Following God to bookstore ownership

The Lexington Herald-Leader ran an article about Jennifer Henderson, a local bookstore owner. Henderson had been working at a Toyota plant making $100,000 a year, but she heard the call of God to own a Christian bookstore. Henderson resisted God's urging numerous times until she heard His voice:

One day, Henderson heard God speaking only to her.

'The whole plant went quiet,' Henderson said. 'All I could hear was, 'Are you trusting me, Toyota, your husband or what?'

Henderson laughed as she recalled that time.

'I said, 'Oh, you had to go and pull out the big guns.''

Henderson finally followed God's lead and opened the Serenity Christian Bookstore in Oct. 2006.

An Aerostar - not altar - call

Liz Curtis Higgs writes in Today's Christian Woman about an interesting 3 a.m. prayer session that she had with people attending a women's weekend retreat. Apparently there wasn't a room available for private prayers with each woman, so Higgs had to have her session in a Ford Aerostar. She heard from God that this prayer session was needed by the women:

...God spoke to my heart, telling me these precious women needed to learn how to take their needs to him directly. It was clear God wanted me to pray with these women one-on-one after my presentation. All of them.

The woman who owns the Ford Aerostar now refers to it as the "Holy Van."

Whose voice spoke to Mitt Romney in the Jan. 24 debate?

A lot of controversy has surrounded a "whisper" that can be heard before Mitt Romney responded to a question about Ronald Reagan during the Jan. 24 Presidential debate.

One columnist suspects that it was the voice of God. . .others are not so sure.

A leap forward

Wow. The "advance" for my Heart of a Warrior group this past weekend was extraordinary. Dr. Greg Bourgond, who developed the Heart of a Warrior curriculum, joined us Saturday to speak on gaining a grasp of God's word. He went through with us in detail how to study scripture. We looked at John 15:1-8 in depth all day. I don't think that I had analyzed a section of the Bible so in depth before!

It was great to get to know the other guys in my group better and to know Dr. Bourgond personally. He really has a heart for men and is extremely perceptive.

The high point for the weekend took place on Sunday morning. A group of us went through every room in the two lake homes, and I shared with the guys my memories of each room. Then we prayed over each room. God definitely was present, and I felt a release from the chains of my stepdad into the arms of God.

I'm looking forward to creating many more positive memories up at their lake home.

The warriors make an advance

My Heart of a Warrior men's group is going on an "advance" tomorrow. We're going up to my mom and stepdad's lake home near Brainerd, Minn., for the weekend.

I'm quite nervous about it. I want everything to go well. I have many negative memories of the lake home, because I had difficult times with my stepdad while I was up there. (In one instance, he even threw my Hacky Sack into the lake. I doubt that I will ever see that Hacky Sack again.)

Hopefully by having this "advance" (we're moving forward, not retreating) up there this weekend, I will start to create positive memories and bring a new feel in my heart for their lake home.

Could I be a pastor?

I had the strangest feeling yesterday while on my way to work at my corporate job. All of a sudden, I thought, "I should be a pastor." For some reason my vision pictured my blond-haired, blue-eyed, Caucasian self preaching to a group of blacks in the Caribbean.

Crazy! I have the most difficult time evangelizing to anyone in the first place. Perhaps it was just the below-zero weather here in Minneapolis that was causing me to think of warmer climates. . .or maybe I really could be a pastor at some point in my life.

I think that I'll start with a short-term mission trip and see how that goes first.

Sick of celebrities, rediscovering God

I had to stand on my bus ride home today because it was so crowded, and I couldn't help but notice what people sitting down were reading. I was surprised by what I saw: nobody reading People, Us Magazine or some other celebrity rag. Instead, I saw a couple of people reading religious-related books: A Cup of Comfort for Christians and a book about heaven.

Could it be that people are sick of reading about celebrities and are interested in checking out something more significant? Hopefully, since celebrities don't seem to be too happy themselves. After all, who cares about the most recent stupid thing Britney Spears has done?

