Following God to bookstore ownership

The Lexington Herald-Leader ran an article about Jennifer Henderson, a local bookstore owner. Henderson had been working at a Toyota plant making $100,000 a year, but she heard the call of God to own a Christian bookstore. Henderson resisted God's urging numerous times until she heard His voice:

One day, Henderson heard God speaking only to her.

'The whole plant went quiet,' Henderson said. 'All I could hear was, 'Are you trusting me, Toyota, your husband or what?'

Henderson laughed as she recalled that time.

'I said, 'Oh, you had to go and pull out the big guns.''

Henderson finally followed God's lead and opened the Serenity Christian Bookstore in Oct. 2006.

An Aerostar - not altar - call

Liz Curtis Higgs writes in Today's Christian Woman about an interesting 3 a.m. prayer session that she had with people attending a women's weekend retreat. Apparently there wasn't a room available for private prayers with each woman, so Higgs had to have her session in a Ford Aerostar. She heard from God that this prayer session was needed by the women:

...God spoke to my heart, telling me these precious women needed to learn how to take their needs to him directly. It was clear God wanted me to pray with these women one-on-one after my presentation. All of them.

The woman who owns the Ford Aerostar now refers to it as the "Holy Van."

Whose voice spoke to Mitt Romney in the Jan. 24 debate?

A lot of controversy has surrounded a "whisper" that can be heard before Mitt Romney responded to a question about Ronald Reagan during the Jan. 24 Presidential debate.

One columnist suspects that it was the voice of God. . .others are not so sure.

A leap forward

Wow. The "advance" for my Heart of a Warrior group this past weekend was extraordinary. Dr. Greg Bourgond, who developed the Heart of a Warrior curriculum, joined us Saturday to speak on gaining a grasp of God's word. He went through with us in detail how to study scripture. We looked at John 15:1-8 in depth all day. I don't think that I had analyzed a section of the Bible so in depth before!

It was great to get to know the other guys in my group better and to know Dr. Bourgond personally. He really has a heart for men and is extremely perceptive.

The high point for the weekend took place on Sunday morning. A group of us went through every room in the two lake homes, and I shared with the guys my memories of each room. Then we prayed over each room. God definitely was present, and I felt a release from the chains of my stepdad into the arms of God.

I'm looking forward to creating many more positive memories up at their lake home.

The warriors make an advance

My Heart of a Warrior men's group is going on an "advance" tomorrow. We're going up to my mom and stepdad's lake home near Brainerd, Minn., for the weekend.

I'm quite nervous about it. I want everything to go well. I have many negative memories of the lake home, because I had difficult times with my stepdad while I was up there. (In one instance, he even threw my Hacky Sack into the lake. I doubt that I will ever see that Hacky Sack again.)

Hopefully by having this "advance" (we're moving forward, not retreating) up there this weekend, I will start to create positive memories and bring a new feel in my heart for their lake home.

Could I be a pastor?

I had the strangest feeling yesterday while on my way to work at my corporate job. All of a sudden, I thought, "I should be a pastor." For some reason my vision pictured my blond-haired, blue-eyed, Caucasian self preaching to a group of blacks in the Caribbean.

Crazy! I have the most difficult time evangelizing to anyone in the first place. Perhaps it was just the below-zero weather here in Minneapolis that was causing me to think of warmer climates. . .or maybe I really could be a pastor at some point in my life.

I think that I'll start with a short-term mission trip and see how that goes first.

Sick of celebrities, rediscovering God

I had to stand on my bus ride home today because it was so crowded, and I couldn't help but notice what people sitting down were reading. I was surprised by what I saw: nobody reading People, Us Magazine or some other celebrity rag. Instead, I saw a couple of people reading religious-related books: A Cup of Comfort for Christians and a book about heaven.

Could it be that people are sick of reading about celebrities and are interested in checking out something more significant? Hopefully, since celebrities don't seem to be too happy themselves. After all, who cares about the most recent stupid thing Britney Spears has done?