Sometimes God puts the right people directly in your path. Or in my case the big blue and white Ford Expedition SUV with the Fishmouse.com logo pasted on its body.

Earlier this week, while sitting at the Hope Cafe in Raleigh, NC, I looked up and saw the truck. No, the heavens did not open up nor did a dove descend, but my interest was piqued nonetheless.

Social Media

Immediately, I headed over to Fishmouse.com website to see what it was all about. I also kept my eye on the truck to see who its driver was and located his Twitter account (getFishmouse) to send a tweet and join up.

Within the hour I met Glenn Steers, the “brains” behind Fishmouse and asked him about his website. I learned that Fishmouse is being touted as a way for Christian small groups to stay connected. Perfect! My Monday morning men’s group could use it to keep track of our studies, share prayer requests and other related matters.

Special Invitation

Soon, I received an invite from Glenn and began to check out the site which is in alpha testing at the moment. In August 2010 Fishmouse will be open for public beta and will likely remain in that mode throughout 2011. New features will be added over time, current features tweaked, but you’ll be able to use Fishmouse just as you would Facebook.

FYI, Fishmouse isn’t trying to be the Christian version of Facebook — thank God! Your privacy will be protected and your small group will be limited to 30 members. In addition, you can only join five groups, thus the emphasis is on small group connectivity.

Interview Forthcoming

I’ve barely touched on all of the details because I’m just beginning to use the site myself. Glenn has promised to give WordJourney an interview, therefore I’ll save the meaty matters for that time.

In the meantime, enjoy the video supplied by Fishmouse and get ready to join what could be a blessing for the church universal.

A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision involving the imprisonment of juvenile offenders is being hailed by Prison Fellowship. The Christian outreach program to the incarcerated, ex-inmates and their families, praised a court ruling forbidding states from passing life sentences without the possibility of parole for juveniles convicted of non-homicide offenses.

Historic Decision

“The high court’s historic decision is consistent with a long tradition of American jurisprudence that says young teenage offenders who have not committed homicide should be treated differently than adults,” said Mark Earley, Prison Fellowship president and former Virginia attorney general. “These are serious crimes that require incarceration, but these offenders are so young that there is a good chance they can turn their lives around, and we don’t want to rob them of hope of a better life.”

Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the court said, “Life without parole is the second most severe penalty permitted by law and is especially harsh for a juvenile offender, who will on average serve more years and a greater percentage of his life in prison than an adult offender.”

Amicus Brief

Prison Fellowship was one of several organizations who filed a friend of the court brief involving Terrance Graham, a then 16-year-old, convicted of committing armed burglary and other crimes. Five years ago, at the age of 17, Graham was sentenced by a Florida court to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The Supreme Court ruled that the Graham case and others like it are unconstitutional when the crime does not involve murder.

Earley remarked that everyone has the capacity to be changed adding that the, “…Supreme Court decision gives young teenage offenders at least a chance to be rehabilitated and go on to live productive lives, rather than be locked up forever.”

Young Offenders

Kennedy noted that the 6-3 court decision does not guarantee eventual release for inmates incarcerated as juveniles, but opens up the possibility that they may be released at some point. According to the Nashua Telegraph, 2225 juvenile inmates have received life in prison without the possibility of parole, with most of those sentenced by the state of Florida court system.

At least 70 of the affected prisoners committed serious crimes when they were as young as 13 or 14, falling under the “cruel and unusual punishment” guarantee found in the Eight Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Prison Fellowship was started by Chuck Colson and is known for a number of programs including Angel Tree, its year-round outreach to 1.7 million children whose fathers or mothers are behind bars.

Music never sounded so sweet. At least music belonging to a collection of songs found on a CD put together to benefit Haiti.

Healing 4 Haiti

Healing 4 Haiti is a “CD” featuring 13 Christian recording artists who performed 15 songs, music that will be released via iTunes on March 2 by Integrity Music. Net proceeds from the sale of the CD will benefit the relief work going on in Haiti following a devastating earthquake on January 12.

Healing 4 Haiti Music Compilation

Samaritan’s Purse, who has been providing clean water, shelter, medical care and other critical aid in Haiti will benefit as will the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s Rapid Response Team, who had chaplains on the ground within 24 hours of the earthquake providing emotional and spiritual comfort to survivors. Both organizations are headed up by Franklin Graham, son of the evangelist.

“What I saw while in Haiti is something we must keep in front of the minds and hearts of Americans,” said GRAMMY Award-winning artist Michael W. Smith. “The recovery efforts are going to take a long, long time so we want to do anything we can to raise awareness and to continue to support organizations doing good work in Haiti.”

Haiti Visit

Several of the artists featured on Healing 4 Haiti have traveled to the Caribbean nation located on the island of Hispaniola to witness first hand the work of the Billy Graham Association and Samaritan’s Purse teams.

The benefit compilation includes music from:

• Flyleaf – Break Your Knees
• Michael W. Smith – Come Together Now featuring 100 artists NEW
• Jared Anderson – Carry Me NEW
• Israel Houghton – The Power of One (Change the World)
• Mary Mary – I Worship You
• DecembeRadio – Love Can
• Hawk Nelson – Shaken
• The Afters – Falling Into Place
• Canton Jones – Hello Sunshine
• Lecrae – Beautiful Feet featuring Dawntoya
• Kari Jobe – Healer
• Carlos Whittaker – God of Second Chances
• Lincoln Brewster – Everlasting God

Complex Work

Recognizing the complexity of the work needing to be done in Haiti Franklin Graham said, “The situation in Haiti will be dreadful for a long time and we intend to be there. This is one of the largest disaster responses in the history of Samaritan’s Purse.”

