Be Still Series – Reflect, the next Be Still book

Posted on September 29, 2021 by Jill English Johnston

The next Be Still book is currently a work in progress.

As conflict, chaos, change, and challenges continue into 2021, I’m thankful for the consistency of God. And I’m humbled by his inspiration and provision when I’m coming up empty.

The year opened with him giving me another word: listen. Which the husband and I tried to do with some planned camping retreats. We had plans to reflect on, pray about, and discuss what the Holy Spirit might have for the Be Still book on Psalm 23. However, green pastures and quiet waters weren’t meant to be during the first weekend retreat. Unfortunately we had connectivity where we camped and the world crashed in on us. First, nationally with alerts on the storming of the capitol building, and second, locally with another frustrating issue arising at church and needing our attention.

We then had to cancel the second planned camping retreat before it even arrived, as forecasts called for extremely cold temperatures across Texas, including snow in our area (and if you know anything about the Texas Hill Country, that rarely happens). It was cold. Below freezing for a week. And it snowed. We experienced what we now call the snowpocalypse. And we, like many all over the state, were without power or water for a period of time.

Again, the months rolled by and I wondered what this year’s Be Still book could be or if it would be.

Again, my Tuesday morning Bible study came through. Somewhere in the discussion on the book of Colossians, the idea for a devotional on R words came to me. This wasn’t a new idea, because in 2019 I did a blog series I called Let’s Re. Let’s be Re. The concept of R words came, of course, during one of the Tuesday morning Bible studies. It started with D words and I decided that most of them are negative, especially those starting with Dis. Like discourage, discontent, discord, disable, disagree, disadvantage, you get the idea.

But R words are not. Especially Re. They imply a new beginning, a restart, if you will. So I began jotting them down as I came across them. Throughout my notes and journals are short lists of R words. They reencouraged me every time. And as I recompiled them, I felt confirmation in my notes from a sweet lady’s testimony in February using the words remember, reflect, receive, and recognize. Then Dawn, in our group chat (a number of women are reading through the Bible with me this year) posted a comment about the book of Ezra using seven different R words.

I’m formatting the book a little differently than last year’s book. I still include Scripture of course, but devotional will be short (and good thing, too, because I’m still writing them). And I’ve included space for contemplation and reflection, answering questions, and writing prayer requests and answers. The other challenge is photos. The year is more than half over and I’m needing new photos from the husband to go along with the R words I’ve selected for this year’s Be Still devotional. I’m praying for God to once again show up and show off. And I’m hoping that somehow, someway, we might make publication in November.

Because it’s been a crazy two years. And we all need some time to reflect, refresh, and recharge.

When finished, the book can be purchased on Amazon. Keep watch and check out all the books in the Be Still series on my Amazon author page Jill English Johnston.

See all the books currently available by visiting my Be Still page.

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The Sin of Certainty by Peter Enns

Posted on September 27, 2021 by Jill English Johnston

So many opinions, positions, beliefs, and doctrines. In my faith journey I’d been taught how to “defend” my beliefs, how to “prove” truth, how to “argue” critical doctrines, and how support it all with scripture.

To be honest, I was never very good at it. Somehow I always had too many questions. But I always trusted God was bigger than them. I’ve also passionately loved his son, Jesus.

But as Peter Enns says so eloquently in his book, The Sin of Certainty, “you only have something to say if the world has a question in the first place.”

Indeed, I’ve found I can’t shut out the many questions I have about certain interpretations of Scripture, or turn a blind eye to all the various faith practices that claim to be “certain” that they’re the ones “doing it right” and everyone else is wrong. Nor can I easily dismiss the divisions and disunity the doctrines, creeds, and traditions create in the body of Christ.

Unfortunately, I’ve seen it first hand and have heard of it all too often. Lines drawn in the sand. Believers leaving over disagreements. Church splits. Building our own little kingdoms of faith rather than coming together, seeking the well-being of each other, and trusting the Holy Spirit to build his Kingdom.

