Signs & Wonders Blog

Usually when a loved one dies, the next of kin are promptly notified . Last Monday afternoon, while browsing the Internet, I stumbled upon an unexpected revelation: one of my aunts had passed away almost three months prior . For some inexplicable reason, I wasn’t informed of this news sooner. Nevertheless, I reminisced about the wonderful times I had shared with her. Gaye Linda Hannestad (née Tweiten ) was born on June 7, 1954 in Fargo, North Dakota. Her infectious energy and lively personality made me anticipate the times she babysat my sister and me when we were young. Tanya and I called them a “Gaye Gaye Day.” My aunt introduced me to some of the popular hits of the era. I remember her playing 45s of “In the Year 2525”, “I Started a Joke”, and “Spirit in the Sky.” Another endearing aspect of Gaye was her insistence that we sing “Happy Birthday” to Jesus before opening our Christmas presents. Gaye graduated from Fargo South High School in 1972 and eventually became a dental assi...

During my childhood, I enjoyed watching Christmas specials on TV. This past Wednesday, I found one on YouTube I don’t recall seeing before. “ Christmas Lost and Found ” featured the claymation characters Davey and his talking dog Goliath. In this 1965 production by the Lutheran Church of America, Davey repeatedly complains, “I don’t feel Christmas.”  Davey tries various things associated with the holiday such as putting up lights and eating Christmas cookies. His dad also gives him money to purchase a tree from a new kid named Kenny. After Davey bought presents for his family and friends, Goliath suggested his owner now felt the Christmas spirit. Davey replied, “All I got is no money left.”  Meanwhile, Davey’s sister Sally set up a nativity scene in their home. That inspired him to gather his friends and perform a Christmas pageant in the town theater. Davey portrayed one of the wise men singing “We Three Kings of Orient Are.” Sally played Mary. Goliath insisted on being a ...

On Father’s Day, many people spend time with their dads. Mine passed away almost seven years ago. Although I’ve had other father figures in my life, I want to honor someone who was like a mother to me. This past Wednesday, I learned she had gone home to be with the Lord. For a few weeks in 2001, I lived with a family in Manassas, Virginia. Issues came up that made it necessary for me to find alternative housing. Through a mutual friend, I moved in with another family in the nearby city of Woodbridge. The matriarch was Merrie Christina Lavikoff.  “Chris” (as she preferred to be addressed) was born in Long Island, New York but grew up in California. A stint in the U.S. Army brought her to Northern Virginia, where she met Jeffrey Lavikoff. Although Chris was Christian and Jeff was Jewish, they married and had three children: David, DebraLyn, and Emily.  While I first lived with the Lavikoffs, Chris worked at and attended Christ Chapel, an Assembly of God fellowship. I occa...

Among the things that make the holiday season memorable are family traditions. One dictionary defines tradition as “the transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation.” While growing up in Moorhead, Minnesota, my family had our share of Christmas rituals. One of them was my sister Tanya and I taking turns opening up the little flaps on our advent calendar. My immediate family always opened presents on Christmas Eve after Dad came home from work in the late afternoon (or in the morning if he had the day off). Tanya and I passed the time by played the board game Monopoly , which often took two hours to complete. Sometimes we also went to a candlelight service at the Lutheran church we attended across the river in Fargo, North Dakota. Later that night, I would get together with my mother’s side of the family at Grandma Tweiten’s house. Often we ate a light dinner but then always sang Christmas carols before opening presents. Eventually, my Aunt Gaye added a tradition...

Two days ago, the U.S. Supreme Court made a 6-3 decision to overturn the controversial Roe v. Wade ruling in 1973. That doesn’t outlaw abortion in this nation but will make it more difficult in states that decide to ban it altogether. In my birthplace of Fargo, North Dakota, the state’s only abortion clinic has already made plans to move across the Red River to Moorhead, Minnesota. While I haven’t been as passionate about pro-life causes as some of my friends, I applaud the Supreme Court’s decision. Abortion not only terminates the lives of unborn children but scars the lives of women who get one. Nevertheless, numerous celebrities are speaking out against this decision. Some individuals have responded with violence. What’s tragic is how political figures are reacting. Joe Biden (a professing Catholic) called the Supreme Court’s decision “a tragic error.” Former First Lady Michelle Obama said she’s “heartbroken.” Hillary Clinton borrowed a phrase from Franklin Roosevelt by saying t...

I saw many Walt Disney movies in theaters and on TV during my childhood. My family and I often watched “The Wonderful World of Disney” on Sunday nights (I also remember my dad doing a great Donald Duck imitation). Although some Disney productions such as “Fantasia” and “Escape to Witch Mountain” had occult themes, they mostly promoted family values.  Sadly, the Walt Disney Company has drifted into endorsing ungodly lifestyles. In 2005, a friend of mine briefly worked at Disney World in Orlando. He told me about “Gay Days” hosted by the amusement park. In a company-wide Zoom call this past Monday, a Disney executive said they must be more “inclusive” by increasing the number of LGBTQIA characters. Karey Burke claimed, “I am here as a mother of two queer children – one transgender child and one pansexual child.” Not surprisingly, this moral decline has shown up in their productions. Four years ago, Walt Disney Studios released an R-rated flick called “Eighth Grade”, which feature...

