Book Review: Christianity and Liberalism

For my Clouds of Witnesses reading challenge and my Non-fiction reading challenge I read J. Gresham Machem's book Christianity and Liberalism. This was an absolutely excellent book, so deep that I could probably re-read it tomorrow and find plenty that I missed.

Here's the synopsis from Goodreads: Machen's classic defense of orthodox Christianity establishes the importance of scripural doctrine and contrasts the teachings of liberalism and orthodoxy on God and man, the Bbible, Christ, salvation, and the church. Though originally published nearly seventy years ago, the book maintains its relevance today.

Machen lays out the liberal turn that modern Christianity has taken (even more obvious now than it was then) and looks at what scripture has to say about the changes that are being made by these liberal modern Christians. I will always appreciate someone who turns to scripture about these issues and looks deeply into them. He expressed many things that I have ranted about before... public schools, government, ect. as well as other issues. He speaks to how modern Christianity has become more allowing of certain sins in an effort to appear tolerant. He starts, with the basics though. Defining God, the church and our faith. There is so much more he goes into so I would highly recommend you read it instead of relying on my memory. ;) This book is definitely worthy of many re-reads as I feel there is always something I could be learning from it.

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Book Review- Christian Love

For my Non-fiction reading challenge and my Clouds of Witnesses reading challenge I read Hugh Binnings book Christian Love.

Goodreads synopsis: In this Treatise of Christian Love, the Scottish Covenanting minister Hugh Binning movingly presents the need for Christians to show by their love for one another that they belong to Christ. Basing his remarks on John 13:35, By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another, he argues, 'This badge that Christ left to his disciples: if we cast this away on every disagreement, we disown our Master, and disclaim his token and badge.' Binning describes the excellence of Christian love, demonstrating its nature from 1 Corinthians 13. he gives strong reasons why Christians should love one another, and shows that love is rooted in Christian humility and meekness, after the pattern of Christ himself. Also included in this edition are three sermons from Binning's work The Sinner's Sanctuary, an exposition of Romans 8:1-15.

First off, I've got to say that I am incredibly impressed that Binning was 25 years old when he died so whenever he wrote this, he must have been quite young... and yet already so theologically astute! Binning had a lot to say about love and how Christian love is different than secular love. He also spoke quite a bit to Christ's love for us and how that should be our standard for loving others. 
Here is in amazing quote from the book to highlight, far better than my words ever could, the wisdom and insight of this book. 

“Self-love is the greatest enemy to true Christian love, and pride is the fountain of self-love” “He whose sins are covered by God’s free love cannot think it hard to spread the garment of his love over his brother’s sins” “Humility makes a man compare himself with the best that he may find how bad he himself is, but pride measures by the worst, that it may hide a man from his own imperfections”

I couldn't recommend this book highly enough! Yes, it is sometimes difficult to read but oftentimes that just means it is even more worth the read. :) 

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Book Review : The Picture of Dorian Gray

The Picture of Dorian Gray is one of the most fascinating and well written books I have ever read. Philosophically it is thought provoking and often heretical. It is hard to put into words how I felt about it but I will attempt to.

I will include some spoilers in my review but will not give away the entire story. 
The Picture of Dorian Gray tells the story of a young man (Dorian Gray) who is handsome... essentially beautiful with a youthful and pure look and character. When the reader is first acquainted with him, his pictures is being drawn by Basil Hallward, an artist who is somewhat infatuated with the beauty and innocent appearance of Dorian and how it is portrayed in his artwork of him. The last day of Dorian sitting for the picture is when the story begins. Basil tells his friend Lord Henry of the man he is drawing (Dorian) after Lord Henry expresses that it is the best picture he has drawn yet. Dorian himself arrives and as Basil finishes up the picture, Lord Henry converses with Dorian, introducing to him philosophical ideas that turned Dorian's naive mind and then finally stating the sentence that changes Dorian, "You have the most marvelous youth, and youth is the one thing worth having." After Basil finishes the picture, Dorian looks at it in mind of what Lord Henry had just told I'm and says, "How sad it is! I shall grow old and horrible and dreadful. But this picture will remain always young. It will never be older than this particular day of June... If it were only the other way! If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old! For that I would give everything! Yes there is nothing in the world I would not give! I would give my soul for that!" In that statement he essentially makes "a pact with the devil" and from that point on, he never grows old but the picture changes as his soul changes. Under the influence of the ideas of Sir Henry, Dorian goes down a path of sin. The sin lasts for eighteen years and while we are not clear on what all sin it was, we can pick up that it involved adultery, drug use, and possibly homosexuality. There is a quote that I saw from Oscar Wilde that reads;  "Each man sees his own sin in Dorian Gray. What Dorian Gray's sins are no one knows. He who find them has brought them." As Dorian's sin goes on his picture, which he has now hidden in his attic so no one can see it, continues to change, resulting in a hideously evil looking old man.
How the story concludes, I leave you to find out. The ending, in my opinion, was perfect though. I highly recommend the story as not only a cautionary tale but also a book with philosophical implications. The philosophy in it is not necessarily to be emulated though but should be pondered on. I don't recommend giving it to anyone younger than high school because of some of the mature themes that it centers on.
I would also encourage you to read this review of it by The Gospel Coalition.
Please leave a comment letting me know you think of this book as I would love to here other people's thoughts on it. :)

