We must never give up the fight

I firmly believe that we are in the midst of a spiritual battle, and that spiritual warfare exists. Satan is waiting in the wings, ready to jump into our lives and cause problems. I find that whenever I get closer to God, my wife or my family, Satan makes his presence known.

It happened just yesterday. In the morning and during the day, my wife and I were feeling closer to each other than we had in a long time -- we felt like the best of friends. But when I came home from work, we got in a terrible fight and said some very nasty things to each other. She blamed me, I blamed her, but I know that it was Satan jumping in and trying to break up our family.

In desperation, I said, "OK, Satan -- you win!"

I can't believe that I said that. I have been reading the book of Job lately, and I have tremendous respect for Job. After all that he went through, he never gave up on God. But for me, just one little challenge, and I gave up.

As men, we must never give up the fight in this spiritual battle. It is up to us to defend our families from the forces of darkness. We must keep our families together and use God's force in the battle. We must never let Satan win.

The question of God's voice

Here's an interesting column from Today's Christian Woman in which Lisa Harper, author of What the Bible Is All About for Women, answers the following question from a reader: "I have a friend who always tells me God 'speaks to her.' I've been a Christian a long time and never literally hear God's voice. Is something wrong with me?"

Harper essentially answers that if one seeks God, one will find Him -- although not everyone will necessarily hear an audible "booming bass voice."

Vengeance is not ours

When something violent, tragic or wrong happens to us or one of our loved ones, it is human nature to want to exact revenge. But that is not what God wants. We need to forgive, and God will be the ultimate judge in heaven. Bishop Donald Clay, the founder of Imani Christian Academy in East Hills, Pa., recently told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review how he wanted revenge on his nephew's attacker but founded the school instead:

...one night that summer (1993)...his nephew, Charles Harper, was beaten at a party. At the hospital, Clay found the teen clinging to life. They recognized him by his shoes.

'He was disfigured,' Clay said. 'It was a level of violence I wasn't familiar with.'

Clay reacted instinctually -- he went home, grabbed a baseball bat and went looking for his nephew's attackers, he said. But as he neared the house where his nephew was jumped, Clay's car phone rang. It was Harper's step-dad.

Clay recalled the conversation: 'He said, 'I know what you're doing, and I want to do it also. But God spoke to me. He told me this is our fault. We've been so busy inside our churches that we've neglected our children.''

Clay pulled over, turned off the engine and began crying. Sitting in the car, he prayed, Clay said. And he struck a deal with God that night to never again neglect the people who most need him.

Weeks later, the first Imani class -- 30 kids and three teachers -- met at Clay's house...

Imani Christian Academy graduated two seniors nine months later and still is thriving.

God finds a home for a Chinese orphan girl

Little Rachel was an orphan in the Anhui Province in China -- until she was adopted by Kim and Lyle Ormsby of central Illinois when she was 3. How did Rachel make the journey from China to the United States? God had something to do with it, as mentioned in an article from the Herald & Review newspaper in Illinois:

'We had been married for over 10 years, and we didn't really think we wanted to have children,' Ormsby said. 'Then, I saw a picture of a little Chinese girl in a magazine and I just felt like God spoke to my heart.

'I remember being very emotional and very touched by the whole thing. I just felt like this was what we were supposed to do.

'I told my husband about it a couple of days later and he said, 'Well, I figured if we would ever have children we would adopt, but China? Are you sure?'

'But we prayed about it for a couple of weeks, and it turned out to be a pretty easy decision for us. We didn't have to choose a country. We just knew that it was what we wanted.'

The Ormsbys are part of a group in central Illinois, Forever Families of Asian Children, designed to share insights and provide an opportunity for their adopted kids to interact and learn about their heritage.

Could I-35 be the "Highway of Holiness"?