Last Wednesday, I received an email via Messenger from a young man currently living in the city where I was born. I hadn't met this man before and initially wondered why he contacted me. A glance at his Facebook page revealed he is a missionary from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. His profile photo shows him wearing an elder badge. I figured he wanted to have a conversation in an attempt to convert me to his religion. At first, I didn’t respond to his greeting of “How’s a going.” Then last night while organizing computer files, I came across a video produced ten years ago in response to the “I’m a Mormon” campaign happening then. So I sent the YouTube link to this man. Here’s the transcript of the video… I was born in Fargo, North Dakota where my parents took my sister and me to a traditional Lutheran church. There I attended Sunday school and went through confirmation but didn’t like it very much. Deep down in my heart I wanted to believe in God but he wasn’t re...

Often I visit the CBN News website to read about current events from a Christian perspective. Back in 2010, one of their headlines was “Evangelist Benny Hinn Opens Heart to Viewers.” The Israeli-born televangelist talked about his wife divorcing him (they have since reconciled and remarried). Benny admitted he was so busy with the ministry that he neglected his family and urged viewers not to do likewise. Billy Graham also regretted not spending enough time with his family. In his autobiography “Just As I Am”, the evangelist wrote that “...over the years, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and the Team became my second family without my realizing it. Ruth [Billy’s wife] says those of us who were off traveling missed the best part of our lives—enjoying the children as they grew. She is probably right. I was too busy preaching all over the world.” Billy confessed, “Every day I was absent from my family is gone forever. Although much of that travel was necessary, some of it...

As previously stated in this blog, I don’t go to many movies . Still, I want to be supportive of quality faith-based films being shown nationally. Pure Flix previously released a number of successful motion pictures including the “ God’s Not Dead ” series. Their latest production “Unplanned” came out last weekend and finished fourth at the box office. It grossed $6.1 million from only 1,059 theaters. I went to see it two days ago. “Unplanned” is based on the memoir of Abby Johnson, a young Texas woman who worked at Planned Parenthood for eight years. During her tenure there, Abby went through a divorce and two abortions. Later after remarrying, Abby surprisingly found herself pregnant despite using birth control. Although her supervisor suggested otherwise, Abby went through with the pregnancy and gave birth to a daughter. Often when Abby arrived at work, anti-abortion demonstrators had gathered outside her clinic's fence. A few of them made harassing remarks while holdi...

As a Christian, I’ve had the unfortunate experience of going through two failed marriages . My first wife left me after we’d been married only a few weeks. She then initiated an adulterous relationship with a close friend of mine before filing for divorce. Soon I had believers giving me conflicting advice. One minister told me if my ex-wife ever wanted to reconcile, I had to take her back. Another man suggested she was never officially my wife because of her being previously divorced. My second marriage lasted a little longer but still had an acrimonious ending. My new wife became verbally abusive and tried controlling various aspects of our relationship including what we did in the bedroom. Since she wouldn’t agree to counsel, I separated from her but remained open to reconciling. That wasn’t possible since it was basically “her way or no way.” She eventually emailed me claiming to have remarried but never sent divorce papers. I had to file myself to be free from what became an...

Carolyn Mae Tweiten was born on March 28, 1946. She was the second of five children who grew up in a carpenter’s family in Fargo, North Dakota. In 1963 at the age of 17, Carolyn married Richard Post and gave birth to me the following year. My sister Tanya followed a couple of years later. Because Mom loved animals, there were often one or two dogs plus an occasional cat in the household. She was also a teddy bear fanatic. That made it easy to pick out gifts for Christmas and her birthday. Carolyn had grown up with a violent alcoholic father. Therefore, she did her best to make sure Tanya and I had a stable environment at home. Mom often played along with various games my sister and me did. A few Saturday mornings, we played school with me being the teacher. Occasionally Mom would knock on my bedroom door saying Tanya needed to be “excused from class” so she could clean her room or do something else. As we got older, Mom worked outside the house more. One of her jobs was a sa...

Sports fans in America love rooting for the underdog. Just over a year ago, the Chicago Cubs had many people pulling for them (myself included) as they won their first World Series in 108 years. Now another franchise with a reputation of losing big games has a chance of finally winning it all. It happens to be my favorite football team. The Minnesota Vikings began playing in 1961 as an NFL expansion team. Eight years later, they appeared in their first Super Bowl but lost to the Kansas City Chiefs. Three years after that, I started watching Vikings games on TV while growing up in Moorhead, Minnesota. The following season, they reached Super Bowl VIII, which was played on my tenth birthday. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a Super Sunday for me as the Vikings lost to the Miami Dolphins. Nevertheless, I remained a Minnesota Vikings fan with quarterback Fran Tarkenton as my favorite player. Throughout the rest of the 1970s, I watched almost every Vikings game on TV. They consistently w...