Joel Johnson's Weblog

Soul Surfer

Joel — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 20:16:39 +0000

If you haven’t seen this movie yet you should! Took a group to see it this past weekend and I think everyone got something out of this movie. From adults to children! Can’t think of too many stories better than Bethany Hamilton’s about overcoming difficulties in your life and using them for God’s glory. The movie did a fantastic job of showing that. If you want to see a truly inspirational movie I would encourage you to check it out at a movie theater near you!

1 Month

Joel — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 20:55:02 +0000

I can’t believe it…but it has already been a month!

Yesterday marked Kinsley’s 1 month birthday! Time sure has flown! Seems like so much has happened in the last month. A month and a half ago if you would of told me I could live on just a few hours of sleep those first few weeks, I would of said you were crazy! Laura and I are both ones who treasure our sleep! We have started to find a new “normal” and LOVE having Kinsley be in our lives. She is truely a blessing from God!

It has been so fun to see her grow each day. Everyday she is more awake and aware of her surroundings. She enjoys taking walks and car rides. She enjoys sitting in her boppy and stairing at the ceiling. She is a blast!

She also had a cousin that was born almost 4 weeks after her. Little Dakota is a cutie…they will have so much fun together as they grow up!

Things are about to change…

Joel — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 20:53:55 +0000

For the better! Anyone who would ever read this I’m sure already knows but Laura and I are expecting our first child! We found out the end of October that we are having a little girl. Laura is due March 25th. We are really excited and can’t imagine the changes we’re going to face , but looking forward to it! It’s amazing the miracle of life. I love getting the e-mail updates that tell me how big she is growing. She is now weighing over a pound and just over a foot long. I’m just hoping she takes after her momma’s good looks I can’t wait for whats to come!

Isaiah 44:24– “This is what the Lord says–your redeemer who formed you in the womb: I am the LORD, Maker of all things, who stretches out the heavens, who spreads out the earth by myself…”

Awesome…We are made and known by the one who created the whole world!

A Happy Ending…

Joel — Mon, 31 May 2010 13:43:16 +0000

I often hear and say myself, “God must have a sense of humor”, All to often I try to do things on my own, I can just see God “chuckling” and saying, “I got this Joel, don’t worry about it!” I find this to be true since my last post….which was over 6 months ago. After rereading my last post I was talking about how Laura and I were in the middle of a housing search. The house that we really liked had been taken off the market, we kept looking at houses and we weren’t finding anything that we liked, and if we found one we liked the doors kept closing on it. We found out the $8,000 tax credit was extended until the end of April, so that gave us more time. We were still looking in the middle of February and were about to put an offer on a house in Strafford, when our realtor calls and tells us the house that we put the offer on back in October is back on the market! We couldn’t believe it, so we acted quickly and were under contract in less than 48 hours! then we closed less than a month later. Even if we didn’t get this house I know that God had out best interest in store, For some reason, I’m always surprised to see how God comes through. you would think I would have learned by now.

Also, we shall remember today those who have fought for our freedom. Thank you to all those who have given because freedom is not free.

House Hunters…

Joel — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 19:04:54 +0000

So Laura and I have been house hunters for the past few weeks. We thought we grabbed one but then it got away…or I guess decided it didn’t want to be hunted anymore .

Laura and I went with our realtor, John, to look at houses this past Saturday. We looked at 8 different houses in Springfield. Laura and I each came away with liking a different house, but didn’t have that “ah ha” moment with either one of them. We then went to look at the one house in Strafford (This is where we would really like to live, we like the small town, it’s where Laura teaches, and it’s still less than 10 minutes to the church). We went and looked at the house and we both fell in love with it….we were excited, and better yet it was in our price range! We walked through and went outside and talked to our realtor, he thought it was a good buy for the money so we decided we’d have our parents come and look at it. So they came up and we looked at it again. They all liked it so we met with John on Sunday Night and made a really strong offer. We were really excited and thought we had it! We gave him until Tuesday at 5:00. Tuesday about noon we got word that things weren’t going well…and to make a long story short the home owner decided not to sell his house! Laura and I were pretty upset about the situation. It seemed like the perfect house for us! Apparently God has other plans for us…and today I think I’m good with that…Although we don’t always understand God’s plans!

So now we’re back to square one on the housing search. We’ve found a few more that I think we’re going to look at though…on with the house hunting!