The result of rape

Ronnie Hill, an evangelist from Fort Worth, Texas, recently wrote an article for Townhall.com in which he explains that he is the result of his mom's rape as a 17-year-old girl. Hill's mom decided against an abortion, and Hill explains that in his ministry he comes across many pregnant women who decide not to have an abortion:

Many have come up to me and shared that they were pregnant and were thinking about having an abortion but changed their minds because God spoke to them through my story to have the courage to continue the pregnancy. Women who had been raped and became pregnant as a result, like my mother, have introduced me to their little boy or girl who came out of that horrible experience. They were encouraged when I prayed over their little boy or girl, emphasizing that God has a plan for them, and that He is going to use them for His purpose and will.

Hill points out that the Bible doesn't promise that everything in our lives will be good, but that every situation will be used for God's purposes.

9/11 births Arabic Christian TV channel

The horrific events of 9/11 had a significant impact on many people. For Samuel and Mona Estefanos, both originally from Egypt, the events of 9/11 led them to create an Arabic Christian TV channel:

[On 9/11] Samuel...was watching TV and was absolutely shocked beyond words at what he saw when God spoke to him.

'On September eleventh I was watching the news that day, and as I watched the television, it was as if Satan was jumping up and down screaming and saying that he's destroying people and he will destroy more and more.'

The experience led Samuel to do something to reach the Arabic speaking people of America. (Journal Chretien)

So Samuel and Mona created a TV channel called Alkarma TV.

God brings WeightWatchers founder back to reality

If I created a franchise as successful as WeightWatchers, it might be very easy to let the success go to my head. "Lean Jean" Nidetch, who created WeightWatchers in 1963, developed an inflated ego because of her program's popularity. But God brought her back down to earth, according to a story on Mirror.co.uk:

WeightWatchers quickly went global and Jean went to every branch opening. She says: 'I'd hold three meetings a day, after breakfast, lunch and dinner, because if people are hungry they're not listening.

'Oh, the excitement of it all. It went to my head for a bit and my ego got inflated, I thought I was like Marilyn Monroe.

'I remember getting off a plane somewhere and there were all these people waiting to greet me. I felt great but as I walked down the steps, my bag strap snapped. I watched as my compact, wallet and my mirror fell out and I remembered who I was. It was a reality check - God spoke to me and put me back in my place.'

Nidetch now is 84 years old and living in a retirement community in Coral Springs, Fla.

Stories of God in Salinas, Calif.

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The Salinas Californian has a calendar item about an upcoming seminar called "God is Speaking to You" at the Salinas Community Center.

It would be cool to attend! The listing says that is will "feature nine real stories of people listening when God spoke to them."

It's probably also a lot warmer than the 1 degree Fahrenheit I am experiencing right now in Minneapolis. . .

Church grows from 54 to 5,000 members in just seven years

Megachurches are a growing trend, and some are growing in a very big way. Consider Joe Champion's Celebration Church in Georgetown, Texas (near Austin): his church has grown from 54 to 5,000 members in just seven years. According to the Austin American-Statesman, it all started in March 2000 when God told Champion where to start a new church:

Joe and Lori Champion had been praying for a year when they say God finally told them where to start a church.

In March 2000, Joe was about to give the Sunday morning sermon at a church he co-pastored in Baton Rouge, La. As he took the pulpit, he said God spoke to him.

'I just heard, 'It is Austin,'' he said. 'Right after, I called Lori on the cell phone and that's how we came.'

The couple put their house up for sale and moved with their three children as close as they could get to Austin: Round Rock. Soon, they opened Celebration Church in the city's public library. Fifty-four people showed up the first Sunday; almost half were family and friends.

Celebration Church recently was able to raise $1 million in one Sunday offering to help build a 1,400-seat sanctuary.

AC/DC at a funeral!

I went to a funeral in 2007 for a man who was obsessed with Elvis. . .and Elvis music was played at his funeral service. So it's no surprise that at the recent funeral for 23-year-old AC/DC fan Dana Butland of Canada, that band's music was played at the service. The pastor at the service, Timothy Johnson, spoke of his own love of heavy metal music as a teenager:

After a night of wild partying on Grand Lake, Johnson and his friends listened to Metallica just a few hours before sunrise. That's when, he said, God spoke to him and he eventually turned his life around for the better.

