It was the Christmas season, late in the year 2000. I had just spent the better part of a year developing a business/ministry concept. But something was not working. There were some missing components to the system. No matter how hard I stretched my brain, the “missing piece” would just not emerge.

At that time, I was reading Healing the Purpose of Your Life.* One evening just before falling asleep, I just prayed “Lord, what is it that is my purpose in life? What is it that I am supposed to do? What is the name of “it,” the missing piece?”

In my dreams, the woman who was then the Christian educator of our church, came to me and said, “Why, Janine, you know what ‘it’ is. It is an ecumenical ministry network.” The next morning I kept turning that phrase over and over in my head; ecumenical ministry network, ecumenical ministry network. OK, but what actually was this ecumenical ministry network? And the words were too long. Then I “got it!” The name had to be ecu-mini-net for short! But what was “it?”

So I went to my computer and looked up “ecumininet” in the domain names. It was available in all three flavors: .com, .net, and .org. So I purchased them all- not even knowing what the name could mean.

Later on that morning, I had the answer. I knew people with many talents and gifts; people that could had interesting faith/spiritual stories, people with the gift of photography and art, people in ministry/business/profession/academic arena, and I also knew the person who had the skills to design websites. In essence, I had all the “ingredients” for an electronic magazine, an ezine. I felt as if an electric current had passed from the dream and burned this into my mind and heart!

Within 6 weeks, ecumininet™ online! was born. To me, this was the difference between what I tried to accomplish by myself versus what God revealed to me through the dream. God’s voice of purpose, which became part of my purpose, gave me not only a promise for my life, but also was prophetic for the direction of my life. There was an indescribable energy that stayed with me for the better part of two whole years.

This is the story of the ezine, ecumininet™ online! It began with the dream and the on-going story of God-in-my-life and asking the eternal question, “Why am I here?” In many ways, I was prepared for the message of the dream for when it did come, I was ready to celebrate it’s “birth.” There was new life, new energy, and a renewed sense of purpose. I became different; changed. A new being in Christ, in the Holy Spirit, in God’s promise.

This season of the Christian year, Advent and Christmas help us to remember where God’s story/Jesus Christ’s story and our story come together. Advent means waiting or “arrival:” those four Sundays before Christmas. Expectation, preparation, penitence, purple/blue, spiritual/mystical, promise, prophecy. Christmas brings us Jesus Christ, Immanuel, “God with us,” and changes our lives forever. White/all colors blended, clear joy, simple, pure energy, prophecy revealed. Tomorrow-yet-born-yesterday. The dream made manifest. The promise fulfilled.

In this, our last issue of the fifth year of ecumininet™ online! we talk about this special season and how promise and prophecy plays out in our lives and our faith understanding. We wish to thank all of our readers, sponsors, advertisers, writers, poets, photographers, designers, consultants, friends and family for their contributions to this dream; this ezine. Ecumininet™ online! was a totally unexpected “child;” a surprise and yet a reminder that our dreams can also bring visions of God’s promises, if the love of Christ is at the center of the answers that we seek.

Praying for peace and wholeness for you all this season,

*(Dennis Linn, Shelia Fabricant Linn, Matthew Linn, Paulist Press,1999)

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