Testimony - The Girl with the Pink Backpack

Fam,

There are so many lovely testimonies and my father-in-law shared this with me which I feel compelled to share with you.

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Hello,

My name is AnnaLisa and this is a story about something that Josh did 30 years ago that changed my life. I stood up and told it in front of the high school where I teach last week to amazed students who applauded enthusiastically.  It is now time, on the 30-year anniversary, to officially put it in writing and send it to the Josh McDowell Ministry to give glory to God and heartfelt thanks to Josh.

Here it is:

The Pink Backpack

By the time I was in my second semester as a freshman at UCLA, Satan had convinced me of 2 things:

1. My life was worthless.  I had entered college a drama major with dreams of becoming an actress and soon found I was not as talented as I thought I was among so many other talented young men and women.  I also had gotten Rubella-German Measles- and was unable to go to many of my classes.  As a result, I was on academic probation and the fear of failure was overwhelming.  I no longer felt like I had a future and I thought I was a great disappointment.
2. I was utterly alone.  I had been in a relationship with a boyfriend during which I neglected my friends, and when we broke up, I felt I had no one.  To compound that, my mother had moved out to go back to school to get her law degree and had completely abandoned us kids.  Satan made me think no one cared whether I lived or died.

So, one night I walked up to the 7th floor in my dorm and out onto the patio  I was feeling so sad and worthless and alone and my intention was to jump over the railing and end my life.  I gripped the railing and tried leaning over, but I couldn’t do it because I realized that I was afraid of heights.  So I knew I needed to come up with another plan.  This time, I decided to throw one of my legs over the railing and straddle it and just tip over at the count of three.  This way I wouldn’t have to look down.  I began counting: 1. . .2. . .then I heard someone behind me say “Wait.”  I was surprised because I hadn’t noticed anyone else on the balcony with me, so I spun around and looked, but there was no one there.  I began shaking.  Even though I wasn’t religious, I asked,  “God, is that you?”  I didn’t hear an answer.  So I got down from the railing and made God a deal.  “Okay God, if that’s you, I’ll give you 24 hours to intervene in my life, and if nothing miraculous happens, I’m going to come back up here and finish the job.”

I went to bed that night and went to class the next morning and was walking back to my dorm in a fog when I saw a large group of about 300 students gathered around a man preaching on our campus (it turns out it was Josh McDowell). I had to get past them and I was at the back of the crowd making my way around.  I wasn’t really listening to him, he was saying something about Jesus, when all of a sudden he stopped talking for a few seconds.  Then he said in a loud voice, “Hey you!”  I kept walking (of course he wasn’t talking to me).  Then he said again, “Hey you, you with the pink backpack!”  I thought, “That’s funny, I have a pink backpack.”  So I looked over at him and he was pointing at me.  Everyone was looking at me.  Then he said, “God’s been talking to you, hasn’t He?”  I started to say “No,” but then I remembered the Voice that had said ”Wait” the night before and I nodded my head.  He then told me that God had just given him a message for me and that if I would wait a few minutes with his assistant (he pointed to a lady standing near him), when he was done, he would tell me what that message was.  Of course, I was curious so I agreed.

When he finished speaking, he came over to me and said, “I don’t know what this means, but God told me to tell you that He loves you and He has a wonderful plan for your life.”  I started crying.  Then Josh asked me if I knew Jesus.  I said I knew that He was Joseph and Mary’s son and the Son of God.  I was raised Catholic and was very confused.  Then he asked if Jesus was my Lord and Savior.  I said irritably, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”  He said, “Do you have a few minutes to talk?  I’d like to tell you about how you can have a new life with Christ.”  Well, that sounded pretty good to me- I didn’t think my current life was any good so I spent about an hour with him and his assistant that day.   The next day I met with his assistant in the cafeteria and she answered my questions.  Finally I told her I wanted to become a Christian and she asked if she could pray for me.  I thought she meant she would go home and pray for me, but she put her hand on my head and asked me to repeat after her.  At first, I was embarrassed, but when I realized what I was doing, I was so excited that I didn’t care what people thought.  I confessed that I was a sinner and thanked Jesus for dying on the cross so that I could have eternal life and I invited Him into my heart to be my Lord and Savior.  The day I accepted Christ, I was walking back to my dorm and it suddenly struck me that God wanted me to become a teacher.  After that, she connected me to a Christian group (Campus Crusade for Christ) on campus that helped me grow in my faith.

