People of faith: four questions with Tom Henderson

Tom Henderson

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

I am married to a wonderful woman named Debra. We've been married for 15 years this past May. Our relationship has been tested, and our foundation has proven solid. I can honestly say that we love each other more every day.

We attend livingWaters Church in Lakeville, Minn. I play bass guitar and electric guitar there, and that is one of my true passions. I love to exercise my creativity in music for the good of the body (as long as I keep in tune...)

I work as a software developer at Data Recognition Corporation. God has blessed me with skills that I need to be able to support my family, and to be a blessing to others.

In my spare time, I enjoy reading, movies, and writing on my blog: http://www.hendersonhome.net/tom.

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

Two seasons come to mind, and they ran concurrently. The first one was leading a group of men through two life-change programs:  Heart of a Warrior and Focus of a Warrior (more information about these can be found at http://heartofawarrior.typepad.com). I had already been through Heart of a Warrior, but found that taking it again, and leading it, was much more enriching. For the two years that I was in Heart of a Warrior (both times), I felt God's presence more closely than I ever have before. It was as if my faith took one or two quantum leaps. During Focus of a Warrior, I struggled through a drier period of my walk, but I learned to trust in God more, instead of worrying about my walk with Him.

The other season occurred while I was leading my group in Heart of a Warrior. Our only child, Ian, was diagnosed with a Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma when he was six. He fought bravely through radiation treatments, but ultimately went home to be with our Lord nine months later. During that time, I saw God come around us through friends, family and strangers. God used others to provide support, encouragement and hope. We also saw the Lord use a seven-year old boy to touch lives in a mighty way. People were drawn closer to Him because of Ian's witness; what more could a parent ask for? I also received incredible insights into how much God loves us, His own broken children.

Debra and Tom Henderson

3.  How has God guided or spoken to you?

I feel God speaking to me on a weekly, even daily basis. It's in a very personal experience, the way intimate friends would communicate with each other. Typically, it's an insight into God's nature as revealed by scripture, or into my own heart, as shown by the Holy Spirit.

However, one memorable instance was shared with my wife, Debra. We had found out that Ian's tumor was regrowing, and were able to get away for a night together to try and regroup. We decided to watch a DVD in Chip Ingram's series God as He Longs For You to See Him. It's a great series that studies six attributes of God (His goodness, sovereignty, holiness, wisdom, justice, faithfulness and love). We decided that, in those hours, we needed to hear about God's love for us. Unfortunately, the discs were not labeled with what attributes they covered, so we had to guess. The disc covering God's justice got ejected right away. We started to do the same with the presentation about God's wisdom, but five minutes into the message, we were hooked. One phrase that resonated with us, and that we still cling to, came through loud and clear. In the middle of wondering why a loving God would do this to us, and to our precious son, it rang like the clearest bell: "The wisdom of God tells us that God will bring about the best possible results by the best possible means, for the most possible people, for the longest possible time." We found comfort in that. If God could devise some other way to reach the same number of people without taking Ian, He would do it.

What clinched our belief that God was talking to us that night happened later in the video. Chip was listing situations where people may doubt God's wisdom, saying "we don't know why this happens."  He was speaking in generalities, listing events like divorce and bankruptcy. Among them, he said, "We don't know why a seven-year-old boy gets cancer." Deb and I looked at each other with eyes as big as dinner plates. Did Chip really just say our situation that specifically? We had to pause the DVD and listen to it again. Sure enough, God spoke specifically to our situation. 

We don't know why it happened, and we probably never will this side of eternity, at least not in full. However, we have learned that we can lay down our need to have the question "Why?" answered, and can be satisfied instead with God himself.

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

God wants to speak to each one of us. I would say that He wants to speak to us more than we want to listen. There are times when I feel that God is being silent. He does use silence at times, but most of the time it's that I'm not letting myself get quiet enough to hear him. I have to wipe out the noise in my life in order to get a clear signal. That involves avoiding music, TV, movies, video games, and anything that might be a distraction. God can use those to speak, and he has before, but it's not the same as reading scripture and feeling the Holy Spirit point out a passage, saying "This is for you, right now."

In short, the King of the Universe is looking forward to having a conversation with you.

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

Hearing God's voice

At my church this past Sunday, the sermon topic was about hearing God's voice. The pastor prefaced his talk by saying that we need to learn to listen and make space for God in our busy lives.

The four key points from the sermon were:

• People hear from God when they're willing to listen to him about issues of obedience. Rather than focusing on hearing about something new, do we need to revisit something old to align with God?
• People hear from God when they take time to listen to God. We need to reduce the noise in our lives and partner with God each day.
• People hear from God as they begin to identify what God sounds like. God's voice tells us to be more like Jesus; he doesn't appeal to our pride, greed or addictions.
• People hear from God when they have confidence that God is committed to speaking to them. As I have seen through this blog, God has creative ways of speaking to us. He is a great speaker and leader, and is committed to speaking to each one of us.

