Then he entered the temple area and began driving out those who were selling. “It is written,” he said to them, “my house will be a house of prater, but you have made it a den of robbers.” Luke 9:45-46
This passage went through my head while I was walking around Dublin a couple of weeks ago. It kept coming back in my mind so I thought I should write it down and share it with you.
During some free time, team mate Holly and I were doing a little sightseeing. I love the history of so many other countries that have such a history. The buildings are so old and they are as beautiful on the outside as the inside. There was one that broke my heart though. We rounded the corner onto a road called Church Lane, guess what was there. It was a beautiful old stone church standing tall amongst the other smaller buildings around it. I began to take pictures and was excited to see the inside. That quickly ended.
As I walked through the doors I was about to start tossing some tables. They had turned this magnificent house of prayer into a tourist center. Instead of coming to pray, fellowship with believers, and learn about God, you could schedule bus tours, by liquor and shot glasses, calendars, leprechaun toys, etc. The inside had been renovated and looked as modern on the inside as it was old on the outside. They did leave a couple of the massive doors and stain-glassed windows, and an inscription over one door that caught my attention. 
“The Lord shall preserve the going out and the coming in.”
How nice, perhaps leaving that made them feel they hadn’t changed too much. At least the Lord’s name remains in that place, but never the less it broke my heart. It actually made me sick and I couldn’t stay inside there any longer.
This is becoming a common thing in Ireland I have learned. Not enough people are attending churches to make them worth keeping open so they close them and/or turn them in to something that can bring a bigger profit.
My prayers go out to the members of P squad that have remained in Dublin this month for their ministry. They may be able to speak the same language, but it is not going to be an easy thing. I pray god use them and speak through them words that the ears of the Irish hearts will hear.
Let’s together keep that land in our prayers. They have become lost sheep and need their Shepherd back.
