From a FEMA trailer to a new house

Greg Bradford, president of Merced, Calif.-based Envision Homes, took a team of his to look over the damage from the recent California wildfires. According to the North County Times, God spoke to Bradford while he was there:

'I took a team down to evaluate what happened (after the fires) and looked at all the devastation, and it touched me,' Bradford said. 'God spoke to me and said, 'Build a house for a family that has no insurance.''

Bradford put together a committee to review applications from fire victims. The committee ended up selecting John Oleson's family of nine, who have been living in Federal Emergency Management Agency trailers since their house burned down.

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. . .

Understanding the California wildfires and other natural disasters

The California wildfires already have caused more than $1 billion in damage and consumed 1,500 homes. An editorial ran in The Christian Science Monitor yesterday from a resident's perspective on how to deal with the wildfires and other natural disasters: prayer.

Perhaps the best answer any of us can come up with is: We can pray! I don't pretend that my prayers alone are going to stop the fires in their tracks. As the brave firefighters and rescue teams work to contain the blazes, many individuals are praying in their churches, mosques, and synagogues – or, like me, at home – affirming the presence and wisdom of one universal God. And I've learned through a long study of the Bible and of 'Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,' written by Mary Baker Eddy, the woman who founded this newspaper, that prayer is truly 'doing something.' Prayer can lead to practical solutions.

I hope that God helps the affected residents through this time and that they hear his "still small voice".

God as a public relations firm?

God has given each of us special abilities, and He wants us to use those abilities for His good. But in the battle between good and evil, the devil always will try to keep us from moving forward. Joyce Meyer recently wrote in The Christian Post about a time early on in her ministry when she was leading small groups in California. She wanted the word of her ministry to spread by hiring a public relations firm, but in the end it was not for her:

This wasn’t the right way. This was only a cheap imitation of what God wanted to do in my life and in my ministry. I wanted to take the firm’s offer but I turned them down.

I still remember lying on my bed in that California hotel room crying. I was desperate to move ahead in my ministry, but it seemed like I was bogged down, unable to move at all. God spoke to me in that weak moment and told me that if I would wait on Him, He would be my public relations firm; He would be the One who would make sure His name was known through the growth of the ministry He had called me to. God is faithful! He has done what He promised He would do.

I'm not sure if He's a member of Public Relations Society of America, but I would be happy to have God handling my public relations.