Helping troubled teens in Tennessee

The Jackson Sun ran an article last week on two amazing people in their mid-70s who spend their time helping out troubled youth at the Youth Town Christian drug and addiction facility in Pinson, Tenn.

The duo, Weldon "Mr. T" Trevethan and "Ms." Mattie Ray, find that they get as much out of volunteering as the teens do:

'I was so lonely and everything, it was more for me than the kids,' Ray said about coming to Youth Town. 'After God put me here, this takes my time, gives me hope to live.

'Now I wouldn't change what I got for anything in this world,' she said.

Youth Town is the first residential treatment center of its kind to offer Professional Christian Life Coaching to every graduate of the program.

The healing journey of the Chapman family

It's been a long healing journey for Steven Curtis Chapman's family since the sudden death of his 5-year-old daughter Maria Sue last May. Only recently has Chapman started to speak to the press again. The family's faith in God has been carrying them, according to an article in BREATHEcast:

'There's a lot I can't explain, there's a lot we don't understand,' he told People magazine. 'But I really do believe we're proving out everything we believe and God's healing our hearts.'

On Saturday (Feb. 14), Chapman performed "Cinderella" from his latest album This Moment on Fox News' Huckabee show. He was joined last minute by wife Mary Beth, who he later said was 'amazing.'

'God spoke thru her,' Chapman wrote in his personal Twitter page.

At one point, Chapman even considered not returning to the stage. Fortunately for his fans, he's hitting the road in March with Michael W. Smith.

How belief in God changes dream interpretation

Dreams can be quite intense, and many often wonder about the meaning of their dreams. Researchers have been trying to figure out dreams for decades. I found a quote by Carey Morewedge, assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University and the leader of a new scientific study on dreams, quite interesting:

'People attribute meaning to dreams when it corresponds with their pre-existing beliefs and desires. This was also the case in another experiment which demonstrated that people who believe in God were likely to consider any dream in which God spoke to them to be meaningful; agnostics, however, considered dreams in which God spoke to be more meaningful when God commanded them to take a pleasant vacation than when God commanded them to engage in self-sacrifice,' she explains. (Softpedia)

It's definitely easier to follow God's command when it involves pleasure for us. He has plans for our lives, and we are to follow his command even if it's difficult.

In memoriam: Ian Henderson

Last year I wrote about Ian Henderson, the son of the leader of my Heart of a Warrior group. Just after midnight, Ian Henderson passed away to join the Lord.

Thank you for praying for Tom, Deb and Ian Henderson over the past year. They still could use your prayers.

Taking worship to the next level

In the United Kingdom, Noel Robinson, founder of Kingdom Worship Movement, is bringing together top worship leaders for a conference called Renewal. The conference is the first of what Robinson hopes will be a regular event aimed at giving people the skills they need to make worship a lifestyle and realize their God-given purpose.

Robinson was quoted in Christian Today about his inspiration for the conference:

'I just felt like God wants to use the power of worship in us, not just the songs, not just the music, but the power of worship in us...When God spoke to me about Renewal he said: What happens to the people in the pews on the Sunday morning? Are they empowered? Or when Monday morning comes are they just back to an ordinary week? Do they just go to the church for a top-up and then by Friday they are needing to get back to church? God is saying I want people to bring their worship to the marketplace. I want people to be able to bring their worship so that the Kingdom of God is a vehicle.'

In addition to Robinson, other worship leaders expected to attend Renewal are Graham Kendrick, Mark Beswick, Ben Cantelon, Lara Martin and Pastor Doug Williams. More information on Renewal is available at http://www.thekwm.co.uk/.

35 not-so-random things about Heaven

A friend of mine keeps encouraging me to read Randy Alcorn's book, "Heaven". My friend talks about how he and his wife read as much information as they could in the year before they took a vacation to Maui, and that Christians should be spending a lot more time reading about where we will spend eternity.

Peter Kreeft, a professor of philosophy at Boston College and an author, recently wrote an article for ChristianBibleStudies.com that answers 35 frequently asked questions about Heaven. He points out that answers to these questions come from divine revelation -- God sharing "inside information".

After reading Kreeft's article, I am even more intrigued about where I will spend eternity. Maybe I'll get around to reading Randy Alcorn's book soon.

Facebook's "25 Random Things"

If you haven't been swept up in Facebook's "25 Random Things" recently, it will be coming your way soon. It's like a modern version of chain letters, in which one writes 25 facts about oneself, tags some Facebook friends, and the friends then are supposed to write 25 facts about themselves. I find people's "25 Random Things" fairly interesting to read, have been tagged three times so far, but have yet to write my "25 Random Things". . .I'm just not sure that I want to do it.

I did see that Elizabeth Boleman-Herring, an author, shared her "25 Random Things", and number 11 intrigues me:

'In 1978, on July 5, God spoke to me. I have yet to figure out how to write about the experience, but I can't and won't deny it happened.'

Now I'm really curious. Here's an author who has written numerous books, and cannot figure out how to share her experience with God. Hopefully she will someday.

God-inspired stone carvings

William Edmondson, the son of former slaves and a janitor in Nashville, Tenn., became the first black artist to have a solo exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1937.

Edmondson was known for his stone carvings. Photographs of his work have been set to poems by award-winning poet Elizabeth Spires in a new book, "I Heard God Talking to Me". A book review in the Chicago Tribune highlighted the time that God spoke to Edmondson:

Beginning in his 13th year, as Edmondson relates it, God spoke to him. Sometimes the visions were of Bible stories, like the Flood, but, later in his life, they were instructions for a life's work: 'I was out in the driveway with some old pieces of stone when I heard a voice. ... First He told me to make tombstones. Then He told me to cut the figures. He gave me them two things.'

Edmondson's subjects included religious and secular figures, animals and more.

He gives hip-hop a good name

Hip-hop music has typically been known to glorify drugs, prostitution and money -- in general worshipping the secular lifestyle. Now there's a new genre of music known as holy hip-hop that is getting street cred while conveying positive messages.

The Star Tribune recently profiled Xross, a Twin Cities-based holy hip-hop artist who has been nominated for a Grammy. He gave his life to Jesus Christ after hearing the voice of God in a strip club in Orange County, Calif.:

'I was just doing the usual: tipping dollar bills to the strippers, hanging out, getting high,' he remembered. 'God just kind of came to me and said, 'Hey, man, are you really happy?'

'The power of God is really strong when he speaks to you, and you know it's him. Of course, my partners just thought I was high. I didn't really realize it was the full power of God, but the full emotion started to take over, tears were streaming down my face. I knew I wasn't really happy. I wasn't fulfilled. That night, I gave my life to Christ.'

Xross' music is filled with hard-hitting beats, but has no profanities and is clean enough for churches. His CD, "Tell 'em the Truth", is available on Amazon.com.

It only took me four years, but. . .

I finally read the entire Bible! I know that God's Word is tremendously important, so I like to spend time in the Word. I always got bored when I tried to read the entire book, though. (Some of the Old Testament can be really slow.) So I figured that I would try reading one page a day, starting with the New Testament, then on to the Old Testament. After four years, I have completed the entire book. Now, I'm off to read it over again. . .