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Frustratingly Spoiled

Two of Mama Kat's writing prompts this week were "write a blog post inspired by the word 'spoiled'" and "Something that frustrates you." Well, I thought that combining those two wasn't that hard so why not? One of the thing that frustrates me the most and has to do with spoiled is lazy people in college... don't tell me they aren't spoiled.
The fact that they are in college using my tax payer dollars to be there is a big part of the aggravation to me. I'm going to make a few stereotypes here but in my experience, they're true. A vast majority of the students I meet at college, even some of the better ones, go out and drink, experiment with drugs, cheat on their tests, don't actually write their own papers, don't show up to class, and in general are just lazy... then wonder why they are failing their classes and complain about it! Honey, you aren't in high school anymore... not that your high school should have been like that either. You go to college to go to college! If you want "the college experience" then don't spend my tax dollars... or your parent's money either. I feel like we are fostering a bunch of spoiled and lazy children (and I mean children) in colleges anymore. If you're in college, you should be acting like an adult. I started attending my local community college when I was sixteen and people didn't believe I was really that young because I acted more maturely than most of my fellow students. That's sad.
I know my experience has been limited to a community college but from what I've generally heard, it isn't too much different at state colleges. If college students put half the work into their classes that they put into achieving the next level of Candy Crush, they wouldn't be failing.

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Prayer App

As you may remember, praying daily was one of my goals this month and has been my goal for the last few months actually. This month I've finally gotten into the swing of praying every night as I fall asleep. At first I downloaded a couple prayer apps that were so-so but limited (i.e. they were free ones and they wanted me to pay for the upgrade after a certain amount of time and I don't pay for apps). However, a few days ago I came across a new one that is free and really great called "prayer prompter". It works really well for me. Not only can I enter in the different prayer requests but it has different bible verses and quotes about different topics such as fear, trust, anger, ect. as well as bible verse prompts to guide you through the A.C.T.S. prayer guide if you so wish. It also has some great prayer quotes. One of my favorites that I've found on there is from The Valley of Vision and I'll close with it.

"Holy Lord, I have sinned times without number, and been guilty of pride and unbelief; of failure to find Your mind of Your Word; and of neglect to seek You in my daily life. 

My transgressions and short-comings present me with a list of accusations. 

But I bless You, that they will not stand against me, for all have been laid on Christ. 

Go on to subdue my corruptions, and grant me grace to live above them. 

Do not let the passions of the flesh nor the luts of the mind bring my spirit into subjection; 

but rule over me in liberty and power. 

Amen."

Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.

Report Card- December 2013

The end of a month and the end of a year. My resolution results? Not so good. Fun levels this month… sky high!

Read or Re-Read at least 10 books

So apparently I only really needed nine books to complete my year goal of fifty books so I'm not sure why I made a ten book goal. So forgive me that I only read nine books, that was hard enough. My reading was very lazy this month. It took me most of the month to read Vanity Fair as I just didn't find it riveting enough. I really should have started another book while I was reading it but I didn't. So with just a few days left in the month, I picked up my old favorites The Homeschool Detective series and whipped through those quite skinny books. Going back and rereading them now, I realize they aren't so amazing as I used to think they were. However, they are still fun books. 

