A tragic plane crash, 10 years later

A prayer service was held on June 1 to mark the 10th anniversary of the crash of American Airlines Flight 1420 in Arkansas. Twenty-five members of the Ouachita Singers travel group were on board that flight in 1999, returning from a trip to Europe. Nine people died in the crash; 145 people were on board.

According to an article in Townhall.com, the survivors of Flight 1420 told stories of true heroism, with people risking their lives to save complete strangers.

Charlie Fuller, former dean of Ouachita Baptist University's School of Fine Arts, led the Ouachita Singers on their European tour. He reflected, "How does God give us hope? Through His presence embodied in those who stand with us when we need it."

As you go about your day today, remember to put others first. You are the hands and feet of God.

The depth of worship

In my church small group, we have been talking about what worship is and about the importance of worship. I found an experience by Carol Wimber on pp. 60-61 of Passport: A Believer's Guide to the Kingdom of God fascinating:

In 1976, when Carol Wimber started a fellowship in her home for burned out Christians, she found that the presence of God came when they sang certain songs. These were usually songs that spoke to the Lord rather than about him: 'I love you, Lord!' Then the Lord gave her a word -- literally: It was the word worship. She could 'see' it in her spirit like a newspaper headline. It puzzled her, because in her tradition worship had meant a Sunday church service. Carol began to notice that, when the home group sang songs that addressed God directly and personally, the sense of the Holy Spirit's presence was especially strong. The group also learned that the power of worship reflected the depth of each person's devotional time with God during the week. Worship became much more than a meeting. This early experience placed worship as the cornerstone of their church life.

There are many different ways to worship: standing, singing, dancing, raising hands, silence and more. Which way do you worship most often?

A laughing matter

It's amazing when people find their calling by listening to God. For Daren Streblow, that message was to be a Christian comedian, according to an article in the Monroe News:

A few years after graduating from college and having been married a year, Mr. Streblow said 'he felt God leading him to be a stand-up comedian. He figured this wasn’t something that God regularly leads people to do … but it was a clear message to Daren and he knew he should pay attention,' his Web site says.

He thought about it and realized that God was right - his talents did lie with his comedy, so he started writing and honing his act. In 1998, he became a full-time comedian.

Streblow is originally from Ely, Minn., and has opened for Weird Al Yankovic, James Gregory, Jeff Allen and Brad Stine.

Saved from a kidnapping

The Corvallis Gazette-Times recently included chilling testimony from a trial in which a woman explained how she was kidnapped in 1993, when she was 14 -- and how she escaped:

Tuesday’s witness, who said she had a photographic memory, detailed how a man approached her after he saw her in a northeast Portland grocery store. The man, who said his name was 'Dave,' asked her if she needed help. She was a runaway at the time, and although she said the man seemed nice, she told him that she was just going home.

Not long afterward, the man came sprinting after her, holding a gun. He forced her into his car and drove her to an area away from people. He asked her to take off her clothes, which she started to do, but then told him 'no.'

The woman said she started reciting the Lord’s Prayer aloud and prayed for God to forgive the man. God spoke back to her, she said, telling her to get out of the car.

She ran to a nearby store, where she watched her assailant drive back and forth. Finally, she called a friend.

The woman said she reported the kidnapping to police shortly afterward.

Thank God that she was saved from a worse trauma.

Led to. . .a closing college

The Edmonton Journal ran a story about Taylor University College, a school that is closing after its shifting focus from a Bible school to undergraduate arts degrees led to declining enrollment.

For Jontue Kuyvenhoven, that meant she was able to attend the school for only one year. She felt that God led her to Taylor University College.

'It's tough because I had finally found this really great fit at this really small university, in Alberta of all places,' said Kuyvenhoven, 22. 'The professors, the people ... I was having the time of my life and then the school shuts down. It's like, 'Why did you bring me here, God?''

Only God knows why He led Kuyvenhoven to the school. Fortunately for her, she is able to transfer her credits to King's University College in Edmonton, where she plans to study for a career as a worship leader.

The beginnings of a pastor

I am in the midst of reading "Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith" by Rob Bell. It's quite an interesting book. On p. 40 of the book he tells how he got his start as a preacher -- at the chapel service of a summer camp in northern Wisconsin:

I remember standing up to talk in front of those hundred or so people gathered among those pine trees and being aware of the presence of God in a terrifying way. Seriously, it was terrifying. But in a good way. The word that comes to mind is holy. I became aware of something so real, yet I couldn't see it or touch it. I was standing there and I hadn't said a word yet, and what did I do? I took off my sandals because I knew the ground I was standing on was holy and that my life was never, ever going to be the same again.

It was in that moment that I heard a voice. Not an audible, loud, human kind of voice, but inner words spoken somewhere in my soul that were very clear and very concise. What I heard was, 'Teach this book, and I will take care of everything else.'

In that moment, my entire life changed forever.

Bell has gone on to be the amazingly successful pastor at Mars Hill in Michigan.

Recap of John Eldredge appearance in Minneapolis/St. Paul

Last week I attended the John Eldredge talk at Church of the Open Door. Here's a recap of his talk, which essentially was an outline of the six stages of a man's life:

Boyhood (birth to age 12)

* Meant to be a time of exploration and discovery

* Made safe by your father's strength

* It's wonderful to have a father show you how life works

* Boys need to know that their father adores them

* Often the wounding first happens in boyhood

Cowboy (ages 13 to 19)

* Ruled by the question "Do I have what it takes?"

* Validation needs to be established, which comes from someone speaking to you and also from experience

* Can be thwarted by: no one showing him how to do it, or boy trips and fails and no one helps him

* God wants us to live by faith and trust Him so we take risks

Warrior (starts around age 18, 19 or 20)

* Young men like competition

* God gives every man a warrior heart because: Adam had passivity, and we need to overcome it, and we live in a world at war with the kingdom of darkness

* Can be wounded by: being told as a boy that all aggression is wrong, or when a boy tries to rise up and fails

Lover (begins in late teens or early 20s)

* Runs essentially parallel to the Warrior stage

* Often takes a woman to awaken the heart

* Most men hide in the mind, but the heart is where the action is

* Friendship with God develops at this time

* Better if a little bit of the Warrior stage comes first

* Can get wounded by: boy being creative, Dad mocking it and humiliating boy; rejection; heartbreak

King (starts in late 30s or around 40)

* Man has a kingdom in which he has influence in the world

* We rule with God

* Question: when can we trust a man with power? There are many bad kings; a man can be trusted with power after he has been initiated

* Most of a midlife crisis is an unitiated man; God wants to come through and fill in the gaps

Sage (starts around late 50s or early 60s)

* A time of fathering others

* The sage is wounded when he is dismissed

* Becoming a mentor to warriors and kings

* Sages typically have to be asked; they won't voluntarily give advice in general

Incidentally, Eldredge was quite an interesting speaker in person. It was an excellent talk.