Cam Johnson > Recent Status Updates

It ain’t called “deathly” hallows for nothing. Sheesh

“There is a danger of being imbalanced if we base our ideas of discipline, etc., on a reaction to any culture which is based on wrong thinking. Instead, balance comes through being positive and realistic. We have to study the child’s needs as a person, and consider what is fully human, balanced, and whole.” She then quotes James 1:5… wise woman. It’s a blessing to pocket these tidbits of wisdom!

All good things must come to an end 😔

🤧almost there

🥺

Sectumsempra goes hard

“Assume and tell a child again and again that he is bad, selfish, or lazy, and you will bind him by your expectations.”

Sheesh 😮‍💨

“But one of the saddest things I know is to watch students at L’Abri look at a group of children, involved for hours in satisfying play, and comment, ‘I’ve never seen children playing like that.’ No? Then weep. Even childhood is robbed of the riches of humanness. It is appropriate to pause and think about that.”

A ton of wisdom from her 😮‍💨

Dang

Bonhoeffer on reading through Scripture… “It is more important to know what God did to Israel and His Son Jesus Christ than to seek what God intends for us today. Jesus Christ’s death is more important than my death, and his resurrection is the sole ground of my hope to be raised on the Last Day.” (Pg. 29) 🔥

“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.” 3 John 4 🔥🔥

“It’s just hard to realize… that he’ll never write to me again.” iykyk 😭😭

Snape lookin a lil sus ngl 🤨

“Perhaps because it’s so rare in our times, welcome beautifully expressed God’s vision for human relationships. In a culture that emphasizes fast meals, online relationships, and casual hookups, hospitality is a truly countercultural experience.” (Pg. 20)

Wild how rare hospitality is in our culture. The love of strangers is a beautiful aspect of the Gospel.

(In light of Luke 14: 12-14) “… Kierkegaard explores a less obvious question about the story: Why does Jesus call the meal for the rich relatives and friends ‘a luncheon’ or ‘a dinner,’ whereas the one for the disadvantaged he calls ‘a banquet?’ (Pg. 50)

Powerful 😮‍💨

“I now feel assured that to make an idol of an author or a fetish of a book is tantamount to slavery in one of its many forms… and my worship has given place to a more matured respect born of the knowledge of their fallibility and therefore the success of their achievements… This, I think, suggests the right relationship between author and reader.”
- miner Chester Armstrong (1868)

“Christianity has no interest in stripping humans of differences. Far from wanting to create some generic pure humanity, its goal is ‘only to make humans pure’— with all their differences.” (Pg. 32)

Such a neat chapter about the harm of restless comparison. A peaceful call to the “joy of being” in Christ and rest in God’s love for us despite our skills, looks, and other characteristics.

“… even in cases where we’re devoted to a person, and know a lot about them, it’s still possible to not see them. You can be loved by a person yet not be known by them.” (Pg. 26)

An interesting read so far… helpful to know that it’s less of a “how to” book and more of an art to practice. Insightful so far in exposing road blocks to seeing and understanding someone.

“The end of all God’s purposes in creation and redemption is that humanity comes home.” (Pg. 3)

I felt that 😮‍💨… looking forward to how this is unraveled throughout the book. I’m walking away from ch. 1 already feeling the weight of the Fall and our eviction from Eden.

“Striving for superiority over others creates the feelings of inferiority that it purports to solve; it is highly contagious in cultural systems and social structures; it creates distortive and deceptive views of reality; and incentivizes the pursuit of low-value goods for the sake of status and minimizes the value of excellence.” (Pg. 17)

This book is not a doozy 😮‍💨 a lot to chew on…

“Bates has set out two different paths: the road to heaven, which is a path of growth in an adoring, filial fear of God; and the road to hell, which is a downhill path of snowballing anxieties and terrors. This means that our sinful fears cannot be nursed or left to fester: we must fight fear with fear.” 🔥 - Michael Reeves

Can’t wait to be done with this book tbh 😅