Read Proverbs

Completed! I had a crazy time completing it. The ESV bible app that I always read on kept crashing all of the time so I couldn't read it for awhile and I was too lazy to actually open my real bible so I had to wait until the app was updated before I kept reading so I kind of crammed it at the end. However, it was a really good read and I'm glad I finished it. 

Memorize Psalm 31

I kind of forgot about that. However, it is going into my future resolutions! 

Pray Daily

I was really good about praying every evening at bedtime at the beginning of the month and then I tapered off towards the end. 

Two Blog posts per week

Except for one week which I think was in the middle of studying for finals I did it! I wrote about a wide  variety of topics and you should definitely check those posts out. They were fun to write. 

Looking back over my year of resolutions and report cards I am sort of disgusted with myself. I know I work ten times harder on my school then I do on these resolutions and some of them (praying, reading my bible, memorizing scripture) are far more important than my school. I need to take these resolutions more seriously. I have a very disorganized life, which is mostly my own disorganized doing, and these resolutions have helped me keep some more sanity in it however I still haven't done nearly as well as I could. Hopefully this next year will see some improvements. Tomorrow I'll post next month's resolutions as well as first ever New Year's Resolutions! Thank you blog readers for keeping with me this year and I look forward to the next! 

Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.

The Meaning of My Name

Today I’m linking up with Mama Kat to tell you about the meaning of my name and whether or not if fits my personality. First off, a little history about my name. I was NOT named after Lois Lane and you do not get bonus points for referencing Lois Lane with me… you get negative points. I’ve just heard it a few times too many. I WAS named after the Lois from the bible. 2 Timothy 1:5 is the only place my name is in the bible. It reads, “For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure it is in you as well.” So really we don’t know much about Lois except that she had a sincere faith… which is really what is important anyways. ☺ So what does Lois mean? Battle Maiden! When I was younger and a very ardent tomboy I milked that meaning for all it was worth. I’ve kind of grown past that stage now, don’t worry. Now, though, looking at that meaning at first glance I would say “no, definitely not me.” However, I believe if you look deeper into the meaning, you can take something else away from it then swords, knights, and war in the traditional sense. Now, I look at the meaning and know that Lois means Battle Maiden, and realize that I am a battle maiden, fighting for God’s truth daily with my mind and my words. This also really fits well with the little we know of the Lois in the bible that I was named after. So I am Lois, Battle Maiden of the Lord. ☺
Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.

Book Review- The Pursuit of God

Recently I read A.W. Tozer's The Pursuit of God. I downloaded it on my Kindle last spring and then never looked at it again. However, when I finished up The History of the Lord of the Rings I suddenly found myself at school with no book on hand to read (well technically I guess I did because I was in a library but that's beside the point). So I looked through what I had on my Kindle and saw The Pursuit of God and decided to read it. I really didn't know anything about it before I read it. I had just heard the title recommended before and it was a free download so I thought why not?

First off, I really, really enjoyed the book. It is quite short, but is packed with as much wisdom and truth as books twice its length. The great thing about it was that despite being quite theologically deep, it was still easy to read. I am glad I read it on my phone as I do not as a rule mark up books. However, with reading it on my phone I could highlight to my heart's content… and I did. Unfortunately, my not very tech savvy self didn't figure out to highlight until halfway through the book so I'll have to re-read it to make sure I highlight all I wanted to… oh rats! ;) Since, I did highlight so much, I am providing you with some great quotes from it. I hope they inspire you to read it and that you will enjoy it as much as I did. If you've read it before you'll know that there are many great quotes that I left out… some because they needed a whole lot more context to understand what they're saying and others because, there were just too many!

"Promoting self under the guise of promoting Christ is currently so common as to excite little notice."
""In the beginning God."Not matter, for matter is not self-causing. It requires an antecedent cause, and God is that cause. In the beginning God, the uncaused Cause of matter, mind and law. There we must begin."

"Important as it is that we recognize God working in us, I would yet warn against a too great preoccupation with the thought. It is a sure road to sterile passivity. God will not hold us responsible to understand the mysteries of election, predestination and the divine sovereignty. The best and safest way to deal with these truths is to raise our eyes to God and in deepest reverence say, "O Lord, Thou Knowest." Those things belong to the deep and mysterious Profound of God's omniscience. Prying into them may make theologians but it will never make saints." 

