Nature’s Cruelty
By Andrea Johnson Judging by the sound of laughter and gleeful shrieks before we even rounded the corner of the tree-lined path to the neighborhood “hill,” we could tell we…
“Stop Your Whining!”
By Andrea Johnson “Stop your whining or I’ll give you something to whine about!” I’m sure you’ve heard those words before. My dad used them a lot when my siblings and I were young, usually…
Are You Missing Someone this Christmas?
By Andrea Johnson I wonder what that first Christmas was like for Mary after Jesus left this earth. I don’t know that her family would have celebrated birthdays even though it’s obvious that rulers of the day, such as Herod,…
Leave No One Behind
By Andrea Johnson If you’ve been part of a church for more than a year, you have hopefully taken part in some kind of pastor’s appreciation effort. (October is considered Clergy Appreciation…
What’s Your Story?
By Andrea Johnson My favorite books to read are biographies, people’s testimonies. I have yet to read a work of fiction as riveting as someone’s own story well told. Testimonies reassure…
Church, Sweet Church
By Andrea Johnson Did you know you could be part of one of the most important ministries in the church? It doesn’t require a specific skill set, but not everyone…
Are You a Good Neighbor?
By Andrea Johnson Several years ago my husband and I had the privilege of serving as youth pastors at a predominately African church. (We were the second White family to join.) Our pastor, Isaac Oyibo, had named the…
Pray Like You Mean It: We Often Give Up Too Easily
By Andrea Johnson A few years back one of our daughter Leslee’s friends had a six-month-old son with an aggressive, malignant brain tumor. Doctors were not giving the parents much hope. In just days little…
But What If?
By Andrea Johnson Can you imagine being one of the shepherds on guard in the middle of the night that we read about in Luke 2, trying to protect your sheep when the first…
Deserving of Honor
By Andrea Johnson I feel as if Pastor’s Appreciation Day can be a little bit like Mother’s Day, a time to sincerely honor people in our lives who are deserving of…