Son of evil street

No matter how many times we turn our backs on God, He is always there for us, welcoming us back home. Victor Torres is a prime example of Christ's grace. Torres started using heroin at age 14. He spent his teenage years as a drug pusher and got into a lot of trouble as a gang member. When Torres was 21, he became another Teen Challenge success story. He gave his life to Christ.

Since that time, Torres has been changing others' lives. He attended Bible school in California, founded a drug addiction rehabilitation home in Richmond, Va., and now is the pastor of New Life Outreach International Church.

Torres chronicled his life in a book called "Son of Evil Street". Thank goodness for Christ and His ability to transform lives.

Happy Easter!

Blessings to everyone as today we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus! I know of a couple Easter celebrations today that are different from the traditional ham, potatoes and dinner rolls Easter dinner.

My family's celebration today is one example. My dad is coming over. We're going to church. Then we're going to a Mexican restaurant. It probably will not be crowded. And all of my family loves Mexican food.

Another example: a friend of mine and his family are going to church. After that, they are going to have some friends over for a rousing game of "Killer Bunnies and the Quest for the Magic Carrot". (I wonder if there's an Easter Bunny card included in this game about homicidal rabbits!)

In an interesting example of the Internet imitating life, if you click on the Killer Bunnies image on the left-hand column of images and then use the back button on your browser, another image will appear! The images multiply rapidly just like rabbits if you do this over and over!

Delivery people for God

I'm reading "Naturally Supernatural: Joining God in His Work" by Gary Best for my small group at church. It's filled with exciting and amazing stories of how God uses people to heal others and develop relationships with them.

By amazing, I mean genuinely amazing. We're talking people being healed of broken knuckles; one leg being two inches shorter than the other; and an example from p. 108 of a person being healed of a serious wrist injury:

I [the author, a pastor] gathered a team of twenty-somethings to pray for his wrist. They gathered around him and repeated what I had done in the bar -- they began praying over him God's wonderful invitation, ending by praying for his wrist. When they were finished, he literally couldn't speak. With tears in his eyes, he tried to describe, through gestures, the Presence that was resting on him. He discovered over the next few weeks that his arm was completely healed.

I often wonder what my spiritual gift would be, how I could best deliver "packages from God" to people. I'm sure that God has and will use me somehow. I just need to remember that it's not about me; it's about Him and letting the Holy Spirit flow through me to make a difference in this world.

Minnesota Prayer Breakfast

I attended the Minnesota Prayer Breakfast this week in St. Paul. It was an excellent event, because many people of different political opinions were able to gather together to talk about one thing that they had in common: God and the power of prayer.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty talked about the need to pray for our troops. Brad Anderson, the CEO of Best Buy, gave the keynote speech and related a story about a close call on a recent airline flight that he took. There was a rough landing at LaGuardia Airport; he prayed before landing. Instead of praying for survival, Anderson found himself immediately praying for forgiveness.

We all need God's forgiveness. In addition, we all need to forgive each other.

Giving back through the Salvation Army

Canada's Advertiser recently ran an article about Bill and Marilyn Francis, the highest-ranking Salvation Army officers for the Canada/Bermuda territory. In the article, Marilyn talked about God's role in her joining the Salvation Army:

It wasn't until she met Commissioner Bill that she became involved. She was a schoolteacher, but says God spoke to her in a dramatic way, reminding her of the job he had for her.

'If you have everything for yourself, and you have a heart for people who have nothing, you know there has to be some way to give back but you don't know what to do,' she said. 'At least for my own heart, I was longing for that. God knew it and revealed that to me as I prayed and asked me to join the Salvation Army.'

Although their jobs are demanding, the couple has found it to be very rewarding to be changing the world and turning around hopeless situations.