One of the worship songs this past Sunday was "Full Attention" by Jeremy Riddle, which has some very notable lyrics:

May Your voice be louder

And may Your voice be clearer

Than all the others

Than all the others

God wants to talk to us, but we need to listen.

Medal of Honor winner escapes haunting images

Medal of Honor winner Hershel "Woody" Williams (l) with fellow veteran Darol "Lefty" Lee (r).

Hershel "Woody" Williams won a Medal of Honor for his actions during World War II.

He took a 70-pound flamethrower to seven Japanese pillbox bunkers on Iwo Jima, clearing them out.

According to an article in the Winona Daily News, the war had a residual effect on Williams:

Williams has no idea how many people he killed that day, but images of the fighting haunted him. In the years that followed the war, he suffered sleepless nights as the medal changed his life’s course.

'I was bothered a bit by the residuals of war,' Williams said.

He had new responsibilities — a new role he didn’t anticipate when he was growing up on a farm in West Virginia.

After years of bitter independence, Williams said God spoke to him in a church in 1962. The dark visions of war dissipated, and he became chaplain for the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, a position he held for 35 years.

Williams is one of 19 Medal of Honor recipients from World War II still living today.

Annie Moses Band: all in the family

Annie Moses Band

The Annie Moses Band is a family ensemble, whose members include parents Bill (composer/arranger/pianist) and Robin (lyricist/vocalist) Wolaver and their children: Annie, Alex, Benjamin, Gretchen, Camille, and Jeremiah, in ages ranging from 24 down to 10.

According to a press release, the band's roots originated in God speaking to Robin while she was in college:

'We had some Suzuki violinists that came and played in our music survey class. There was a little-bitty girl from Asia, and she was so tiny and cute. She had a violin… God spoke to me at that point and said, ‘When you have a little girl, they should do that.’ And, Robin did give birth to a beautiful little girl and named her….Annie. Five more children followed but having a band with six kids certainly wasn’t in their plans.

'We didn’t have any idea this would happen,' says Bill Wolaver. 'We did want a large family and wanted to have children.'

Annie says, 'As each child came of age, our parents really prayed and considered our talents and our personalities to determine what the best instrument would be. Things just kind of grew gradually from there.'

The band's name comes from Robin's grandmother. For more on the Annie Moses Band, visit their website.

On the road again

I love traveling. In fact, I just returned from Ireland for my brother's wedding. (Here's a photo of me in a kilt reading at the event.)

In 2006, I spent time in Fairbanks, Alaska, to build homes for Habitat for Humanity. That was my one experience with a volunteering vacation.

Jay Loecken and his family have taken the idea of traveling for a higher purpose a lot further than that. Since April 18, 2008, they have been driving around the country in an RV looking for people to help. In the process, they have visited 44 states.

According to a recent Star Tribune article, God showed them the way:

'My wife and I always dreamed of traveling, but then God showed us that we don't need to just travel for adventure,' he said. 'We travel for a purpose.'

The Loeckens' journey started when they took a mission trip to Africa in 2007 and discovered the extreme poverty. When returning to the U.S., the Loeckens discovered that there was poverty nearby, and decided to make a difference here.

God's Gardens by Claire

CHAMPLIN, Minn. -- In 2003, Claire Lichy was facing tremendous health problems after having abdominal surgery. She had excruciating pain through the right side of her back. During the surgery, several nerves leading to her back were nicked, and scar tissue from a previous operation was damaged.

Lichy found peace during her recovery time through flowers. Gardening always had been a passion of hers, and she transformed her backyard into an amazing garden when she fully recovered. At first, she called it "Claire's Gardens." Then God spoke to her, according to a Star Tribune article:

'I was out here one day and I felt God tugging at my arm,' she said. 'It just hit me: This isn't about me: it's about God. I feel so grateful that he has given me this talent to make things pretty.'

So, she changed the name to "God's Gardens by Claire." She opens up the gardens (by appointment only; call 763-427-2644) to everything from garden clubs to Bible study groups.

Forgiveness in a teenage drinking death

Last July, 15-year-old Makamae Au Mook Sang died of acute alcohol intoxication after drinking hard liquor at a party hosted by 25-year-old Michael Clark in Hawaii. This month, Clark was sentenced to a year in prison. Au Mook Sang's mother has forgiven Clark, though, according to a story on Honolulu's KITV:

'When God spoke to me I felt like he was telling me that you, Michael, are just as much a child of God as I am,' said Tracy Ah Mook Sang. 'So, God is, like, telling me he loves you too.'

While this tragedy highlights the dangers of teenage drinking, it also puts a spotlight on the power of forgiveness.