As scripture says, there’s nothing new under the sun. Evangelist and church planter, Paul, had the same problem with some of the first gatherings of believers. He even wrote to one located in Galatia: “Brothers and sisters, you were called to freedom—only do not let your freedom become an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole Torah can be summed up in a single saying: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not destroyed by one another.”

Apparently the Galatian church did not listen because from what I understand, there’s no further account of her in history. They destroyed themselves, the good news, and the body of believers there.

So. That takes me back to The Sin of Certainty and a couple of quotes from Peter Enns that jumped out at me as we listened to the book on audio.

  • If you get caught up in the rules, you lose the plot of the story.
  • Our roles as priests is to intercede on behalf of others. We ought to be a people who fight for everyone to have a place in the family, not explain why they’re not allowed.
  • Church is too often a risky place to be honest.
  • The Bible does not have a good track record for creating unity among those who read it.

Understanding what we believe and why believe it is important. But Enns challenges us to consider where our trust lies. Is it in what we believe, or is it in God? What happens when God doesn’t seem to do what we believe he should do? Can we press into the questions and seek out what God truly desires, which is our trust and intimacy?

If you’re content with the status quo, if you have secured yourself firmly to the interpretations of scripture passed down to you, if you don’t want to examine the ways you understand God to be, then this book is probably not for you.

But if you’re wrestling with the disunity you see, if you’ve actually read some of the crazy stories in the Bible and wonder why they’ve been included but never preached on, if you want your trust in God to grow in spite of and as a result of doubts and uncertainty, if you need a place to be honest, then The Sin of Certainty might be for you.

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Obscured

Posted on September 24, 2021 by Jill English Johnston

Definition of obscure:

  • hard to make out or define
  • not clearly seen or easily understood
  • unclear, uncertain, unknown
  • hazy, vague, indeterminate, concealed, hidden

When traveling, it’s always good to know the destination (that is, if you have plans to get somewhere) and a decent map to show you how to get there. If you’re traveling in a scenic part of the country, it’s even better to be able to see the surrounding countryside.

In life, we often want a similar situation. We make our goals and our plans on how to achieve said goals. We organize our lives with routines and schedules, mostly with the expectation that things will go as we intend.

Except when it doesn’t. Life doesn’t often fall into line like we want it to. Unannounced things happen. Unpredicted events take place. Our false sense of control shatters about us. And what we thought we saw so clearly suddenly become obscured, blocked, hidden from our view.

We took a trip to visit some friends and family in Colorado last year (as is our custom for us to do). Usually, we expect the views to be quite beautiful. We expect the drive from Colorado Springs to Pagosa Springs through the mountains, across the San Luis Valley, and over Wolf Creek Pass to be even more so. However, this particular time it was not.

Smoke from wildfires burning in the west covered the skies in thick haze. So thick, that as we drove, we couldn’t see the mountains, neither the ones far away, not the ones right next to us.

Our friends have a lovely home with a stunning view of Pagosa Peak and we always look forward to the ever changing, living landscape. However, because of the smoke, this is the view we had when we arrived. No sign of any mountains anywhere.

During the course of our visit, some weather moved in and pushed the smoke out. However, because clouds and snow flurries filled the skies, this is the view we had. No sign of any mountains anywhere.

The weather eventually moved through and the skies cleared and oh, what an amazing view we had. The mountains had been here all along. We just couldn’t see them.

Trusting is being confident of what we hope for, convinced about things we do not see.

Hebrews 11:1 (CJB)

How often does worry, sin, ungratefulness, materialism, and so many other things obscure, shroud, conceal our ability to see the splendor and majesty of what God is doing? How often do we walk about in a haze, not knowing or seeing the soaring heights of his love and care around us.

We couldn’t see the mountains. But we knew they were there. Often we can’t see God’s faithfulness in the midst of trials and struggles. But trust is being confident he is there. When the smoky haze disappears, when the weather disperses, when we can see clearly, then we will know what we believed all along, God’s faithful love for us.

