Tag Archives: Inspirational

Baltimore Community Provides Lunches for Children

After the mayor of Baltimore closed the schools in the wake of the Monday night riots, community groups rallied to find ways to feed children who would not have had a meal because of the school’s closure.

Pleasant Hope Baptist Church worked with other faith groups to provide not only meals but activities for the youth.

“There are several safe harbors,” Pleasant Hope spokeswoman Jessica Ross told FRSN. “If you go onto Facebook and you just look for Pleasant Hope Baptist Church, you can see an entire list of safe harbors of multiple churches throughout the city. Also, I believe all recreation centers are open between 11am and 7 p.m. I believe that Callowhill Aquatic Center is open tonight and serving dinner until 5 p.m. So there are definitely plenty of safe places for youth to go to today. It’s not perfect but there are a lot of people out there who are trying to have safe harbors for our kids.”

More than 70,000 students in the city receive free or reduced cost lunches.

“Once that call went out, people started bringing things down almost immediately. And then we were getting a lot of phone calls asking what to do, whether if people who had stuff could bring it down and we just said ‘yes.’ If we didn’t use it all, we know people to give it to,” Red Emma’s Bookstore and Cafe owner Cullen Nawalkowsky said.

Northside Baptist Church provided food and activities for the youth.  Outreach Coordinator Betty Smith said that the local media didn’t focus attention on those who were making a difference and feeding the kids.

“The TV stations show all of the negative stuff and nobody showed up here today to show any of the positive stuff,” Smith said.

Kansas City Chiefs Superfan Gets Dying Wish

She has only missed three Kansas City Chiefs games since 1986 and all she wanted was to see her Chiefs one last time.

Betty Johnson, age 86, was visited by former team kicker Nick Lowery and even received a kiss on the cheek from Lowery.

“We sang a prayer, and he was going to leave, and we noticed that she was no longer breathing,” Johnson’s granddaughter Autumn Barricks told KSHB. “We believe that she was waiting to say goodbye to her Chiefs.”

Johnson died due to health deterioration after having a broken hip.

“She loves them so much,” daughter Susan Johnson told Fox. “Her Chiefs were more important to her than her home.”

Veterans Watch Over 8,000 Students Every Day

The call of duty continues for a team of veterans that keep students safe.

In 2011, the nonprofit Leave No Veteran Behind (LNVB) started the Safe Passage Program that deploys veterans in unsafe Chicago neighborhoods to watch over students as they walk to and from school.

The program’s goal isn’t only to reduce youth violence in Chicago, but to also help veterans with their student loans. The nonprofit covers the veterans’ debt and helps them look for jobs and their payment is 100-400 hours of community service, watching over the students. Leave No Veteran Behind has currently paid back over $150,000 in student loans through a Retroactive Scholarship Program.

More than 400 veterans have participated in the Safe Passage Program, watching over 8,000 Chicago students daily.

The organization plans to expand the Safe Passage Program throughout Chicago this year.

 

American Humanist Association Drops “Under God” Pledge Lawsuit

New Jersey schools will continue to say “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance after an anti-Christian organization reportedly has dropped their lawsuit.

The American Humanist Association (AHA) sued a New Jersey school district last year to get “under God” removed from the pledge.  The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, who had been helping a student who was fighting the AHA, announced Monday the American Humanist Association had been beaten.

“The American Humanist Association’s challenge turned out to be all bark and no bite,” said Diana Verm, legal counsel with the Becket Fund, in a statement shared with The Christian Post.  “The court was right that the pledge doesn’t exclude anyone, but dissenters have the right to sit it out. That’s how we’ve always dealt with disagreements in our society.”

The AHA did not expect that a high school student would stand up to fight them.  Samantha Jones and her family filed responses to the lawsuit and testified during a November motion.

“I’ve been reciting the pledge since preschool, and to me the phrase ‘one nation under God’ sums up the history and values that have made our country great,” Jones said last year.

“I think it’s empowering to know that, no matter what happens, I have some rights the government can never take away. No student should be silenced just because some people disagree with timeless American values.”

Mom Refuses Abortion Despite Doctor’s Pressure

A British woman is praising God for her child after she fought doctors who wanted her to have an abortion.