Interstate 35 is a highway that I travel every day. It never really seemed that special to me, other than the fact that it goes all the way from Minnesota to Texas. Well, WorldNetDaily recently ran a column by Joseph Farah on a group called Light the Highway that has decided Interstate 35 is the "Highway of Holiness" proclaimed in Isaiah 35:8:

'God has given this scripture to us, not as a word of encouragement, but as a commission,' explains Cindy Jacobs, the founder of Light the Highway. 'God spoke to us about a highway we have that goes all the way from the bottom of America in Texas, to the top of America, in Minnesota.'

Starting Oct. 28 and ending Dec. 1, Light the Highway will hold its "35 days of I-35", culminating with "5 Nights of Miracles" in the Dallas area.

We are the ones who walk away from God

As he tells on page 356 of Bono, the U2 lead singer starts each morning by reaching out to God:

When I wake up in the morning, I sort of put my hand out -- spiritually -- and I reach for what you might call God. Sometimes I don't feel God, and I feel lonely. I feel on my own, and I wonder where God is. And then [pause] -- again, I don't want to be melodramatic about this -- I ask God: 'Where have You gone?' God usually replies in a way that it hard to describe: 'I haven't gone anywhere. [laughs] Where have you gone? I haven't moved.' Then I have to check, and I realize that I have somewhere sold myself out. It usually happens incrementally, in tiny steps.

We are the ones who wander from God. . .we must keep our bearings by drawing close to Him again -- each and every morning.

Mmm. . .pumpkin bars and more in Watertown, S.D.

For the past year and a half, Watertown, S.D., baker Jane Skatvold has been baking pumpkin bars, cookies and other treats each Thursday for local firefighters. In a Sioux Falls Argus Leader article, Skatvold recalls how she received a message clearly after a 2006 event on Easter:

'God spoke to me to do something for the firemen,' she says. 'I absolutely had no idea what he wanted me to do. So I made a pan of bars.'

Well, the firefighters were overjoyed (who doesn't like banana bread, butterscotch cookies and more on a regular basis?). But firefighters aren't the only ones who benefit from Skatvold's tasty treats; she also regularly bakes for sick people, children in her neighborhood, and others.

Man holding giant cross spotted in Pocatello, Idaho

Drivers in Pocatello, Idaho, this week witnessed a man dressed all in red holding a giant cross. His name was Reverend Obadiah Franklin, and he's spreading the message of Jesus Christ throughout the continental U.S. one city at a time. Here's the scoop, according to KIFI-TV:

Franklin says almost four years ago, God spoke to him and told him to spread the word of the Lord. Since then he travels city to city throughout the continental United States. He says God laid out a plan for him even down to the color of his clothes. He says he wears all red because it represents the blood of Jesus.

The cross that Franklin carries is made of solid cedar posts, eight feet by 12 feet. That has got to be heavy.

God is the difference between a good and great U2 song

On page 177-178 of Bono, the U2 singer is asked by Michka Assayas where his best ideas come from:

Michka Assayas: 'I don't know how it is for you, but my best ideas come when I'm about to go to sleep, or when I feel like I have spent my entire day wasting time, or working without thinking, which may amount to the same thing. I go down to buy a paper, and all of a sudden the idea that I was looking for just happens.'

Bono: 'Yeah, the unconscious. Whether it's a collective unconscious or not, whatever pool you draw out from. That's why songwriting by accident is so important, and the getting to the place where that can happen or, as we say, getting to the place where God can walk through the room. Because, if you know what great is, you know you're a long way from it.'

It's not always easy to tell the great U2 songs from the clunkers, but to me, "Bullet the Blue Sky" is one of the great ones, while a handful of the songs on Pop aren't the greatest.

The 80-year-old man in the funny little hat

Marsha Mundy, a columnist for the Georgetown News Democrat in Ohio, recently wrote about a comforting vision that God gave her in 1993:

My first grandson, David Jr., was about four months old...We received a call (one) morning from our son, David. They had taken David Jr. to the hospital because he was running a high fever. He was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis and the situation didn't look good...I was praying for God to bring healing to David Jr.'s little body.

