New book: 'When God Spoke to Me'

I noticed that there is a new book available that is filled with inspiring stories of God speaking to people. It's called "When God Spoke to Me:  The Inspiring Stories of Ordinary People Who Have Received Divine Guidance and Wisdom."  The author, DavidPaul Doyle, has compiled a collection of 70 stories. It looks quite intriguing. Let me know if you have read the book and what your thoughts on it are.

Doug Green, a man who served the poor

Doug Green, the recently-deceased chaplain of Edmonton's Hope Mission, was remembered for his compassion for the poor in a column in the Edmonton Journal.

Green's call to serve the poor got its genesis when he gave his life to God:

Doug Green landed in Canada during the Second World War and trained as a pilot in Calgary under the Empire Training Scheme. During this time, Doug recalled, 'God spoke very definitely to me through the Gospel -- but also through an air crash involving two of my fellow Australians. It was this that challenged me to fully surrender my life to Christ.'

At age 60, Green took an early retirement package from his employer to focus on serving God. He served Hope Mission in many ways:  as a board member, full-time staff member, and mainly by providing hope to the people who walked through the shelter's door. Green is an excellent example of God's call on us to help those less fortunate, and he felt that he met God through serving the poor.

People of faith: four questions with Jeff Berletic

This is the first installment of an occasional series in which I ask Christians their thoughts on various topics. Today we talk with Jeff Berletic.


1.  Tell me about yourself (church, family, work, etc.)

I am 45, and attend South Metro Vineyard Church. I believe this to be my church home. I am involved with the music ministry there as well as the Fruit of the Vine food pantry. I have been going there for about 20 years. I've been married for 10 years and have a nine-year-old daughter.
 
I also have a daughter that we adopted in our hearts who herself has a daughter. We are grandparents.
 
The economy has affected our household as well, like so many. The Lord has provided for our needs in this time. After all, how can I know him as provider if I never need provision.
 
I have not been able to find gainful employment, so I am now a licensed bus driver.

2.  What are some of the highlights of your Christian walk?

This may sound odd, but some of the highlights of my Christian walk have been to be when I have gone through the toughest times in my life. That's where the rubber meets the road in faith. The only place to go is on the knees.

3.  How has God guided or spoken to you?

God speaks to me primarily through his word.
 
The Bible is what God has said and what He is currently saying.

I know He is with me no matter what I go through. This again is where the rubber meets the road.

4.  Is there anything else you would like to add?

When I finally realize that I have let go of something, it is when I look back on the thing I was letting go of. The struggle is part of the process.

By the way, Jeff is an excellent handyman. If you live in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area and would like to hire him for a home improvement project, feel free to send him an e-mail.

If you would like to be interviewed for "People of faith:  four questions with. . .", contact me.

Mt. Reagan?

Arthur Mijares of Oakley, Calif., recently heard God telling him to do something:  lead a campaign to get a local mountain name changed from Mt. Diablo to Mt. Reagan.

Rich Mayfield wrote about Mijares' campaign in the Summit Daily News:

Mr. Mijares describes himself as 'an ordinary man that worships God,' who received his instructions from the aforementioned divinity during his prayer time. Much like Moses, Mijares was initially reluctant — 'Lord they're going to think I'm a loon.' But religious man that he is, Mijares moved forward, filing the proper papers with the proper authorities. And that's when all hell broke loose.

It caused controversy among his neighbors in Oakley. More than 80,000 people registered their opposition to renaming the mountain. In the end, the Contra Costa Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to oppose the renaming. But at least Mijares followed God.

The hidden miracles

When a relative or friend is facing a terminal illness, the natural tendency (of course) is to pray for that person's miraculous healing. A pastor wrote in the Bowling Green Daily News about the wife of a dear friend who died from complications that resulted from a surgery. While they were focused on praying for the woman, something else happened:

The real miracle was the peace and the love that God provided during this time.

Her husband, my dear friend, and his boys were visited with such an amazing peace. People the family did not know showed up and shared messages from God that encouraged their hearts. The Word of God spoke to them most clearly and the reality of God’s Spirit at times was unmistakable. The mindset of my friend and the joy in his heart are something I will never forget.

Many miracles happened instead of the woman's life being saved, including friends and families reconciling, marriages healing and people focusing on God.

Walking in love

Joyce Meyer had an interesting column last week about putting God's love in your relationships. She shared a story about how God convicted her of her selfish ways:

I used to feel as if I was fighting the devil from daylight till dark, seven days a week. One morning about 11 years ago I discovered that the primary reason for my struggle was that I wasn’t walking in love.

My husband, Dave, and I had just returned from doing a conference. We went to McDonald’s to have some coffee and read our mail. Both of us were very tired.

When I’m tired, I like to sit in the sun to be revived. But in order to sit in the sun, we needed to sit in one of the booths near the windows, and by the time we arrived, there was only one left. So Dave said, 'You go get the booth, and I’ll go get the coffee.'

As I started walking, I saw out of the corner of my eye a little old man heading for the same booth. I stepped up my pace a bit and beat him to it. Fortunately, he knew the lady who was sitting in the booth right behind us and asked if he could sit with her.

She answered, 'Yeah, you can sit here. She beat you to it, huh?'

The worst part of the story is that the man was crippled.

God convicted me right then and there. 'Aren’t you cute?' He asked me. 'Here you are, a born-again, baptized-in-the-Holy-Ghost preacher, in the middle of teaching an ‘anointed’ series on love, and you’re racing a crippled man for the last seat at McDonald’s!'

Meyer goes on to say that by giving up the need to be right, she has been more in tune with the needs of others -- and has had much better relationships as a result.