On Monday prayer leaders from various prayer groups across the city will meet to talk about cooperationg for the sake of the whole city. God is moving. We just released the German version of "120 days of prayer for your city" (the english version is available at christ for your city. Hope and pray it will be a blessing!

On Sunday a few Thousand young people will gather for "joels call" in Hannover, committing themselves to follow Jesus more radically...God is moving in this nation!

This morning I read: "Isn´t feeling pain better than having no feelings at all?" What an interessting thought...especially when one lives in a nation that has learned for centuries to be hard and strong, to show no feelings ("a man naver cries", "be tough")....I hope that our present catastrophe will bring many people to a point where they will allow "weakness" in their lives....and discover, when they are "weak", real people they will be able to experience his love and presence in a much deeper way than by always pretending to be strong....

Sound of love
The perfect arrangement
of a carpet of
synthesized sounds
floating though the air
winning the worlds awards
cannot beat
the beauty
of a mum
humming a song of love
to her child

[part of a poem I wrote a while ago]

For your info: On Aug 24, from 15:00 - 18:30 hrs, there will be a march in support of Israel organized by Die Bruecke Berlin-Jerusalem e.V. The motto is "Germany
side by side with Israel". The demonstrat ion starts at the German Foreign Ministry (Auswaertiges Amt), leads via Werderscher Markt, Oberwallstr, Brandenburg Gate and then on
to the Reichstag.
More info: German Ministry of foreign affairs

Several people from abroad have asked me how they can pray for the flood situation. Thanks for feeling and standing with us. Here are my suggestions.

A) PROTECTION
For the areas that are still flooded, in danger of being flooded or in the process of cleaning up (possibly toxinous mud and water)
B) HEALING AND RESTORATION
in the area of emotions (shock, loss, terror) and materially (we are grateful for the EU and the German government for fast and unbureocratic help)
C) SPIRITUAL RENEWAL
of the whole nation that has turned away from God in so many ways...
D) GODs PEACE
To cover the hearts, minds and lives of the people...
Thanks for praying with us. I suggested to my German contacts to fast for one day and pray for these things and give the "food money" to the victims of the flood.

Love Parade – comment (watch out, it is long! )

Thanks to Wolfgang Simson who published my short comment on the Love Parade all over the World in the Dawn Friday Fax I received a number of requests on my evaluation of the event. So I decided to answer them all here…

What is good about the Love Parade
It brings young people together for a weekend of dancing, fun, music, hanging around in Berlin parks…..many young people love “big parties” and there is nothing wrong with organizing a big party for them….

What I do not like about the Love Parade (my own personal opinion!)
- Strange Spirituality: It has very strong spiritual “overtones”…Dr. Motte (“Dr. Moth”) the initiator of the Love Parade very strongly leans towards Buddhism and is using the event to communicate his world view to the young people. So it is not a neutral event.
- The location: The “Siegessaeule” (Pillar of Victory) is a monument that was erected to celebrate Germany´s triumph over other nation. It symbolizes national pride, aggression, nationalism, war, total submission to a national system of rulership, exploitation, worship of various gods and lots of other stuff. Dr. Motte received the inspiration to hold the event at this location after an intense time of fasting…
- Drugs: It is a well known fact that many people who later became continuous drug users had their first experience with drugs at the love parade, where about one third of the young people take drugs to get into the right mood.
- "Free" Sex: Nothing wrong with sex when it is with one partner that you are committed to for life. But the Love Parade openly promotes sex with anyone (hetero, homo, one, many) and openly demonstrates it (at the love Parade I saw lesbian couples openly “turning each other on” in front of thousands of people and TV cameras as well as people having sex with one another on the pavement right next to rubbish bins and thousands of people passing by). It is my desire that young people have a healthy perspective on what good, passionate sex can be in the context of committed relationship, not the version of sex that is promoted at the love Parade. I found it interesting the the first wagon of the fleet showed a huge heart with devils horns on it and an advertisement for condoms (an important prerequisite for “free sex”).
- Dirt: The love Parade leaves Berlin full of rubbish and the park full of pee. That´s just a side effect, but I actually do not like to walk in a park that is totally soiled by the remains of thousand of people.