God gave me a vision that I will remember as long as I live. I saw in my mind, what was like a snapshot of an 80-year-old man, he was driving a car and had on a funny little hat. I knew that he was David Jr. and that I was being given a wonderful gift of seeing my grandson as an old man.

At that moment I knew that David Jr. was going to be fine. God gave me peace and assurance when I cried out to him.

David Jr. was in the hospital for two weeks, but he came through the ordeal just fine. He is a healthy, brilliant young man today and I am so grateful that God gave me that vision.

We never know how long we are going to live here on Earth, but in this instance we know that David Jr. is going to live to a ripe old age.

God saves driver from going over 35W bridge

Living in the Twin Cities, the 35W bridge collapse on August 1 hit close to home. Thankfully none of my relatives were on the bridge at the time that it collapsed, although I did know one of the victims.

Breaking Christian News (BCN) had an interesting story that was retold in Ohio's Georgetown News Democrat about a man who was saved from the collapse in a very profound way:

A man named Matthew, last name not given, was approaching the I-35 bridge in Minneapolis, shortly before the collapse. He told the BCN reporter that he had been praying to God as he often did as he drove along and as he prayed, he had a vision of the bridge falling into the river. He asked the Lord what he should do about the vision just as he was approaching the bridge. He said that there were nearly 100 cars following him and traffic was moving slowly because of work being done on the bridge closing a lane of traffic.

God spoke to him and told him to stop his car. He hesitated only a moment but stopped his car as instructed. People behind him started blowing their horns at him to move, but he stayed put. Within a few seconds he watched as the bridge collapsed in front of him.

Many of those who had been in line behind him came forward to thank him for stopping when he did because they realized that had he not stopped, they would have been on the bridge as it fell.

What an amazing story. I'm sure that there are other survivors who took a different route from their regular one that night, or left earlier or later from work, who have reflected on how God saved them.

Bono and those darn sunglasses

I swear that in about 99% of the current photos that I see of Bono, he's wearing sunglasses. I suppose it's part of his image. He talks about those sunglasses on page 61 of Bono:

Michka Assayas: 'What about your own sunglasses, then? Do you wear them the same way a taxi driver would turn off his front light, so as to signal to God that this rock star is too full of himself and not for hire at the moment?'

Bono: 'Yeah, my insincerity...I have learnt the importance of insincerity, the importance of not being earnest at all times. You don't know what's going on behind those glasses, but God, I can assure you, does.'

My impression of Bono was that he was really arrogant (and I'm sure that he is in a way), but he seems more grounded in his relationship with God the more that I read about him.

Bono, coolness, and God

On page 60-61 of Bono, the U2 singer chats about coolness and God:

Coolness might help in your negotiation with people through the world, maybe, but it is impossible to meet God with sunglasses on. It is impossible to meet God without abandon, without exposing yourself, being raw. That's the connection with great music and great art, and that is why it's uncomfortable, that is why cool is the enemy of it, because that's the other reason you wanted to join a band: you wanted to do the cool thing. Trying to capture religious experiences on tape wasn't what you had in mind when you signed up for the job.

For the longest time I tried to be cool, to be someone that I'm not. Life is more fulfilling when I'm just myself, an authentic person -- when I'm more concerned about what God thinks of me than what other people think of me.

Bono and his fathers

Many listeners hear the spiritual aspect in U2's music. In fact, there are some churches in the U.S. that play U2 songs during their worship.

In Bono, French author Michka Assayas writes about his conversations with Bono on many topics, including God. On page 29-30 of the book, Bono recounts a conversation that he had with his earthly father about his Heavenly Father:

Bono's father: 'Yeah, lots of people are Catholic. It was a one-way conversation [with God]...You seem to hear something back from the silence!'

Bono: 'That's true, I do.'

Bono's father: 'How do you feel it?'

Bono: 'I hear it in some sort of instinctive way, I feel a response to a prayer, or I feel led in a direction. Or if I'm studying the Scriptures, they become alive in an odd way, and they make sense to the moment I'm in, they're no longer a historical document.' He was mind-blown by this.