The Southern Baptist Convention and global warming

Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" brought light to the issue of global warming. Still, there are people and organizations out there, such as the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), that say that global warming has not been proven. In a TIME article, Jonathan Merritt, a seminary student with the SBC, talks about his efforts to get the SBC to change its stance:

'I was an enemy of the environment,' he says. 'I approached it with disdain. And then I was sitting in a classroom and I felt like God spoke to me and put this idea in my heart.' The idea — encapsulated in the 'Southern Baptist Declaration on the Environment and Climate Change' — is a strikingly potent challenge to his denomination's official stance on global warming and to his own previous scorn. Yes, he says with a chuckle, 'You could say the scales fell from my eyes.'

Merritt's declaration already has 44 signatories including the current SBC president, two of his predecessors, and the heads of three well-known Baptist-affiliated colleges and divinity schools.

A restaurant that is making it

The restaurant business is well-known for being a very difficult business in which to succeed. But there's a restaurant in Mount Dora, Fla., that has a very unique business model: it accepts donations and prayer requests as payment. There are no set prices for the dishes on the menu. There are just small wood boxes with slit openings for donations.

So far, according to an article in the Orlando Sentinel, things are going well for Gary Hagen's Hollywood Cheesecake Cafe:

Hagen said he attracted 6,000 customers in nine weeks.

'So, guess what? The bills got paid,' he said. 'Everything's been paid for.'

Hagen's menu includes a long list of gourmet-style sandwiches as well as salads, omelets, pancakes and a wide variety of cheesecakes. His restaurant is open for breakfast and lunch daily. On Fridays and Saturdays, he serves dinner too.

Hagen had prices on his menu when he first launched the restaurant.

'I was thinking it's just a restaurant,' he said.

But then Hagen said he became enlightened.

'God told me to take the prices off the menu, and that it was to show people we are not in control of our lives -- he is,' Hagen said.

Hagen plans on opening another restaurant in nearby Eustis in the coming months.

Love one another

This past weekend's hermitage retreat at Pacem in Terris was relaxing. While God did not audibly speak to me (I guess that I cannot force Him to do that), I received a general feeling about something that I need to work on in my life.

I specifically need to work on the second great commandment: loving others as myself. God loves us and we love each other through our relationships.

Off to a hermitage retreat

Tomorrow I head off to Pacem in Terris in St. Francis, Minn., for a solitary weekend retreat. I have only done this once before, in 1999.

I believe that I will encounter God during my time there, but I'm very curious about how He will meet me. Will He audibly speak to me again? That would be so cool.

I am really looking forward to this time. I plan to relax, focus on the Word, and contemplate my life, relationships and future plans.

God's blessing in a refinery disaster

On Feb. 18 there was an explosion at Alon Refinery in Texas. Thanks to God, that disaster turned into a miracle -- no one was killed and only five people were injured. Bill Burchett, who was working at the refinery the morning of the explosion, recalled his experience for the Big Spring Herald:

'I heard someone on the radio tell us there was a propylene leak ... and I looked out the back door of the lab and saw what looked like steam or a cloud,' Burchett said. 'I ran back inside the lab and told everyone we needed to evacuate.

'As I stepped out the door, the explosion occurred, knocking me and everyone else to the ground,' Burchett added. 'At first, I was fearful ... but God spoke to me and told me he loved me ... and we made our way out of there.'

To give thanks, hundreds of residents recently attended the "Refinery Miracle Thanksgiving Service" at First Baptist Church in Big Spring.

God softens my heart

My wife and I saw "U23D" this past weekend. It was an excellent, visually cool film. We were talking about the movie afterwards, and she applied some of the lyrics from "One" to her experience in our marriage:

You say
Love is a temple
Love a higher law
Love is a temple
Love the higher law
You ask me to enter
But then you make me crawl
And I can't be holding on
To what you got
When all you got is hurt

After she quoted that part of the song, I realized how much I had hurt her. Ever since my parents divorced when I was a child, I have hardened my heart and have not let anyone get close to me. This weekend I realized that it's time to let go of that hurt and be there for other people emotionally -- especially my wife.