Why I think the Love Parade failed
- Decreasing Numbers: The number of visitors decreased from something like 1.5 Million people (2 years ago) to about 1 Million (last year) and to 400.000 (later the police corrected the numbers and said that it might have been 700.000)….This year I had a look at 3 p.m. (the start) and could walk across the area of the “Siegessaeule” with my bike without asking anybody to get out of my way. In the evening it was slightly more crowded, but still easy to walk there – which would have been utterly impossible in previous years.
- Decreasing enthusiasm: According to news reports only 10 % of the people danced, all the others watched and were bored. I personally think this number is exaggerated. I hardly saw anybody dance. Even on the fleet people seemed pretty unenthusiastic. One journalist said: "It seemed like a Sunday walk in the Grunewald, one of Berlins forests."
- Decreasing finances: Big sponsors are no longer interested in the Love Parade, less people go to the “after Parties” that used to bring in a lot of money and this makes it increasingly difficult to organize this event.
- Increasing prayer: A few years ago a handful of people prayed along the route of the love Parade, pouring our hearts out to the Lord about the things we saw there. The following year about one hundred people came to Berlin from all over Germany to pray together for the youth of this land. Then even more and this year it was 400 people coming to Berlin to pray for our generation, including Berlins young people who had prayed around the clock for their generation in the two weeks previous to the event 24-7. The prayer included thousands of people across the nation who were mobilized by the waechterruf national prayer chain.
They all were for the young generation of our land to meet Jesus in a new and deep way – to find life, fun and true excitement….simply : LIFE…

All over Europe torrential rain cause floods...houses are swept away, people loose their lives. Don´t even know how to pray....Lord, have mercy in the midst of judgement!

Need money? Shoot a wild pig.
Dpa reported that 50 wild pigs are on their way to Denmark. They have already swum across the Kanal connecting the East Sea with the North Sea and were only 50 km from Denmarks border. Nature freaks in Denmark are excited about the possible enrichment of the variation of species (Wild pigs died out in Denmark 200 years ago and can only be seen in Zoos). The danish association of pig breeders however is not so happy....(do they fear competition)....and offered 250 Euro to any hunter who would should one of the pigs for them. 250 Euro x 50...that´s a lot of money....

I think the story would give a great action Movie....Arnold Schwarzenegger or Mel Gibson in the role of the protector of Nature (kind of 21st century Tarzan) and Bruce Wills as the evil boss of the pig breeders....and of course one beautiful lady....could be a great script....

Saw this really cool book on Berlin yesterday. Full history through the centuries. Thick enough to kill a man with it when you hit his head with the "Berlins history Bible" . It is called "Faust´s Metropolis - A history of Berlin" by Alexandra Richie. Could not find it at Amazon....(and it is pretty expensive...27 Euro, but would be worth the money if I had it). However Amazon had a full collection of books on Berlin ....what a great city to live in....if one cannot read all the books that are written about it.

Walked through Berlin with my friends from Prague...well....can´t really say we walked through Berlin...it was more like going through all the thrift store shops and finding hippie clothes and huge shoes (size 45) for them....Andrew sais that to him Berlin seems like a city always rising up....a new group of people moves in and the city rises again....interessting way of describing the place, but it does make sense somehow....

Good news: Someone prayed. He asked the Lord to show him someone that he could give something to. Felt led to go to my page. Saw my frustration about the stolen bike and decided to give me the money to get a new one....There is a caring God active on planet earth (okay, I knew that one before, but I love to experience his goodness in action!)

The good news: right wing (neonazi) motivated violence has decreased in Berlin. It is only half as bad as it was last year. That´s a real reason to be happy.

The bad news: theft obviously has not decreased. My bike was stolen from the inner court of the house I live in. That ´s the second bike I lost within 14 months ...I am frustrated...especially since the last year was pretty hard financially. I had to sell my car and right now I do not have the money to replace the bike. That´s frustrating...(if you have a moment....please pray that I would be encouraged again!)