Offline & Disconnected
I have been largely offline for the past three weeks as Jana and I have packed our things (more on that later), traveled across country (more on that later), started settling into our new home (more on that later), and, all the while, fulfilled preaching assignments on Sundays (yes, more on that later).
It is good now to be re-connected and back online, and I look forward to continuing this weblog conversation. We are curiously provincial and routinized creatures. Familiar persons,patterns and paths of daily activity frame our lives. These routines become second nature for us and we do them without thinking.
They give us categories by which we organize our "daily-ness." It is more than a little disorienting to be removed from this familiarity. One forgets where he placed his keys, set his coffee, put his wallet.
In such a foggy state, weird things happen. The other day in a bookstore I purchased a book that I had already obtained only two weeks before. Authors pray to the bookbuyer gods for readers like me.
The factors of travel and aging only make the situation worse. Youth adapt more readily to unfamiliarity, but as we move into the middle stretches of the journey, we cultivate a greater appreciation for the recognizable spaces of where we lay our head.
This tableau of home and hearth locates us. Maybe this is part of what Jesus was getting at when he instructed his followers to pray thanksgiving to God for the daily provisions of bread... and other regular, blessed habits of eating, sleeping, and ordering a life.
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About Me
- Charlie Johnson
- Charlie Johnson is the founding co-pastor of Bread, a non-traditional faith community in Fort Worth, Texas. He has been in pastoral ministry for over 30 years, serving with churches in Kentucky and Texas, including the Trinity Baptist Church of San Antonio (2001-2006) and the Second Baptist Church of Lubbock (1989-2001). He taught preaching at McAfee School of Theology, Mercer University (2006-2008), and was inducted into the Martin Luther King, Jr. Board of Preachers in 2008. He is married to Jana and has three children. Chad (34) is married to Mary Beth Lancaster of Oklahoma and manages the Rocky Creek Ranch west of San Angelo, TX. Cliff (30) works the oil fields of Midland, Texas. Chris Anne (27) works and lives in Fort Worth. He has a granddaughter, Corley Elizabeth, age 3, and a grandson, Clayton Foster, 6 months.
18 comments:
I look forward to hearing more about your physical and spiritual journey.
Looking forward to "More about That Later". Hope everything is going your way. GBJ &BDJ
Charlie, it is nice hearing your voice again. I, too, am looking forward to "More about that later."
Your friend in Lubbock. GT
Hi Charlie and Jana, Glad ya'll made it there safely and you are back online.
Also looking forward to "(more on that later)"
Much love and prayers to you and Jana.
Your Sister in Christ, SAJ "TG"
GBJ said "hope things are going your way". I hope they go God's way instead. Your way leads to that "foggy state" you wrote about. Your way causes you to forget to show up to perform a wedding for members of your own flock. I wonder if those folks ever got a genuine heartfelt apology or if it just ended up on the oops! list with all the other careless slights you committed.
Charles, I too hope you apologized to the bride and family for not showing up to perform her wedding. Charles these are decent people who are members of your past church. That was not right.
To the above comments: Sunday's text included (from Philippians 3:13 paraphrased) forgetting the past and looking to the future, I press on toward the goal of knowing Christ and being His.
Seems to me it's time to let go of your righteous anger and get on with things of eternal importance.
amen!
I guess Charles is now answering his own email. Sad.
to the comment above,do you not realize that love will conquer the great divide?
Of course the Lord will forgive if we ask but there are still consequences for our actions here on earth. Love accountability.
sounds like your just in it for the accountabilty,i'm talking about the divide part.
For a pastor there is a greater accountability. When a pastor misbehaves it CREATES division. We are not just talking about firing people and cussing at work. The issues are deeper and more troubling and not widely known. By all means, forgive him, love him, be his friend. That doesn't mean he should pastor a church and continue to willfully conduct himself in a way that hurts people and endangers lives. Charlie, your friends will help you if you let them, but you have to be honest. There is love all around you, wake up, I beg you.
CFJ- This foggy state is going to wreck your personal and professional life. Please seek help. When Christians are falling other Christians need to help. I think that is what the previous blogger means.
Let's see.... how many times should we flog a dead horse?
Untill CFJ seeks help.
This is just absurd. Clearly, the people who ranted and flailed at CFJ while he was in S.A. are not going to stop now that he's left--they've merely moved to "anonymousville." The dysfunctional group dynamic is mind-boggling!
If I were CFJ, I'd shut this bad boy down and open up a web forum for diverse discussion on things political, social, and theological, with people who's insight and conversability I could at least respect, if not enjoy--by invitation only.
Welcome to Atlanta! Time to shake the "anonymousville" dust from the bottom of your shoes and move on!
Amen to the "anonymousville" If you're big enough to say such hurtful things to someone when they're already down, you should be big enough to claim it. I know for a FACT that Charlie did apologize for his oversight and continues to do so. Does the fact that these are "decent people" who are "members of his past church" make the deed unforgiveable or what? The man a mistake -- get over it!!!!
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