Here’s the weird twist to the story:

4 years ago Josh McDowell was invited to come and speak to the parents at our school.  I thought it would be great if I could somehow get an opportunity to briefly speak to him and simply tell him that he had had a big impact on my life and to thank him (I'd let him think I'd read his books or heard him speak).  He knew nothing about my suicide attempt, etc.   Well, I found out there would be an intermission so I came to our theater early and sat in the front row so I could make a beeline for him as soon as intermission came.  (I had also heard he was leaving abruptly after the show).  Sure enough, as soon as intermission came, I ran for his podium and quickly stammered, “I know you won’t remember me, but . . .” and he interrupted me, by pointing at me and saying, “The girl with the pink backpack.”  I was shocked and immediately choked up (I still can't recall this without getting teary).  “How did you remember me after 30 years?” I asked.  He told me that the message God had given him for me was so powerful that he had never forgotten it.  I let him know that it had saved my life.  That I had been planning on committing suicide that night and that message stopped me.  I added that as a result, I had also become a teacher and that I was a teacher there at the school and for over 26 years had impacted hundreds of lives.  I asked him if I could give him a hug and he allowed me to give him a little sideways hug. Everyone else standing there listening was awed by the encounter.

Please tell Josh thank you for me. I am eternally grateful. I am retiring from teaching this year and I feel I owe these 30 wonderful years, at least in part, to him.

Many blessings,

AnnaLisa

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I pray this testimony is a blessing to you as it is to me. May we never ignore the Voice and follow through like Josh and AnnaLisa.

God Speed,
G2

Faith - There's Always Room for Improvement

Fam,

As much as we'd like to think we're pretty good like a noble person, we still have some room for growth in our faith.

According to John 4:46-54, Jesus points out that even one who believes in Him as a healer is still not in complete faith that Jesus is the Messiah. The nobleman still insists on Jesus's physical presence to heal his son. Yet Jesus re-emphasizes that the nobleman simply needs to believe and his son will be healed. So the nobleman believes, but with some doubt as he returns to his house to hear the good news of his son's restoration. It's not until the Word of Jesus is confirmed by his household servants that the nobleman and his household completely believe in Jesus Christ.

We can compare this nobleman to the centurion in Luke 7:1-10.


How many times do we go about our days with little faith?

How funny we are in being like the nobleman sometimes instead of the centurion, hunh? Hahaha. Let's not forget who Jesus is especially in a doubtful world.

Lots of love to ya, fam, and keep up'ing your faith.

Believe Him,
G2

Diet - Importance of Eating Healthy

Fam,

Years ago, I began my journey to improve my diet. I learned way back college, probably my senior year after returning from my internship at Eli Lilly, that I had a different diet while living on my own compared to living in the house of my parents. I even remember having a small argument with my Dad when I asked my mother to bake my chicken instead of frying it. My Dad snapped back in saying that I grew up on fried chicken and I should be grateful that my mother was cooking. I defended in saying that although fried chicken is great, I am being more conscious of my health and so should he unless he wanted to risk obtaining a chronic disease like my others in other family. And, I added that I've always been grateful for mom's cooking. She just happened to notice my preference and gave me a choice.

After graduation, I worked for Medtronic, a company that produces pacemakers, and I learned a lot more about the heart. I learned how greatly a diet and exercise can impact the heart. I learned about the vast difference of patients who received pacemakers due to either an extreme heart illness within their genes or an extreme lack of care for a healthy lifestyle. The latter reminded me of my father who I admonished while living with him. Shortly after living on my own, I found out that my Dad contracted diabetes. Well, such moments I wish I wasn't right.

After marriage, I made another grand shift in my diet. I had went for a long morning run and returned home smelling awful. Curiously, I sat in my smell and wondered what it smelled like. I reflected on what I ate over last night and dinner. Quickly I remembered and concluded that I was smelling like the bacon I ate. I was sweating bacon grease, ugh. That moment was nasty enough to have me stop eating bacon like cold turkey. My wife who enjoys eating bacon was disturbed, but she kept eating bacon.

