Thursday, November 27, 2008

Something to be thankful for...

Once again, we arrive at Thanksgiving Day. Feeling a little fuller, in our tummies anyway. I just wonder if we are all as full as we really like to think we are of the things that truly matter in our lives. This year, I am thankful for Romans 8 & 9, every bit of it. I am thankful that I have THE God who loves me and cherishes me and was merciful, gracious and ultimately sovereign to choose to save me and call me one of his elect, not because of anything that I could do, an undeserving, wretched sinner. That is truly something to be thankful for.

"For whom he foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom He predestined, these He also called: whom He called, these He also justifies and whom He justified, these He also glorified." Romans 8:29-30



Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Something to think about...

If you are like me, when you look back at your childhood, there are so many things that you remember that your parents did for you, better or worse, to make sure that holidays or birthdays were memorable. I want that so badly for my children. I guess I am more sentimental than I even realized and have begun this blog for that very reason, to track and hang on to those precious and defining childhood moments.
When Jeffrey and I had Kayleigh, our firstborn, one of the things that we have done for her every Christmas is to get really special Christmas Eve pajamas. It is always so fun to hunt them with Jeffrey and have her open them and get all dressed and cuddly on the couch and stare at the tree. I can't wait to begin this with Ethan this year.

But more than our traditional Johnston Christmas Eve pajamas, I want my children to have a heritage that will continue through to the next generations. The heritage that I am talking about is a love for the Lord. A complete and total need of, reliance on and desire to worship the Lord. And I am not talking about the "feel-good", "only take away the parts I like" lord, I mean the LORD of the Bible. The only one! The older I become, the more I see the need that these little guys have for our Savior. I want to make a greater effort to instill in them traditions that will steer them toward Him, not just some over-commercialized version of a holiday.

"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6