Celebration Reports and Testimonies ...

The first night of the Celebration, we saw many come forward to receive Christ. We heard rumors of something stirring in Beirut, but little did we know that by the next day, war would break out in Lebanon.

Each year before the Celebration, we come together with our brothers and sisters - the teams from the United States and the volunteers from Lebanon as well as pastors and church members - to share, pray and give the Lord praise for what He is about to do. This year one of the pastors said he felt like the Lord had said He was going to give us multitudes.

It was not until war broke out and we saw the stream of refugees coming into the Christian areas from the South - the people we could not freely reach - that we understood what multitudes the Lord had told the pastor about.

God's ways are surely not our ways! I was one of those who found myself caught in Lebanon with no way to leave. But I can tell you the Lord used this event to show Himself strong. The members of our team, though shaken on one level, experienced tremendous peace. Now back at home, I have told people that now I know about "the peace that passes all understanding."

One night, while standing near the seashore after our time of prayer, I felt like the Lord was having an audible conversation with me. I had been praying for some seven years for the walls that had kept Jesus out of the Middle East to come down. I could hear Him say to me "My child, why would I not let you see this happen? Is this not what you have been asking me for these past seven years?" I think I saw a smile on His face when He next said, "You never consider the cost of some of the things you ask me for." This was true. I wanted walls to come down, but I never thought it might take a war for this to happen.