"God never made salvation depend upon new moons nor holy days or sabbaths. A man is not nearer to Christ on Easter Sunday than he is, say, on Saturday, August 3, or Monday October 4. As long as Christ sits on the mediatorial throne every day is a good day and all day are days of salvation." 

"Let us practice the fine art of making every work a priestly ministration. Let us believe that God is in all our simple deeds and learn to find him there."

"Let every man abide in the calling wherein he is called and his work will be as sacred as the work of the ministry." 

Such great quotes! If for any reason you are confused by what they say… sometimes you need context but I tried to only continue the ones that didn't... then contact me and I can try and explain them to you. If you are confused by them theologically, well I can try and explain them to you then too. Final point…. read the book! :)

Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.

Happy and Hopeful

I was thinking about writing a negative post about all of the things wrong with the world right now... not just my little world but the world in general... you know what I mean. However, I figured since there was enough negativity going around without me contributing I'd post something happy and hopeful. :) So since I normally like to think about the negative things in life, I'm going to counter that by posting five positive things going on in my life right now (besides the "still alive", "have a great family", ect. ones). Comment on what is positive in your life right now!

1. I have a really great prayer group that meets weekly that has not only helped me with prayer but also just support and friendship. After our hour or so of prayer we will talk afterwards, catch up on how we're all doing, talk about books, movies, ect. and I absolutely love it! It's a really great time to just wind down as I spend some time with God and then some time with my fellow Christians. 
2. I didn't fail my return demonstrations (have to do it in front of a teacher) for NG tube insertion and catheter insertion. For me that's a big deal as I always think I'm going to fail everything. 
3. I can now drink my coffee black. For me that's positive as I never used to and I would dump a heart attack's worth of sugar and creamer in it. No more! That's what being an nursing student does to you... I want every spare centimeter of my cup to be full of pure black coffee.
4. I have an electric blanket to snuggle up in at night. Since I'm always cold this is very important to me as it is absolutely frigid in my house every night.
5. And finally but certainly not lastly I JUST STARTED WATCHING DOCTOR WHO AND IT'S ABSOLUTELY AMAZING AND EVERYONE NEEDS TO WATCH IT!!!!!!! :)

Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.

How Many Bad Words can I Cram into One Sentence?

If you go to a secular college like I do, you'll have heard those people who can't seem to be able to talk unless they have a few bad words thrown into each sentence.  To you people, I just want to let you know, you sound like idiots.  If your vocabulary is so severely limited to the "top ten dirtiest words", then I think you just might need to expand it... and not to the "top twenty dirtiest words" please.  Additionally, there is no more inane reason to use a million bad words, then over a tiny little incident... like your phone isn't working fast enough, or you dropped your phone and it broke (but you're going to get a replacement tomorrow), or you have to pay for your own phone, or really, anything to do with your phone.  People did live without phones once upon time.
And there are those students who talk about their parents using plenty of colorful language.  They are your parents, show them a little respect. I hear students say something very similar to this all of the time: "So my parents told me that if I wanted to use their car I would have to pay for gas and I was like 'explicative deleted'."  WHAT????
Only today I heard some girls talking outside our classroom and they were seriously talking with at least one bad word per sentence, if not more. Is that a rate now? Bad words per sentence... BWPS.  Because I think they just broke the limit and I am all for giving them a ticket.
To sum it up, whenever you use bad language, not only do you sound uneducated, but it is rude and offensive. So next time you are frustrated or at a loss for what to say, don't think "How many bad words can I cram into one sentence," instead think of this quote from P.G. Wodehouse, "...The richest and most varied language the world has ever known, crammed full from end to end with red hot adjectives..."
Enough said.

Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.