Bono's faith has helped the band to connect to people on so many levels.

Understanding the heart of the warrior

I am about to embark on a journey that has me fearful. I have joined a men's group that will be going through a curriculum developed by Dr. Greg Bourgond called "The Heart of a Warrior."

The purpose of "The Heart of a Warrior" is "to help men live lives of integrity and honor under the authority of God." This transformational group has a one-year commitment.

In addition to reading "The Heart of a Warrior" manual written by Dr. Greg Bourgond, we also are required to read Victory over the Darkness by Neil T. Anderson. Victory over the Darkness is a book that explains and reaffirms who we are in Christ -- sounds like an interesting read.

Change scares me, and I'm nervous about what I'm going to need to change in my life as I go through this program. But I know that I want to do God's will, and I want to live like Jesus Christ did, so I'm diving in.

God spoke to me, part II

The second time that I audibly heard God's voice was in early 2000. I had been working at a company for nine years and realized that it was time to move on from there in order to further my career. I had interviewed with a company in Des Moines and was interested in the prospect of moving there, since I went to school for a couple of years at Drake University.

At the time I was attending Church of the Open Door, and I was worshipping at one of their Wednesday night services. Suddenly, right during the middle of a song, I heard that deep, clear voice again. "I have a job for you," the voice said. Again it distinctively was God.

I thought, "Super! I'm going to get an offer regarding the job in Des Moines!" Of course, I wanted to hear more from Him, but my first experience told me that He only speaks in short phrases.

The next day I received a call from the company in Des Moines. "Brant, we thought that you brought a lot to the table, and we appreciated you coming down here to interview for the position. We have decided to go with someone else who had more experience."

"OK, thanks," I replied.

What was that about? I thought that He just told me that He had a job for me!

I also had interviewed with a company in Bloomington. The following day they called and gave me an offer -- and that's where I went to work.

I interpreted God's telling me that He had a job for me on a couple of different levels. First of all, He gave me the next job that would further my career. But on a bigger scale, I believe that He was telling me that He has a job for me for my entire life as a way to further His Kingdom. I'm still trying to figure out what that is. . .maybe He will audibly speak to me again. . .I can only hope.

God spoke to me, part I

Twice in my life God has audibly spoken to me, and it is the most amazing feeling. The first time was in 1999. I decided to go on a weekend retreat at Pacem in Terris in St. Francis, Minn. On the Friday as I was checking in, my host said that I would encounter God at some point in the weekend. "Cool," I thought, but I wasn't quite sure.

I relaxed. I slept. I enjoyed the silence and the Word. Then on the second day, as I was looking out the big window at the woods, all of a sudden a voice came upon the wind.

"I love you, Brant," said the deep, clear voice. Amazing. What was that? I wanted to hear more. It was an ethereal sound, and it clearly was God. I wept. For the longest time in my life I had not felt loved. Now here was the Lord, the ultimate parent, telling me that He loved me.

I longed to hear His voice again that weekend, but that was all He said.

Understanding brokenness

We know (or should know) that our strength comes from God. God wants us to depend on Him, and sometimes He will drive us to brokenness in order to get His point across.

On page 106 of One Yard Short, Les Steckel writes about a woman in church who told him about brokenness after he was fired by the Minnesota Vikings after the miserable 3-13 season:

Back when the Vikings had just fired me, a woman in a church crowd had used the term (brokenness). After I finished speaking, she came up to me and said, 'I believe God removed you from that position to put you through brokenness.'

Brokenness? What's that? I told the woman I had no idea what she was talking about. And I was being honest, for even after the Vikings fiasco, I still didn't get it.

Steckel eventually understood brokenness in 1990, when he was fired by the New England Patriots.

I understand brokenness. I felt extremely broken during my childhood -- my parents divorced when I was 4, and my stepdad didn't treat me very well. I have been working to deal with my parents' divorce and the treatment by my stepdad my entire life. But I know that God was with me during that entire time and ensured that I made my way through it. It's a paradox: when we are weakest we are at our strongest, because at that point we are relying on God.

