughter Katie. A high school senior, she’s deciding where to attend college next year. They were in town to visit North Park University. It was great to see Jim and Shelley and recall many memories of our Texas days.