Signs & Wonders Blog

Just over a year ago, I started attending Vertical Life Church in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. One thing I respect about Pastor Mark Dorn is his commitment to the Great Commission. During services, you will always hear him exhort the congregation to be soul winners. His church usually goes out evangelizing on Saturday afternoons. Pastor Mark also knows how to have fun. Occasionally, the church has kickball games between the adults and the youth. We had such a game this past Wednesday night. Before it began, Pastor Mark announced that ice cream would be served by the team that didn’t win. The adults were ahead during most of the game but the youth came from behind and were declared the winners. The announced final score was 20-19. However, I have some doubts about the outcome of that game. People repeatedly asked what the score was and how many outs there were. A few older congregants didn’t play but sat off on the side and watched. Perhaps one of them could have been the official score...

I’ve never been a fan of golf. I think it’s one of the most boring sports to watch on TV. However, I have gone miniature-golfing a few times. Recently, my friend Lorvin celebrated his birthday by inviting me and a few others to play a round at the Mall of America . During our game, many of us came close to getting a hole-in-one. Lorvin’s roommate Ken finally got one near the end of the course. He also had the best golf score and proudly wrote the results of our game on the kitchen chalkboard. Over the years, I’ve heard a few jokes about Jesus golfing. In one of them, the Lord was on a golf course with Moses and an old man. Jesus went first and drove the ball into a water trap. So He walked on the water, chipped the ball onto the green, and put it for par. Moses went next. He drove the ball into the same water trap. Moses parted the water, chipped the ball onto the green, and put it for par. Then the old man teed off. Likewise, his ball headed toward the water trap. However, a fis...

Earlier this week while getting coffee at McDonald’s, my receipt indicated I was customer #300. That reminded me of bowling since 300 is a perfect score in the ten-pin version of the game. During my childhood, Dad often took our family to the bowling alley on Sunday afternoon. I was also on bowling leagues in junior high, high school, and college. I managed to win a few trophies.  Since then, I’ve occasionally gone bowling with friends. One Saturday in 1993, my friend Steve suggested we do so and kept saying, “I’m going to beat you.” I didn’t tell him of my previous bowling experience. Steve wasn’t happy when I beat him with scores of 161 and 216. He even suggested I cheated. That was impossible since the bowling alley had electronic scoring. I’ve bowled other games over 200 but never came close to 300. A bowler has to get twelve consecutive strikes to achieve a perfect game. One dictionary defines perfect as “having all the required or desirable elements, qualities, or charact...

One of the rarest feats in baseball is a perfect game. This is when a pitcher retires all 27 batters he faces during a nine-inning game. Not only does the pitcher have to show exceptional skill but also his teammates. If one of them commits an error, that wipes away the perfect game. In major league history, only 23 perfect games have occurred. Another one would’ve made the record books if it weren’t for a blown call by an umpire. On June 2, 2010, Armando Galarraga of the Detroit Tigers retired the first 26 Cleveland Indians he faced. The 27th batter, Jason Donald, hit a ground ball to first base. Miguel Cabrera fielded it and threw it to Galarraga, whose foot hit the bag before Donald’s did. But umpire Jim Joyce, a 21-year veteran, ruled that Donald was safe. Replays clearly showed that Donald was out. Jim Joyce later acknowledged he missed the call and said, “I just cost that kid a perfect game.” Last year, many ministers prophesied Donald Trump would be reelected President of the...

As a boy, I loved playing Monopoly. My parents originally taught me how to play this property trading board game. They soon resisted my requests to play it again because our games took too long. To pass the time on Christmas Eve, my sister and I often played Monopoly before Dad came home from work and we opened presents. One Christmas, Dad brought home a borrowed Nintendo Entertainment System that included a Monopoly cartridge. I played that several times on our TV. The classic version of Monopoly released in 1935 has properties named after locations in or near Atlantic City, New Jersey. In recent years, numerous specialty editions have come out with renamed properties connected with movies, colleges, or other themes. Updates of the game include new game pieces and credit cards for purchases instead of cash. This past Thursday, Hasbro announced Monopoly will get a “long overdue” socially conscious makeover. All sixteen of Monopoly’s Community Chest cards will be changed. Gone will b...

Major League Baseball is currently in the midst of its playoffs. Having lived in Minnesota most of my life, I’m rooting for the Twins who (at the time of this writing) need to make a miraculous comeback to finally get past the New York Yankees and possibly play in their first World Series since 1991. Baseball has been called America’s National Pastime. However, the sport became tainted 100 years ago due to the infamous Black Sox Scandal.  The Chicago White Sox and the Cincinnati Reds faced each other in the 1919 World Series. The White Sox were heavily favored to win but lost the best-of-nine series five games to three. It was discovered some White Sox players intentionally played poorly to receive money from gamblers. The “Black Sox” moniker reportedly came from the dirty White Sox uniforms. Tight-fisted owner Charles Comiskey refused to pay for having his players’ uniforms cleaned. Despite being acquitted in a public trial, eight of the White Sox were banned from pro...

A game you might have played as a child was “connect the dots.” Like the picture shown in this article, you drew lines to various dots in numerical order. Often you didn’t know what the picture looked like until almost all the dots were connected. Our Christian walk can be like playing connect the dots. The Lord leads us to do things that we sometimes don’t understand why. Often His purpose is revealed while He’s “connecting the dots.” Many times it takes a step of faith to get the process started. In his book “It’s Your Move”, Kenneth W. Hagin compares divine guidance to a chess game. When we make a move, then God makes a move. We continue taking turns until the big picture comes together.  There are many stories I could share illustrating this truth but will focus on one that happened during the summer of 2002. While staying at a missionary house in Tampa, Florida, I perceived the Lord wanted me to travel to San Antonio, Texas. At the time, I didn't know anybody there....

Every year millions of people gather around televisions to watch the Super Bowl.  The first time I ever watched it was on my tenth birthday in 1974. I was full of excitement since the Minnesota Vikings was one of the teams playing for the Vince Lombardi Trophy. That morning at Sunday school, the teacher noticed my zeal for the big game. In front of the whole class he asked me, “Which is more important…church or football?” Without hesitation I replied, “Football.” My dad scolded me when he later found out about this. Back then I didn’t see any benefit in going to church. We attended a traditional institution that gave me wrong perceptions of Christianity (it would be another 17 years before I realized how real God is).  The Vikings ended up losing Super Bowl VIII to the Miami Dolphins. It would be their second of four Super Bowl losses during the 1970s. My favorite team hasn’t returned to the big game in almost 40 years. I would like to see the Vikings win it at ...