I personally like some heavy metal music, but we need to be aware of the media messages that we are putting into our brains. According to Canada East, Johnson also explained why AC/DC was played at the funeral: "If you reject a person's style of music, you also reject the person," the pastor said.

The greatest lover

One of the stages of a man's journey is the "Lover" stage. But it's about more than loving a woman. It's also about loving nature, cherishing what God has created, and receiving love from Him. John Eldredge tells a story on p. 182 of The Way of the Wild Heart about a time when he felt love from God while in the mountains:

I was still kneeling in the shallow water [of the stream], and as I looked down, my eye fell upon one small stone in particular, as if it were somehow illuminated, which is not quite right because it was one of the darker stones in the mosaic, almost black, so it could not have stood out for its brightness. But those of you who have had this experience will know what I mean, when in a crowd of people one face stands out to you almost to say look at me, or when you are reading a passage and one sentence causes you to stop and linger while all the rest of the page fades into the background but for that phrase. The stone was in the shape of a heart.

A kiss from God. A love note. I was being romanced.

God is the greatest lover. I felt the love of nature when I went pheasant hunting with my dad for the first time this past fall. While I really enjoyed looking around for pheasants, it was just great to be tromping around in God's country.

Ex-Ku Klux Klan member finds forgiveness from former victim

Tommy Tarrants, president of the C.S. Lewis Institute in Washington, used to live a very different life. He was a member of the Ku Klux Klan who terrorized black families and Jewish students in his native Mobile, Ala.

Tarrants spent time in prison for his crimes. While in prison, he found the true meaning of God. According to the Houston Chronicle, he recently found forgiveness from a former victim, Stan Chassin, while giving a speech in Mobile:

After Tarrants finished his speech, he asked for questions. Chassin hesitated. Then he stood.

'It's hard facing you,' he told Tarrants.

Chassin recounted the story of how Tarrants had grabbed him by the throat at school, calling him anti-Semitic slurs.

A few others in the audience were worried, at first, what Chassin might do — getting even after all these years for the long-simmering aggression.

As Chassin's voice got stronger, he grew calmer. As he spoke, he saw a look of pain on Tarrants' face. . .

Chassin recalled how a few weeks earlier, sitting in synagogue on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, he had heard the voice of God.

'God told me,' Chassin said, 'You have to forgive him for what he did to you.

'And then, for all the hatred and disgust you felt toward him, you have to ask Tommy,' Chassin's voice was breaking now, 'to forgive you.'

The hall fell silent.

Quietly, Tarrants answered: 'I appreciate you being so gracious and forgiving. I'm very grateful, Stan, for your having the courage to come and share your forgiveness.'

Tarrants turned to the audience: 'Isn't it amazing,' he went on softly, 'what God can do? God spoke to him.'

Chassin walked forward and held out his hand to shake.

The two men embraced.

Tarrants wrote a book about his changed life, called The Conversion of a Klansman.

My biological father

Our first impressions of Christ are generally based on our relationship with our fathers. In The Way of the Wild Heart, John Eldredge encourages fathers to take notice of their sons, to treat them as "Beloved Sons." He says that we should show our sons that we love them and enjoy the activities that they enjoy.

Many times in my life I focused on people who did not like or accept me, such as my stepdad. As I think back on my childhood, my biological father treated me like his Beloved Son. The problem was that I only saw him on the weekends. That made for a really tough transition back to my stepdad and mom's house on Sunday nights.

I'm thankful for my biological dad's impact on my life, even though it could only be on weekends. It might had been more difficult for me to accept Christ if my initial impressions of Him were based on my stepdad's attitude towards me.

