Praise the Lord

I was watching "Praise the Lord" on TBN this afternoon while I was at work ... and I really enjoyed it. Sometimes TBN can be ultra cheesy, but sometimes you just need the cheese!

Well, The episode I watched was hosted by Jentezen Franklin - he interviewed Ashley Smith, the woman who was held hostage by a murderer in Atlanta. When I first heard about this story in March of last year, I was not very excited because I felt like the media was giving all the glory to the book "Purpose Driven Life" and not to the Lord. So, I was interested to hear her testimony and understand what really happened ... I was pleasantly surprised ... Ashley spent no more than 30 seconds talking about the book, but instead explained everything that had happened while giving ALL the glory to God. She has an incredible testimony ... grew up in the Church but stopped serving God when she was a teenager. She married at a young age and both her and her husband were very involved in drugs/partying. She conceived a child when she was about my age and not long after, her husband was killed after being stabbed at a party. Instead of turning back to the Lord, she began to rely more and more on drugs to ease her pain ... during this time she lost custody of her daughter. When the hostage showed up at her house, she began to realize how precious her life really was. She read scripture and told the man that his life had purpose, as did her own. After hours together, the man trusted her enough to eventually allow her to leave the house ... she turned him in shortly thereafter. Now she has regained custody of her daughter and is planted in a church - she has had the opportunity to preach a message of hope to thousands. (You can click here to read more about her experience.)

After the interview with Ashley, I watched Christian comedian, John Gray. I was expecting him to crack a few jokes and then leave the stage, but after several hilarious comments he actually began preaching about the importance of purity ... it was powerful! (click here and then fast-forward to 47 minutes to see the full broadcast). He is a very talented man - singer, songwriter, author, playwright, comedian, youth pastor, etc ... and he has a great sense of humor. For a good laugh, watch this shorter clip of John Gray from another TBN special!