Through The Bible in 90 Days…

Joel — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 23:15:36 +0000

Starting yesterday our church started reading the Bible in 90 days! It’s a pretty demanding reading schedule, but I’m excited about it! I’m thinking some of the OT may be difficult to stick with but, I’ll make it! Last night I read Genesis 1-16:16. Today it’s Genesis 17-32…I think…

Hope things are going well for everyone else!

Mission: Rockwood 2009

Joel — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 15:30:46 +0000

The mission trip is in the books…It was an awesome week! I was pretty nervous about the week. Not knowing all of what we would do, where we would go, etc, etc…I knew that God is in control and all would work out and it did.

About a month before we left one of the leaders from Rockwood Ministries e-mailed me and told me they were only averaging 5-7 people on Sunday Afternoons at there service and didn’t know if we would still want to come. Without hesitation I e-mailed them back and said we would come if they only had one person coming. Sunday (the 12th) they had 3 children. We started on Monday with 9 kids. By the end of the week we had 22 different kids that had come to the VBS! It was a great experience for everyone involved.

We also helped paint the mission center during the day! I was proud of everyone who went with us. I was especially proud of the students and kids who went. They really stepped up big time!

We’re already talking about going up at Christmas again and doing a Christmas Party and talking about in what ways we can improve when we go back next summer!

Update

Joel — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:04:36 +0000

I’m getting really lazy on this whole blogging thing. Life has just been crazy lately! Super Summer was awesome. It was a great time to be refreshed, to reconnect with friends, and make new friends. It’s always scary when you get a bunch of youth ministers together! I learned a lot, and really enjoyed hearing from Dr. Alvin Reid! Remarkable speaker and author. A true man of God.

The weekend of the 13th and the 20th were full of weddings! I was an usher in weddings on both weekends! They were both awesome weddings!

Laura and I each had our dads and families to our house for Father’s Day! Laura’s fam for lunch and mine for dinner. We had a great time!

The next week we had VBS at Pleasant Home. It was a great week. I taught the Youth Class this year for 7-10th graders. We had over 25 youth that participated during the week! We ended the week with a big slip n’ slide party at our house! We had 20 youth that came. It was a lot of fun!

This past week Laura and I went with another youth ministry on a mission trip to Charleston, MO. The church we went with is Ozark Baptist from Houston, MO. I went on the trip last year and brought Laura with me this year! It was an awesome week! Definitely a different kind of mission trip! We brought some of the kids from Charleston out to the camp with us that we were staying at and they got to hang out with us for the week. We got to pour into them and show them Christ. We had two of them that gave their lives to Christ! Awesome! God is good!!!

We got home about 5:00 pm on the 4th and then went over to some friends house for a HUGE 4th of July party. I had never seen so many fireworks at one persons house! It was cool!

Sunday It was awesome to be back at Pleasant Home and worship our Lord! We ate a late lunch/early dinner with Laura’s Family at Outback and then went to church last night, we then got to hang out with friends and shot off some leftover fireworks! Good times!

Later today we are going to pickup our new puppy! I’ll try to post some pictures soon! She is definitely cute! We haven’t come up with a name yet!

Next week Pleasant Home is headed up on a mission trip to Cameron, MO. I’m excited about the trip. I think we have about 15 church members who are going! Well I think that wraps

Slacker…

Joel — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 14:04:53 +0000

I have no excuse! I’ve been a blogging slacker the last few weeks. I apologize to the many many faithful readers I have! (insert laugh here).

Laura has been gone for the past week, She went with her parents to visit her Grandpa and Aunt and Uncle and Cousins in Denver. I think she had a really good time but I sure did miss her!

Today I leave for Super Summer. I’m excited. I’ve always enjoyed camp! Especially Super Summer. Throughout my journey with Christ some of the times that I have felt the closest to him are here and some of the times I’ve realized how far away I am from him are here. I’m excited that I now get to take my students to this camp. This year I’m just taking one student. I pray that we’ll have a good week and will draw closer to Christ. I’m excited to connect with other youth ministers as well! I hope you all have a great week and I’ll try to do better on my blogging!

Second Chances…

Joel — Mon, 18 May 2009 20:25:54 +0000

I’m thankful that I serve a God of second chances. Last night we talked about this in our youth ministry. We talked about David, a man after God’s own heart. He loved God, but he screwed up. So often I feel like David, I truly love God and want to follow his will, but all to often I screw up. I’m so thankful that God gives me another chance, and often times another, and another. I pray that my shortcomings will be fewer and fewer, and that God will shine through more and more.