Michelle Macaulay and her husband learned in late 2012 they were going to have a second baby.  At her 12-week scan, doctors said the baby had a genetic disorder and that she was unlikely to make it to her birth.

The doctors said Michelle needed to abort the baby.  They called the child “incompatible with life.”

“To be told by a consultant the baby was incompatible with life was just horrendous because, looking at that screen, there was a life already started,” she said. “It’s just an awful term to call anyone, let alone a baby growing inside of you.”

The baby was born at 36 weeks and has tested negative for a wide range of genetic diseases.  Baby Carla is now two years old and while she has struggles, she has beaten the odds doctors gave her.

“Carla’s not walking, but she started crawling and pulling herself up in November—-things we were told she would never be able to do,” Macaulay stated. “She will develop and then she might plateau for a long time. She can eat normal foods but she can’t feed herself. The physiotherapists are really confident that she will walk and they’ve always been quite positive.”

Pro-life groups are making an effort to inform mothers across the world that a doctor saying their child is “incompatible with life” is not a medical diagnosis.

“We have undertaken this global campaign because the phrase ‘incompatible with life’ is not a medical diagnosis: it misinforms parents, it pushes families towards abortion, and it denies those families a chance to spend time with their children, to make memories and to heal,” declared Every Life Counts spokesman Tracy Harkin.

Autistic Child Found Alive After Four Days In Forest

An 11-year-old autistic child was found alive after four nights alone in an Australian forest.

Police Commander Rick Nugent said a police helicopter spotted Luke Shambrook about two miles from his family’s campsite in Fraser National Park in Victoria.

“I just out of the corner of my eye caught a little flash of something,” Sergeant Brad Pascoe of the police Air Wing said. “It wasn’t much, but it was enough to make me get the guys to turn the aircraft around and have a further look.  As we got closer and were able to have a better look at him, we saw that it was a person on the ground and we were able to train the camera in and confirm that it was actually Luke.”

“All of us in the crew are parents ourselves and we can only imagine what the parents of Luke have been going through. It’s just such a reward for everybody’s efforts.”

Luke was unable to communicate with his rescuers, a common thing for children who have autism.  However, he did drink water and ate an offered bread roll.  Because of Luke’s limited communication ability, police say it’s likely they will never know all the boy faced during this ordeal.

Nugent told reporters the boy was suffering from hypothermia and dehydration but that overall is well.   Temperatures in the region fell to 48 degrees in the evening.

“[Luke is] one courageous, strong, determined young man”, Nugent said. “Four days, four nights in this terrain, it really is a miracle that he’s alive and well.”

Thousands Gather At Lincoln Memorial For Easter Sunrise Service

A celebration of the risen Lord stood boldly in the nation’s capital Sunday as over 7,000 Christians gathered at the Lincoln Memorial at sunrise.

The service, organized by Capital Church in nearby Vienna, Virginia, began at 6:30 a.m. and latest an hour and a half.  Worship was lead by Newsboys lead singer Michael Tait plus a choir, orchestra and band.

“Washington, D.C. is arguably the one most influential cities in the world and I do believe it is important in the heart of the most influential city of the world to declare on Easter morning our faith in the risen Lord,” Capital Church Pastor Amos Dodge told The Christian Post. “I think it is important to reclaim some of our own spiritual heritage and we do that from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and declare our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, who died and rose again.”

Dodge’s sermon focused on the fact that Christianity is the only religion in the world where their God is not dead.

“Christianity is unique in that we know that Muhammad may have said some wonderful things and done some wonderful things, but he is in a tomb. Confucius was noted for wise sayings but nobody has heard from him in a long, long time,” Dodge declared. “When you compare the claims of Jesus Christ to all the religions in the world, no other religion has a risen savior, the one who came back from the dead.”

“You can trust a man who died for you,” Dodge continued. “Jesus died for us and then came back from the grave.”

The Easter Sunrise Service at the Lincoln Memorial began in 1979.  Pastor Dodge had been walking past the Lincoln reflecting pool during a spring day and God gave him the vision of the service.  The first service had 150 people in attendance.

This year, the service welcomed Christians from all 50 states.

Over 80,000 Bibles Sent To Cuba

In the midst of political debate over the U.S. re-establishing diplomatic ties with Cuba, a revival of Christianity is going unnoticed.