Over-commercialized and Overrated: My Thoughts on Valentines Day

It's everywhere. Pink and red hearts, glitzy decorations and overpriced chocolates and flowers.  The stores started decorating for Valentine's Day as soon as Christmas was past.  They always have to have some holiday to decorate for. There are several reasons I don't like Valentine's day, and they aren't just because I'm single.
First off, I think if Valentine's day is the only day you are doing anything special for your "significant other", than you're doing it wrong. You shouldn't be taking her out for dinner just because its Valentines day and you'll look like a bad boyfriend if you don't. I am not saying not to do anything special for your "significant other", but if you are just doing it because its Valentine's Day and you never do it besides, then it is more obligation than anything I believe.
Next, I really think it is an over-commercialized holiday and those just really annoy me.  Valentine's Day has an actual history that isn't what it has become now.  I know, I know, it's a conspiracy by the greeting card companies.
Lastly, it ruins the whole idea of "love".  Now y'all know my thoughts on mushy love stuff.  I hate it.  The "love" that teenagers lay claim to today, is not really love.  To quote Blimey Cow, "Love is a verb, it's something you actively do, not something you feel."  In the Bible it says "God is love", not the warm fuzzy feelings between you and you're one week boyfriend.
And as a side note from the anatomy and physiology geek, the heart is NOT shaped like a heart and nothing about the heart has anything to do with love (except maybe it beating faster when he comes into the room).

Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.

The Myth of Neutrality

That's right, neutrality is a myth, so no matter how much you try to be a "good open-minded American" you aren't.

More than ever I see it in comments on Yahoo articles or on Facebook the word bigot.  Gay marriage is normally the context of that word being thrown around.  If you aren't a proponent of gay rights, you are a cruel, closed-minded person.  You are denying people happiness.  How could you do that?

As a Christian, I don't find it very hard.  I look at the Bible, and I see what God says about homosexuality and that's that.  I am not going to list out a whole bunch of verses for you to read about this issue, y'all can look them up yourselves, because in this post I am going to focus on the myth of neutrality.

So back to the myth of neutrality.  Americans think that they have to be all accepting of every idea, every action, and every religion (except Christianity of course).  However, neutrality isn't an option.  Every person has a set of beliefs and many different people's beliefs conflict.  Christianity conflicts with EVERY other religion and so does Islam for that matter (i.e. we Christians aren't the only "non-neutral" religion).  The idea that we could be neutral to every religion is really almost humorous.  Yes, let's be neutral to people who crash airplanes into American buildings, yes, let's be neutral to serial killers.  Why not?  It's their beliefs, we should all just welcome them into the family and embrace their ideas.

NOT

See the devastating consequences of neutrality?  You start being neutral about a few things and all of a sudden you are being asked to accept murder, stealing and rape.  I think I am probably right in saying that however neutral you may be trying, you won't be accepting murder, stealing or rape.

Do you still want to be a good "open-minded"American"?

Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.

Lazy Part 2

After writing my last post (Lazy) I thought a lot more about what I wrote and also saw some more examples of the laziness of today's society.  Thus, part 2.
One of my thoughts has been about how low standards have become for many things, but especially with school.  Not much is expected from students, I have found, but if it is, those students expect that you REALLY don't expect them to get it done.  Like showing up to class, reading the textbook, or taking notes, or not having your highest expectations for the class just passing... meaning a C (and yes, I have talked to students who have said that).  Before class the other day I heard behind me a student complaining to another student about how her teacher had assigned her class this homework and how she just couldn't believe that her teacher had assigned them all of that homework (and it was NOT that much).  It was as if she was complaining about her teacher expecting them to do WORK.  To this student: I don't know if you if you know this, but work is part of college.  Honestly, I am at a community college where everything is a lot easier.  How would these students make it at university colleges?  Or do they ever even get there?
One out of four students in the U.S.A. failed to graduate from highschool in 2012.  I am sorry, but highschool cannot be that hard... especially with these lowered standards.  Something is going down hill and I am pretty sure it is the education system.  And I know what you're thinking, "But Lois, of course you say that because you were homeschooled so you're biased."  Yep, that's true, I was, and probably that is why I am saying that.  However, I have been able to experience both homeschool and public school (at the community college).  First off, I can readily assure you that from talking to students who went to public schools that more was expected of me in my homeschool than was expected from them, therefore, I worked harder.  I was pushed far harder than most students, which was how I got to where I am.  I have never called myself good at math but because my Dad kept me going I was able to get up to Calculus 1.  I think (and this is just my opinion), that public schools are just a pathway to being lazy.  And don't get me wrong, I have met many smart public schooled kids, but I have so many mediocre public schooled kids, and a sad amount of public schooled kids that were so ignorant that I was sincerely hoping that it was just a joke.  Those students from the last group are the ones who didn't know what extrovert meant and thought it was an insult because it was a big word, which it isn't even that big.
To all of you lazy students out there: Take your earphones out of your ears and put your cellphone away, you're in school, it's not time to be lazy, it's time to work.


Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.

Lazy

We are incredibly spoiled in today's society.  Getting up so I can to work at eight is a major league chore for me, but it SHOULDN'T be.  If today's teenagers were told they had to get up when farmers did and still do, they would get the shock of a lifetime.  If today's teenagers were told that chores came before recreation their jaws would drop.  We have become so lazy and today's society displays this.  Going out to eat is a no brainer anymore because we are unwilling to take the time to make a meal that would actually most likely cost less and be healthier.  Texting people is now the preferred mode of communication because actually talking face to face with people is just WAY too difficult.
Working hard is not something that is emphasized anymore, which is why I meet so many lazy college college students.  I have talked to students who say that they would be perfectly happy with a C and if they got a B that would pretty much be heaven.  Standards are so low that no one really expects much of you.  When I was in highschool taking classes at the local community college, I was considered a genius because I was so young but taking those upper level courses.  I am not a genius by any stretch of the imagination, I just work hard.
A little (no make that a lot) leadership needs to be taken by today's youth.  We need to take responsibility for our own actions and buckle down and work hard.  I am not exempting myself from sometimes being lazy, aren't we all?  However, I do work hard.


Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.

Too Much Romance

     I had the enjoyment of watching some favorite mini-series this past weekend.  The first was North and South, an adaption of Elizabeth Gaskell's novel of the same title, and the other was Pride and Prejudice, which is an adaption of course of Jane Austen's timeless classic and my overall favorite movie, though I do enjoy them both.  If you are acquainted with me much you will know that I am not a fan of romance novels or movies at all.  In fact, I tend to ridicule them.  Those two mini-series are probably the excess to which I would go when it comes to romance in movies or books and even then it isn't just about romance, far from it indeed.  As I told my siblings as we talked about Pride and Prejudice this evening, it would be an alright love story but without the depth Jane Austen adds to it with her understanding of human nature as well as the forever quoted (at least in my family) witty lines, it would be nothing more than another romance novel.  However, after watching both North and South and Pride and Prejudice just a day apart from each other, I think I am ready for something different, with a little less romance and perhaps with a sword fight or two.  Maybe Lord of the Rings is on the horizon. :)

Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.

Highschool and Beyond: Reflecting on my Past, Present, and Future

Yesterday I went to the store and got a travel mug so this morning I was able to make a cup of tea and bring it with me to work, something I have wanted to do for the last semester.  So now I am sitting at the circulation desk, sipping my pleasantly hot chai tea, reflecting on the past and the future.
This evening I will graduate from high school.  It has taken me about fourteen years of schooling by two diligent parents for me to reach this point.  I can still remember my mom going over with me over and over again that "a" says ay or ah and about the magic e.  Now I have read several thousand books.  There were those days when I would labor into the evening finishing my math lesson, trying to figure out this whole multiplication thing.  Now I have taken Calculus.
I have come so far since then, farther than I ever could have dreamed as a little four year old just learning to read.  College seemed like a joke in those days; something very old people would go to, like teenagers.  Now college is a reality. 
I realize now how little control I have over the future.  Of course the decisions I make and my actions that follow will partly control it but as anyone knows, disruptions are always just around the corner.  No matter how much you can plan out a perfect future, something always tends to go wrong, sometimes disastrously wrong.  It gives me comfort, however, to know that even if something comes up that I didn't expect, it wasn't something that God didn't expect.  So whatever is in my next few years of life: fun, learning, pain, sorrow; I know God is in control.

"And right now, in the good times and bad, You are on Your throne, You are God alone."- Your are God Alone by Phillips, Craig, and Dean

Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.