To coach the Vikings or the Gophers?

When Les Steckel was a coach for the Minnesota Vikings, he lived in my neighborhood in Bloomington. Many Minnesotans remember Les Steckel, although possibly not very fondly. He was the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings in 1984, when the team had a 3-13 season. Before being head coach, Steckel coached the receivers, tight ends and special teams.

Steckel was obsessed with being a head coach, and the University of Minnesota approached him about their head coaching position in 1983. On page 77-78 of One Yard Short, Steckel recounts how he consulted God as to whether to stay with the Vikings or go to the Gophers:

I rose from bed, walked into my study, and dropped to my knees beside the window. A huge harvest moon looked down on me from the night sky.

I prayed, 'Lord, I'm scared to death. This head coaching thing is all I can talk about, all I can think about, everything I've dreamed about. You know what's inside me, Lord; you know me better that I know myself. Tomorrow they're going to make the offer. I want it, but I don't know if you want it for me.'

I paused and had a crazy thought. 'Lord,' I said, 'let something fall out of the sky. I just need a clear answer. Please, let something fall out of the sky to tell me what to do.'

A few hours later I left for work. And at the end of the day, Bud Grant materialized in my doorway -- something that didn't happen too often with assistants. He said, 'Les, can I see you for five minutes?'

The word was out about the college job. Reporters knew, players were asking me if I was leaving, and I figured Bud had the same question. I was in for a shocker.

He said, 'Les, I understand you're going to be offered the job at the university. We respect you a great deal as a coach and as a person, and I want you to know one thing. I'm going to retire at the end of the season, and I want you to be my successor. The general manager and the owner agree with me. We want you to be the next head coach of the Minnesota Vikings.'

So Steckel became the Vikings' head coach, and Lou Holtz ended up taking the head coaching job for the Gopher football team.

Miracle in Music City

Les Steckel, currently the national president of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, had a long football coaching career, including 23 years in the NFL. He tells his story, and the role that God played in his ups and downs, in the book One Yard Short.

On January 8, 2000, Steckel was coaching the Tennessee Titans as their offensive coordinator in a playoff game against the Buffalo Bills. It had been a critical season for the Titans; the team was 13-3 with a perfect record at home. It was the first time that Tennessee had big NFL success.

The Bills were ahead 16-15 with 16 seconds left. The Titans had led most of the game, and the possibly of losing the game was almost too much for Steckel, as he writes on page 8 of the book:

'Lord, I never want to coach again,' I had prayed moments earlier. 'I've had it.'

Then I had one of those extraordinary moments: I heard the quiet voice of God.

I heard him ask, 'Do you have faith?'

I know what you're thinking. But listen, this isn't something that happens to me on an everyday basis. I can tell you that when it does, the words, the message, and the source are unmistakable. I answered the question immediately and instinctively.

'Yes, Lord, I have faith.'

And just like that, I had hope. I can't explain it even today, but I was excited even as everyone around me had given up. Sure, I was tense. But I was hopeful that something good was going to happen.

What happened next was the "Music City Miracle" -- a special play involving an improvised handoff and a pass to Kevin Dyson, who scored! The Titans won the game and were on to the next round of the playoffs.

God opens the door for the Spanish voice of Minnesota sports

Alfonso Fernandez is the Spanish radio voice of the Minnesota Twins. And the Minnesota Vikings. And the Minnesota Timberwolves.

According to a July 23, 2007, story in the Star Tribune, God guided him to his trio of jobs in 2005. "He opened the door," Fernandez said in the story.

First, a little background on Fernandez. He grew up in Mexico, but was a radio broadcaster in his '20s in California. According to the Star Tribune story:

"He called Lakers, Clippers and Rams games on Spanish-language radio. He moved to North Carolina to pursue his radio career, and then the Lord came calling. Fernandez listened to preachers -- on the radio, of course -- and learned about missionary work.