After moving to DC, my wife and I had another major upgrade to our diet. By now she had a diet that was simiilar to mine since we didn't want to cook different meals every night. Every now and then, she'll eat what she wants when she's at a brunch or lunch. Yet, over a few years we have noticed that my wife had some aches during certain times when she ate specific foods. However, we couldn't pinpoint the exact foods or simply understand if it related to the timing of meals. So she took a food sensitivity exam. The results came back clearly after a detox program that she went through. This was probably the most drastic and sudden change to our diets.

Here is our diet below. We pray that this gives awareness and insight into your own diet.

Mine:

• rarely eat beef (usually Danelle will get this during her lunch at work like a burger)
• no pork (but Danelle will eat during her own time like her love for bacon)
• rarely eat cereal unless its Danelle's GF cereal or steel cut oats
• binge on sweets every once in a while (like I'll eat a whole box of honey buns in two hours out of a month)

Danelle's:

• Gluten-Free (no wheat)
• Careful of yeast (which is why Danelle rarely drinks wine now)
• Dairy-Free (and replaced milk with almond, coconut, vanilla milk)
• Low sugar and natural sugars (less than 12 grams on like jar of spaghetti)

Together, we eat lots of chicken, fish, ground turkey (in place of beef), and veggies. We drink lots of water.

The important part is to listen to your body react to your diet. This can be done in a few ways. Notice what is good for your body by eating after a workout. For example, lots of water feels good. I tried lots of Gatorade after a long run, but my body didn't feel good. However, my body feels good when I drink lots of Gatorade after hoops or the weight room. It's strange, but I've learned. Another is that I stopped eating pork because of running a lot. I could feel the pork in my stomach and smell it in my skin after running. That was a sign to stop eating pork. If I don't eat eggs or some kind of bread in the morning, then my energy is low for the entire day. In addition, I need to drink at least two glasses of water to feel great starting the day.

May the Spirit of God energize you on your journey of good dieting and health. God bless you, fam.

P.S. Biblically speaking, many take these verses out of context when talking about having a healthy diet: 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (the body is a temple for God). However, the biblical drives for our diet come from various various verses with admonishment of what not to eat (like blood and mold), grateful for guest meals, and what drinks and foods should be eaten in moderation (like wine and meats). I often go further in my belief with understanding that originally mankind was to eat every green plant for food and that by God was called good (in Genesis 1:29-30). Eventually, I hope to go vegan. :)

Church - Cross-Cultural vs. Non-denominational

Dear Fam,

The other day I was talking to a student about how a non-denominational is different from an inter-denominational church.

Non-denominational leaves the impression that there is no sound doctrine (of theology) that they follow which would result to a highly liberal church (often questionable by biblical scholars). So a Christian never knows if the church is legit and is also not trustworthy of the non-denominational Christian's faith. Is their faith built on the Rock? or on Sand?

Inter-denominational, on the other hand, implies that the church is made up of Christians who hold to different theologies (i.e. sound doctrine). So a baptist Christian and a presbyterian Christian could be in the same Inter-denominational church. A great example of an inter-denominational organization would be the para-church ministries like Campus Crusade for Christ and InterVarsity.

Both of these (non- and inter-denominational) can cause issues with spiritually growing strong though especially when it's time to move onto another church (because of a job transfer or other life changes).

But after finishing this conversation with the student and walking on home, I began to think about this new trend with churches (i.e. church plants) doing something similar to earlier church plants. Today's church plants seem to proclaim that they are cross-cultural (or aspire to) whereas yesterday's church plants proclaimed being non-denominational. If my observation is spot on, then what is causing this new church trend and what does cross-cultural mean? Is it realistic to be a cross-cultural church?

Often people will say that a non-denominational church is a denomination of itself. Does this also mean that a cross-cultural church is a culture of itself? Most likely to be true, if you ask me.

Having been raised in multiple cultures including German, American, Black, military, and non-military, I don't believe in "cross-culture" or "non-denomination". A person has a culture, whether it's made up of a few into a new one or only a single one. Similarly, a person has a denomination (structure, understanding of Scripture, doctrine supporting beliefs, etc.).

It almost sounds like cross-dressing. =p Yikes, we need to just focus on "identity" and understanding how the Lord created each of us to be unique while as a people with common needs. Ever wonder about how if we just respect each other the way God created each of us then we wouldn't have to make up new labels to emphasize the importance of valuing each other?

Anyhow, I'll have to continue thinking about this though before I can finish my thoughts on this topic. There are greater topics to talk about for now...

Hope - what we must keep and teach

I'm an army brat. My story is of the few who broke out of the cycle where many men and women join the army not out of choice.