Out of gas

On p. 82 of The Way of the Wild Heart, John Eldredge shares the first time that he heard the voice of God. Eldredge was 19 and on a road trip across the West:

We ran out of gas somewhere in Wyoming, way up in the mountains, far from any town. I had been so focused on finding a 'secret fishing spot' a local had let us in on that I failed to watch the fuel gauge, and when we stopped I looked down to realize that we were running on fumes. I felt like an idiot. It was more than 20 miles back to town. We were both new Christians, so we prayed and asked God to help us. Simple, but heartfelt prayers. I heard God reply, I will bring you gas. That was the first time I ever heard the voice of God. Which childlike faith I thought, Great. Let's go fishing. So we left the car by our campsite and spent a few hours down at the river. When we returned, there was a group of young people in their twenties stopped there, and they said, 'We're headed into town this afternoon -- is there anything you guys need?' I said, 'Yeah, could I catch a ride with you? I need to pick up some gas,' to which they replied, 'No problem, man, we'll bring it back for you.' So we went back to fishing.

That's quite a first experience with God's voice!

Meet Logan Henderson

Logan Henderson is the young cowboy from Nebraska on this radio call. He's wise beyond his years.

CBN did a follow-up story on him as well.

For the love of baseball

God gave us passions and interests as kids for a reason: He wants us to enjoy ourselves and to know that we are loved by Him. On p. 67 of The Way of the Wild Heart, John Eldredge tells the story of a friend named Curtis:

Curtis is a young friend of mine who not too long ago became an attorney. Shortly after that he also became a father. His nights were just as busy as his days and he knew he was in need of some time just for his heart. 'Curtis, what was it you used to love as a boy?' I asked. 'Baseball,' he said. He played all the time, but life eventually edged it out, and a love of his heart seemed gone forever. Like most men, he just assumed that was that. It's gone. I ran into him maybe six months later in a meeting, and afterward he asked if he might have a word with me. 'This is huge,' he said. 'I asked God what he had for me, and he said 'Baseball.' It felt crazy, but I looked into a local league and found that they needed a player. It's been the best thing I've done in a long time,' he said, a big smile on his face.

While Curtis was able to find his passion for baseball again as a sort of hobby, imagine how much more joyful his life would be if he were able to switch to a career that involved baseball in some way!

Time stand still

My wife and I were listening to some music over the weekend, and one of the songs we listened to was "Time Stand Still" by Rush.

I was instantly transported to 1987, when I was 16 and in high school.

I started crying -- and couldn't stop.

When I first heard the song in 1987, I had a feeling of invincibility, that I had the whole world and my whole future ahead of me.

When I listened to "Time Stand Still" today, I felt lost, like I haven't achieved in life what I wanted to achieve. I thought of my hair thinning, how my metabolism is slowing, and how my son is growing up faster than I would like.

Then I calmed down and reminded myself that I will just go wherever God wants me to go and do whatever God wants me to do with my life. That's what I'm meant to do and where I'm meant to be.

A grizzly on the side of the road

On p. 65-66 of The Way of the Wild Heart, John Eldredge tells a story about a treat that his family experienced because they followed what they sensed was God's plan:

A few months ago my family and I were wrapping up a camping trip in the Tetons. It had been a truly wonderful time, and our hearts were full, and though reluctant to leave, we were packed and ready to go. The drive home takes about 10 hours or more, so we prepared for an early start, maybe to catch breakfast after an hour on the road at one of our favorite cowboy cafes. But, I am learning not to assume I know what is best for us. I am learning to ask, 'Father, what is your plan for the day?' Eat breakfast here, he said. Here? That didn't make any sense at all. I ran it by Stasi, and when she prayed she sensed the same thing. So, we pulled the boys out of the car and went into the lodge to have a feast of a breakfast -- waffles and coffee, eggs and sausages, sweet rolls.

After about an hour it was time to go, so we headed out of the park. And there, on the side of the road, was a grizzly. Oh, my. We had so wanted to see a bear during our week there, but hadn't. They don't show up in the Tetons much, preferring to wander north in Yellowstone and Montana. But they do come down this time of year to prey on moose calves, so there is a chance, however slight, of catching a glimpse of these magnificent creatures. Knowing our hearts, and our plans, the Father had arranged for us to stay, to catch this five-minute window in order to receive this wild and wonderful gift. We stood on the roof of the Suburban and watched him, and then he disappeared into the woods.