In the same way, we can see and understand only a little about God now, as if we were peering at his reflection in a poor mirror; but someday we are going to see him in his completeness, face-to-face. Now all that I know is hazy and blurred, but then I will see everything clearly, just as clearly as God sees into my heart right now.

1 Corinthians 13:12
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Be Still Series – Consider: Trusting the Abundance of God

Posted on September 22, 2021 by Jill English Johnston

In my fiction writing (I talk about my works in progress on my In the Works page) I typically come up with a three book series (a trilogy) idea. However, somewhere along this devotional journey, I felt that the Be Still series should have at least seven books. And I wanted to continue releasing them every November.

At the beginning of 2020, my husband had an idea for the next book, thinking it would have to do with Psalm 23 and rest. In February on the morning of my book launch party for Explore, my prayer was for the Lord to give us opportunities to rest, retreat, work on what we thought would be the next book called Restore. The Lord gave me two words for the year (which I typically don’t receive any word for a given year): Retreat. Generosity. Little did we know in February exactly how the Lord was going to give us rest and retreat, along with much of the world.

As the Corona virus reared it’s ugly head and sent the world into a tailspin, I, along with much of the population, wrestled with the consequences. The stress and uncertainty was compounded by the fact that the virus invaded our home early on, moving from the husband to me, to our son and to our son’s girlfriend (who was staying with us while the world shut down). A season filled with strident political division as well as racial unrest across the country did more than distract, it distressed. I am not one who writes in the midst of stress and busyness. I process first and then write. As a result, my work on the the next Be Still book and my fiction writing lagged.

And lagged. As the months went by, I realized that this would not be the year for Restore or a devotion on Psalm 23. But I still longed to release another Be Still book. I needed it. I felt like others needed it. But on what. The year was already half over.

I looked back over what I had in my writing files. In the summer of 2014 I started the blog series on the Psalms called First Verse: a journey through the Psalms. As I read through them, I realized I had lots of content for another book. Selecting twenty-one of the blogs, I recrafted them into devotionals with the theme of Abundance. I then combined them with more of my husband’s amazing pictures and the next Be Still book, Consider, was born. We managed to publish it by November and even had copies available for the Artisan Fair.

The book can be purchased on Amazon at Consider: Trusting the Abundance of God.

See all the books currently available by visiting my Be Still page.

All the books in the Be Still series are available on Amazon. Visit my author page Jill English Johnston.

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Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again by Rachel Held Evans

Posted on September 20, 2021 by Jill English Johnston

I first heard Rachel Held Evans on a sermon podcast when she spoke at Mars Hill years ago. She had probably just released her book, A Year of Biblical Womanhood and spoke about the experience. I found her refreshing, enlightening, and inspiring.

Two things stuck for me from her teaching.

1. Eishet Chayil (Woman of Valor) from Proverbs 31, which instead of being a checklist for Christian women to try to follow (as I had always heard), is actually a beautiful, special Shabbat song in honor of the Jewish woman.

2. Jephthah’s daughter, a story in scripture about a father who made a careless vow after a military victory to sacrifice the first thing that came out of his house. Which turned out to be his unmarried daughter. Rachel and a friend, acknowledging the difficult and sometimes crazy stories in scripture, held vigil in memory/honor of her.

I didn’t pick up any of Rachel’s books, however, until I recently heard reference to her again and her book, Inspired, on another podcast. I downloaded the audible version and the husband and I listened to it on a road trip.

I love the way Rachel lays out her book by telling a story that sets up each chapter. She then invites us into asking hard questions about scripture, and she lays out some of the interpretations and challenges some of the assumptions made about beliefs/areas that impact the way we live out and communicate our faith.

For those who once cherished faith and faith community, but then lost your way because of comments like, “you just have to have faith,” or “you can’t ask that question,” or you just haven’t felt safe asking the hard questions, then Inspired may help you find a kindred spirit. And maybe it will help you find your way back to Jesus and to a richer faith than the one you had before.

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