An Awesome God

 "Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."- Psalm 23:6
As I become more and more stressed out with finals week just around the corner, that verse from the Word of God continually reminds me of His grace towards me and that I don't need to worry or be anxious for anything because my God is an awesome God (and I don't mean awesome like people use it today meaning "cool", I mean awesome as in AWE INSPIRING).
My God parted the Red Sea, fed his people in the wilderness, conquered nations, sent His only Son to earth where He healed the sick, fed five thousand with five loaves of bread and two fish, raised Lazarus from the dead, died on the cross for our sins, rose again on the third day and is now seated at the right hand of God the Father where He is continually interceding for our sins. 
I don't think a few tests are going to be any problem for Him and even if I don't ace them, I know that He has a reason and that though I may not understand it, He does.  My God is an Awesome God!

Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.

Cruel Logic

 This is a great short video (about eight minutes) and I am not going to tell you what it is about but you will have to watch it yourself.  For teenagers and up, not for younger kids because of some violence.  It will make you think (oh no!). :)


Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.

In His Hands

I didn't really believe the tornado would come near us.  They never had yet.  Throughout the day, as I saw people talking about it on Facebook and my mother mentioning it, I just passed it off as another tornado that wouldn't affect me or anyone I knew.  They never had yet. Evening came and we all watched a movie, mom saying we had to watch something not too long because of the storm coming.  I thought she was being paranoid.  It was my firm opinion that she had reached the peak of paranoidness (if that is even a word, which I doubt) when she insisted my little sister and I sleep in the basement.  The floor was hard and uncomfortable, and I didn't have a sleeping bag.  I thought the whole thing was absurd.  I didn't start to realize the gravity of the situation until my Dad (who was at work) called to tell us to stay in the basement and get undercover because it was a big one.  Even then though, I didn't quite get it.  While my mom and brothers fixed up our under-the-stairs-closet I watched the news on TV.  As it roared through Wichita, I realized that even if the tornado didn't hit my family and I, it could very well hit someone else I knew.  My worry grew as the weatherman begin listing off times it was going to hit various places- Andover, Benton, Augusta, Towanda... El Dorado.  I stood staring at the TV as the news flashed by, following the tornado as best I could.  My mom called for us to get in the closet and with my siblings I huddled in the small space.  Then my dad called again.  He said he had been looking at its path and there was no way it was going to miss us.  I was scared... we were scared.  We had the light on in the closet and the door closed.  Even downstairs and with that door closed, we could hear the wind ripping through the trees outside.  Then the electricity went out.  Without lights, without our precious technology, I suddenly felt very vulnerable.  We started singing hymns, it was incredible to me that I remembered their words.  Even as we heard the blowing stronger than ever and wondered desperately what was going on outside we kept singing.  It seemed like an hour, but it was really only about twenty minutes when my dad called my mom's cellphone.  The tornado had turned, we were going to be okay.  We poured out of the closet, letting relief pour out as well.  A few minutes later friends of ours called us to make sure we were okay.  It was wonderful to know someone cared that much about us, and wonderful to say yes.  My brother made a call to friends of ours in Wichita to make sure that they were okay.  Through them he found out that others in that area were okay.  There were others that weren't though, and even though we didn't know them, I prayed for them because I knew that I could easily have been in the same situation.  It wasn't until late when we got asleep.  The electricity was back on and we were all back in our own beds.  It was then I just wanted to bow my head, cry, and pray.  As I had sat in that closet, not knowing if I was going to live or die, not knowing if the tornado was going to carry the house and rip up the yard,  realized then that I was in God's hands and that though we humans may try to find protection in all of our technology we can't.  When it comes down to it, we are in His hands.
Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.

Joy

Joy is a key part of the Christian's walk.  Multiple times in the Bible joy is talked about.  In Psalm 32:11it says, "Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous ones; And shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart."  Who are the righteous ones and the upright in heart?  Christians of course!  Psalm 33:1 says that we should sing for joy to the Lord!  Psalm 51:12 that salvation is a joy.  Over and over again in the Psalms this is repeated that we are to sing joyfully of the Lord and of how He has blessed us.  Proverbs 15:13 says "A joyful heart makes a cheerful face, But when the heart is sad, the spirit is broken."  Joy is even on of the fruits of the spirit (Galations 5:22).  We are to share our joy with others (Phillipians 2:18).  And finally, in 1 Thessalonians 1:6 Paul writes, "You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit."  Joy isn't always easy, but as Christians we are called to be full of the joy of the Holy Spirit, proclaiming it throughout the world! 


Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.