He said to himself, 'God has blessed my family and myself, so why not share that blessing?'

It came in a dream

He and his wife, Rosalia, sold their home and moved back to Guadalajara, sharing food, clothing and Bibles with the people of his hometown. After a year in Mexico, he said God called him to Minnesota to continue his missionary work.

Even now, Fernandez says he walks through parts of the Twin Cities where he knows he will find the homeless. He looks under bridges and freeway ramps, where he shares water as well as the good news. But he never dreamed of becoming a Minnesota sportscaster, until one night in a dream: 'Call the Vikings' was what he heard.

As it turned out, the person who was doing Spanish broadcasts of Vikings home games had just quit. Fernandez found some old tapes of his and there he was, like a proverbial bolt from the blue, back behind the microphone in September 2005.

Soon after, he was calling Twins and Timberwolves games. He and radio partner Tony Oliva -- a former Twins star and native of Cuba -- broadcast all the Twins' Sunday home games on KBGY 107.5 FM, a Spanish-language station also known as La Mera Buena. KBGY also carried 12 Timberwolves home games last season. All Vikings home games are broadcast in Spanish on KFXN 690 AM."

According to the story, the Twins hope to carry every home game in Spanish someday.

Stasi gets a gift, too.

After John Eldredge received his "whale" of a gift, Stasi was anxious to see what God would give her. As we see on page 117 of Captivating, Stasi gets a gift especially for her:

"John told me this story and, as happy as I was for him, I was more hungry for such a kiss for myself. I wanted a whale too. I wanted to experience God's love for me, personally. It wasn't long after this that John and I were in Northern California speaking at a couples' retreat. I, too, snuck away one morning for some much needed time on the beach with God. I sat on the sand, looked out to the sea, and asked God for a whale. 'I know you love John, Jesus, but do you love me too? That much? If you do, may I have a whale too?'

I felt a little silly in asking, for I knew the truth -- that God had already proven his love for me. He had sent his only Son, Jesus, to die for me (John 3:16). He had rescued me. He had paid the highest price imaginable for me. He had given me all of creation to speak of his great glory and love, and he had given me the Word of God in all its depth and beauty, and here I was, asking for more. And God loved it. God delights in revealing himself to those who will seek him with all their hearts. He is an extravagant, abundant Lover, and he loves to reveal his heart to us again and again.

After a while, with no whale in sight, I got up off the sand and continued to walk. It was early spring, waves crashing, seagulls crying. The northern coast of California is rocky, and as I picked my way through, I rounded a corner and came upon a starfish, a beautiful orange starfish. And I knew at once it was God's gift to me, his kiss. He didn't give me a whale; no, that was for John alone. For me, unique to me, he gave a stunning starfish. He loved me. I thanked him for it, then rounded the next bend and came upon a sight I will never forget. There before me, behind me, surrounding me, were hundreds of starfish. Zillions of them. There were purple ones and orange ones and blue ones, all sizes. I burst into joyful laughter, my heart exploding inside me. God didn't just love me. He LOOOOVED me! Intimately, personally, completely."

God loves us all, but each in His own unique way.

A gift from God

Welcome to The Awe of God! One author that I really enjoy, John Eldredge, is very open about the ways that God has communicated with him. In 2005, John and his wife, Stasi, published a book called Captivating. On page 116-117 of the book, Stasi relates a story about how God gave a gift to John:

"It may not come the way we thought, or perhaps even thought we desired it to. A few years ago John was on a business trip to Oregon. He snuck away for some time alone with God, down to the beach where he walked and prayed and finally sat in the sand to watch the waves upon the sea. (His idea of refreshment is 'the wilder the better.') Then he saw it. A huge plume of water shot up into the sky, and a massive humpback whale appeared right before him, impossibly close to shore. No one else was near. The time of the whale's annual migration had long passed. John knew immediately that this was a gift from God to his heart alone, a gift from the Lover of his heart."

Amazing! I'm sure that made John Eldredge's day.