At this time it doesn’t look as if the music collection will be made available in stores, but that may change. Music can be uploaded to iTunes quicker than it can be placed in a physical CD, thus the iTunes route. Visit apple.com/itunes/download/ beginning this Tuesday for details.

Source: Samaritan’s Purse

It is difficult for me to believe that the most watched film in the history of the world, The JESUS Film Project, has been around for thirty years now. In 1979, Campus Crusade For Christ founder Bill Bright released the film which depicts the life of Jesus as explained in the Gospel of Luke.

The “Jesus” film has been translated into more than one thousand languages and has been viewed in about 230 countries. At last count more than five billion people have viewed the film.

Last year, Campus Crusade for Christ released a new film, this one telling the gospel story from a woman’s point of view.

Magdalena: Released From Shame is the story of Mary of Magdala, better known as Mary Magdalene. The story tells what she may have experienced walking with Jesus of Nazareth during His public ministry. It is through her eyes that the film portrays how Jesus values women, focusing on historical accounts of His interactions with them.

“The Magdalena film is a wonderful way to share with women everywhere that they are loved and valued by God,” said Jim Green, executive director of The JESUS Film Project. “Magdalena has already been shown in other parts of the world where women encounter violence and humiliation simply because of their gender. After test screenings in the United States we discovered that the Magdalena film can also be a very effective way to reach women here who may have never before considered the relevance of having Jesus in their lives.”

I haven’t seen the film yet, but I’m willing to go out on a limb to say that if it is half as good as the JESUS film, then Magdalena: Released From Shame will certainly be highly effective.

I’ve learned that The JESUS Film Project is offering related resources that can be used by families, women’s study groups and churches to help improve the experience of watching the film as well as to provide follow-up opportunities.

To find out more information about Magdalena: Released From Shame please visit www.MagdalenaToday.com or call 800-432-1997.

Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with brotherly affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Never flag in zeal, be aglow with the Spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints, practice hospitality (Romans 12:9-13, RSV).

I must admit that I have difficulty memorizing scripture. I don’t typically botch up the verse completely as I am almost always able to retain its meaning, but I’ll sometimes substitute a word or leave a portion of a sentence out. Sometimes I’ll even forget where in the Bible a verse once committed to memory is located; I admire people who can rattle off verse after verse, even citing entire chapters!

As a young believer, I remember trying to recite the above scripture and having a difficult time committing it to memory. What helped was to memorize the verse with someone else and that person was a young woman by the name of Linda. Linda and I were part of the same high school graduating class, meeting each other when we were part of the same group of zealous young Christians who desired to memorize scripture and share the Good News with everyone. After much effort the verses stuck and some thirty years later they still come back to mind.

I’m not sure why we chose the five verses mentioned in Romans 12, maybe because memorizing the entire chapter was daunting. Still, these particular verses provide excellent instructions for how the Christian should live, advice we’d all do well applying to our own walk.

To this day there are several points in these memory verses which I try to recall as I go about my life:

Genuine love — Oh, how much I fall short in this area! It is easy to love those who love you, but even the heathen do that. Instead, hating evil means just that: hating the sin, not the sinner while clinging to what we know is right and good. We can’t expect those who walk in darkness to shine a light, right?

Affection and honor — Our sexed up world has no idea what the former means and it seems that the latter has fallen out of favor. Still, genuinely caring for our brethren and striving to be honorable in all matters are two attributes worthy of practicing.

Be zealous — We American Christians are cooling off.  Many Christians today are lukewarm — neither hot nor cold — and at risk of being tossed out of God’s mouth.  I still see a lot of youngsters on fire for the Lord, but that is something us “mature” believers can be too. Let’s leave our comfort zones and take some God-inspired risks!

Rejoice! — No matter what we we’re going through, we’re to have a thankful heart to God. These “momentary light afflictions” will soon pass and our burdens can be eased by regularly approaching the throne of grace with our praise, prayers, and petitions.

Help others — The last verse has always stuck out in my mind. Though it is good to help sinners when so afflicted, Paul is telling the church to help other believers. I certainly am a supporter of missionary work, but I never want to see my brothers and sisters neglected. Oftentimes this means that I can do something personally to lift their burden and being hospitable is a good start!

God, through Jesus Christ, has given us all that we need to live godly lives. With the help of the Holy Spirit we can do as the young church did: turn the world upside down and carry His Message to the uttermost. But first, let us practice loving each other a clear demonstration to this world that the redeeming power of Jesus Christ is real.

Photo Credit: Sophie

Welcome to WordJourney, a pilgrim’s personal journey through the Word of God.

My name is Matt Keegan and I am a follower of Jesus Christ, a Christian who enjoys reading God’s word, the Bible. This website serves as a journal detailing what I have learned from my readings, a commentary of various scriptures from Genesis through Psalms to the Gospels and through the Book of Revelation.

The thoughts shared here are my own and may not necessarily represent those of other believers. I try to remain sensitive to the guidance of the Holy Spirit by examining scripture and asking God to give me the insight to understand the text.

As this is a personal journal, comments have been disabled. However, if you wish to contact me personally you can reach me at matt at wordjourney.com

I pray that you will be blessed by what I have to share on WordJourney and will find the courage to inquire of what God may have for you.