I grew up my entire life where my Dad and Mom would tell about my choices and limitations. They would tell me that I couldn't do that or do this. My Mom in particular would tell me "why" with rationalization of the situation or circumstance or background like a typical German. I remember I wanted to stop playing the trumpet in high school. I wanted to play sports and especially basketball because that was the popular sport. And my Dad would say "no, I got into college on a music scholarship and so will you." I was only 5'6". So I had to stay in band classes. My Mom would say "son, that's good because it's important to stay active but Germans don't really play basketball well and we're (our family) not an athletic nor big people." But, I kept playing basketball and I became great at defense at the end of my 8th grade. This help me to be a respected player in 9th grade and then my coach gave me a chance and taught me all about form. In 10th grade to everyone's surprise, I grew 6 inches in one year. I towered over my family. From there, I became a pretty good basketball player and to this day I swear if I had all my years in a State-side high school, I would have gotten a football scholarship (not basketball because I'm more talented at soccer and football, and I'm smart enough to know that).

My parents, and even my family, were discouragers. They were hope-killers. It's what they were taught growing up and naturally it's what they were teaching. I, myself, am guilty of it until my wife educated me. Yet, when I read about the lives of these leaders in the Civil Rights era and even in the Bible of the greatest characters, they NEVER lowered their expectations. They never lost hope.

They already had faith in God. For some, it was how they grew up. They already knew about the importance of love. For some, the struggle was more so on who to love because people are people.

I could easily spin out a couple verses, but that's not what this is about. It's about being like Jesus. And he never gave up hope. And he never killed someone else's either. Some won't see it (envision it). Some won't understand (the why or the how). But I thank God for the slaves who fought for their freedom in this country - all because they held onto their hope.

I pray that you, too, will keep your eyes on the prize and stay hopeful.

Fear: why do we fear?

Fam,

As I prepare today for the first meeting with the Impact student leaders, I feel fear. But why? I was electrified over this entire summer and waiting for the students to return so we can make an impact at Howard's campus. I sat down with the three ladies who returned and were in the Impact Leadership team last spring semester. One agreed to be a leader, another still does not know yet, and one said something striking. She said that she doesn't know why she wouldn't, but she does feel "fear". Some of us know the verse from 2 Timothy 1:7 - "For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, of love and of a sound mind."

I didn't feel fear then which was a few days ago. But, then I talked to my wife yesterday who asked me about the plans for this semester and I gave her my vision and everything. Then she asked me what did the student leaders want. I didn't have an answer. She told me that I sounded like I had my own agenda and not listening to the students. Oh no! And fear hit me. I didn't know what the students wanted and did I even ask? Did I ask and they told me, yet I didn't listen?

Fear is gripping my heart right now. But, thank God, this is not my first time feeling fear. Fear is nothing new. What is new is the measure of strength I receive from the Lord when I depend on Him throughout my circumstances that are uncertain, throughout my moments of fear, and throughout my ignorance and awareness that I have blindspots even though I don't know what they are. I depend on Jesus Christ and the Spirit. He will guide me like he did Israel during the Great Exodus. He is my God.

So, I will stay encouraged and not pay any attention to my fear. I am thankful that I feel it, and acknowledge it, but will let my faith control it. May the Lord bless my student leaders this year and have them faithful.

"So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life - not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace (of Christ Jesus)."
- 2 Timothy 1:8-9

Phileo Love,
G2

Bible Study: Called in Pairs, Sent in Pairs

Dear Lord,

Today, I am reading The Book of Matthew 4:18-22.

I'm learning about your calling of your first disciples. You called two brothers, first. Next, you called two more brothers. You called them both almost at the same time, back to back.

You called them in PAIRS.

Interestingly, you also sent your disciples out in PAIRS. (This is from my reading in Matthew 10:1-2, Mark 6:7, and Luke 10.)

In the beginning, you created us in PAIRS. You created the pair to be heterosexual to give them the ability to obey your first commandments - to be fruitful and multiply. (This is from my reading in The Book of Genesis 1:27-28.)

There is also the on-boarding of Noah's family and the animals in pairs. (This is from my reading in The Book of Genesis 6:18-20.)

There is something about calling us in pairs with your Spirit.

I will meditate on this message from You. Thank you, Lord Jesus.

Loving the Word,
G2