The SBC’s International Missions Board said they are sending over 83,000 Spanish-language Bibles to Cuba for churches throughout the island nation.  The SBC sent three 40-foot containers filled with Bibles from South Florida ports last week.

The shipment is the third since 1999 although this is the first shipment that has been directly sent from the United States.

A release from the SBC noted the large number of people choosing to follow Christ through the ministry of Cuba’s Eastern Convention.

“With the Eastern Convention reporting 29,063 professions of faith in 2014, the missionary noted that the Bibles potentially will cover the new Christians and only a few more,” the release stated.

The Bibles include large print Bibles for the visually impaired, study Bibles and Bible commentaries.

MLB Player Gives Up Hard Living For Eternal Life

He was known for being the first guy to the party and the last one to leave.  He was known as having a “me-first” view of life and used performance-enhancing drugs.

Now, Steven Souza, Jr. is a completely new man and he credits it all to God.

Souza was drafted by the Washington Nationals and given a $350,000 signing bonus.  He used the money for partying, drinking and taking home any woman he could land “without caring about baseball.”

“I was living the life you see on TV,” Souza told The Tampa Bay Times. “Everyone’s got big cars, money, alcohol, women all around them… Everyone is looking at this guy because he’s got all this and that’s what I wanted to be.”

Souza then was busted for drugs because of the ADHD drug Concerta.  Even after the 50 game suspension that came down from Major League Baseball, he still didn’t change.

“I still didn’t do the right things,” Souza said. “I was in a bad place trying to fill the void because I didn’t have baseball— a lot of going out, a lot of drinking, a lot of working out.”

After Souza discovered his girlfriend had an affair with another player, he spiraled into depression.  He considered walking away from his dream of being a major league baseball player because he just couldn’t see any point to life.

That’s when a friend at a wedding suggested he could find what he was looking for in Jesus.  He accepted an invite from a former MLB player to a church.

“It was one of those moments where you don’t know what to expect,” Souza described. “There was definitely a little anxiety. But as soon as I walked into church, it was comfort. Everyone there was welcoming me. And as soon as the message started being preached, it was just a release. I could feel the Lord moving… It was like, ‘Lord, I’m coming after you.’ And, what a blessing that it was that He answered.”

Within a month, Souza accepted Christ and was baptized.

Those who knew him saw an immediate change.  His friends and fellow players saw a change although it took time to win them over.

“The Bible says consider it a joy, brothers, when you go through suffering because suffering produces perseverance, perseverance character and character joy,” Souza said. “These trials I have gone through, I wouldn’t be the man I am today without going through them. Obviously the damage I did to people around me and to my family, I wish I could take that back. But what I went through, I can appreciate. God took me through that and made me the man I am today.”

Baby Walter, Miscarried at 19 Weeks, Saving Babies from Abortion

A baby that was born at 19 weeks before passing away has become a symbol to save the lives of babies around the world.

Lexi Fretz of Greencastle, PA posted pictures of her late son Walter on her blog after the child’s birth in fall 2013.  She intended for just family and friends to see the photos of her “perfect child.”

“I never, ever could have imagined that it would spread across the world like this,” Fretz says.

At 19 weeks of pregnancy, Lexi began having pain and was rushed to the hospital.  A few hours later she delivered Walter.

“I was crying so hard at this point but he was perfect,” she wrote on her blog. “He was fully formed and everything was there, I could see his heart beating in his tiny chest. (My husband) Joshua and I both held him and cried over him and looked over our perfect, tiny son.”

“I held him, cuddled him. While his heart was beating, I held him to my heart, I counted his toes and kissed his tiny head.”

Walter passed away a few minutes later.

The photos that were taken by Joshua have now impacted women around the world.

“I am so shocked at my ignorance as to the development of a baby,” one commenter named Barbara wrote. “I will no longer look on as an observer. I will become an active informational type of person and share this as an example of life, the life of a baby—a real baby.”

“My views on abortion have completely changed,” another named Jordan wrote. “How naive have I been?!”

Lexi says that God has brought good out of a tragic and painful situation.

“I wish that this (miscarriage) hadn’t happened, but it did for a reason,” Fretz said. “Maybe that reason was to share with the world how perfect a baby which is legal to abort in many states really is.”