Have you asked God, "Father, what is your plan for the day? Father, what do you have for me?"

Reclamation of a boyhood lost

I'm currently reading The Way of the Wild Heart by John Eldredge. In this book, Eldredge explains that the masculine journey includes six stages, and that a man is to live through each stage completely, from Boyhood to Cowboy to Warrior to Lover to King to Sage. What frequently happens is that the Boyhood stage is cut short because of some tragic event, and that makes it difficult for the man to fully experience the other stages.

I know that my Boyhood stage was cut short by my parents' divorce when I was 4 years old. That event definitely had a huge negative impact on my childhood and on my marriage.

In The Way of the Wild Heart, Eldredge comments on p. 62-63 that God will do what it takes to show us that He is our real father:

He might haunt you through a story far too similiar to your own, a story that somehow tells you about yourself. That happened for a friend named Paul who came to one of our retreats, when he watched a scene we showed from Good Will Hunting. In truth, Paul was about to bail out of the event. It was stirring too much in him, and he wanted out. He was headed for the back door when the clip came on where Will is finally facing the wound of being physically abused by his foster father, and Paul sat down on the steps and began to weep. For that was his story, too. The Father had captured him, brought his wounded heart up from the depths of his soul, so that he might grieve and also that he might open this place in his heart to God.

Eldredge notes that Paul became a Christian that day. It is important for us to reclaim our lost boyhood, find our true father, and work through our issues in order to get on with our lives.

Following God to motocross

If we listen, God shows us what we should be doing with our life. Well, Greg Hartman, one of the world's top motocross competitors, told the Waynesboro Record Herald that God pointed him in that direction:

'I grew up around motorcycles,' he said. 'I come from a family where everybody rides. I kind of felt when I was younger like God spoke to me and this is what I wanted to do with my life. I kind of felt foolish saying that in high school, but I feel like I've been blessed and it feels really good. It stinks that it's dangerous and we get hurt a lot, but I feel like I'm in the right place.'

Talk about being blessed -- Hartman won the gold medal in freestyle motocross at the X Games in December.

From politics to the pulpit

When Jack King retired after serving a 2 1/2-year term as the mayor of Festus, Mo., he planned to build his dream house. He also was going on his fourth mission trip to Africa, and it was there that God told King of other plans:

'While we were in Africa this time, God spoke to me in a very clear and understandable voice and told me exactly what I ought to be doing,' King said...

King said he had heard the same voice shortly before he and his wife left on the trip, 'and it just scared me to death. But the second time (while in Africa) it didn't scare me. I knew that God was calling me to preach.'

King next obtained his master of divinity degree and started a congregation called the Good News Community Church (St. Louis Post-Dispatch).

Christian author Bill MacDonald dies at 90

Bill MacDonald, author of Believer's Bible Commentary and 83 other published books, died recently. MacDonald was just days short of his 91st birthday.

The Oakland Tribune, in an article about MacDonald, quoted an anecdote about when God spoke to MacDonald's uncle:

In one of MacDonald's best-acclaimed books — Believer's Bible Commentary, a one-volume explanation of the Bible — he recalled an experience he had as a boy in Scotland when he was stricken with diphtheria, a disease that causes respiratory difficulty. His mother had given up all hope for him, he wrote, when suddenly his uncle arrived and said the boy would not die because God spoke to him after he read Psalm 91.

Because of that event, MacDonald always referred to Psalm 91 as his Psalm.

Are there any good Biblically-based movies?

I have watched many Biblically-based movies, but none seem to compare to the impact of the Bible itself. I watched The Nativity Story last week -- it was OK. The Passion of the Christ was pretty good.

Biblically-based movies either seem to catch a very brief snapshot of the Bible in two to three hours, or they are enormously long epics like The Ten Commandments.

What is it about Biblically-based movies, that none have the same power and passion as the Bible itself?

What are your thoughts? What's your favorite Biblically-based movie?