God never gives up on you

Last week at my church, one of the people from the congregation gave his testimony about how God had pursued him.

The man had drifted from God and had troubles with his wife. He recently heard a voice every morning for a week saying, "God loves you."

My fellow churchgoer repented of his sins, reconciled with his wife, and got baptized! Thank you, Lord, for pursuing us.

God loves people

My wife and I recently traveled up to Duluth, Minn., to attend the Cause Conference. The conference was very intriguing, with sessions including:

• "Do I Think Like Jesus?"
• "Peace in the Middle of the Storm"
• "How to Position Yourself to Participate in What God Is Doing"
• and more.

The senior pastor of the Duluth Vineyard church, Michael Gatlin, shared a fascinating story about how he wanted to become a pastor but it just wasn't happening after 10 years. While on a walk, he heard from God:

'No human being can keep you from accomplishing my plans for you,' said God.

          'Then why aren't you letting me be a pastor right now?' Michael replied. 

          'Because I love people,' God said.

Apparently Michael wasn't ready to be a pastor. He needed more time to have God work in him. That definitely worked, because the Duluth Vineyard church is changing lives throughout the Duluth area.

Movie review: 'The Mighty Macs'

To put it simply, "The Mighty Macs" is a feel-good movie. There's nothing wrong with that, but since the film is based on historical events, we already know how the story ends and are left to focus on other aspects of the film -- i.e., the acting.

The acting is excellent, particularly by Carla Gugino. She plays Cathy Rush, the new women's basketball coach at Immaculata College -- an all-female college in Pennsylvania founded and run by nuns. The facilities that Cathy gets to work with are atrocious. The team plays in an old activity center, which was being used as a storage room. Their home games are played at the local high school, and in one instance, the players have to use a ladies' room as their "locker room" for an away game.

The odds are stacked against Cathy, who is married to NBA referee Ed Rush (David Boreanaz). Immaculata College is in financial trouble, Ed doesn't support her efforts to turn around a losing team, and there is no funding for equipment.

By hard work, contagious enthusiasm and cleverness, Cathy and her team pick up steam. Instead of the once-a-day practices they had under their previous coach, the players now practice at 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. each day. A sister at the college joins as the assistant coach. After a humiliating loss, Cathy forces the team to practice drills in a tunnel sewer.

The school starts to rally around the team when it's invited to a regional tournament. Despite a disappointing loss, the team gets one of four at-large bids to the national tournament in Chicago. The only problem? No funding. So the team gets clever, raising money by selling hand lotion door to door and Cathy dressing up in a habit to fly free.

Remember how "The Mighty Macs" is a feel-good movie? Well, of course, they win the national championship, Ed comes around and the marriage is healed, and the administration supports the team. Now if only we get to know how their women's basketball facilities improved after that. . .