As the fall comes to a close I’m looking forward to getting back on the road in January. I’ll continue speaking in churches on the importance of vulnerability and I have a ton of dates still available! I’d love to come to your community and share this message.
Vulnerability is not just for rock bottom, it’s not a message just for youth, and it’s the beginning of AMAZING change found in Christ Jesus.
I’m so tired. I have nothing interesting to say. But I told myself I was going to keep a daily blog for at least 90 days so I have to post something.
Here is a picture of Sylvester Stallone on a horse. I have this saved on my phone because I can’t stop staring at it. Look at him. Look at this. What is happening? It doesn’t look right, right?
It feels like it’s an optical illusion. That’s Stallone’s body photoshopped onto Kermit the Frog’s legs.
Is that a regular size horse? Nothing makes sense. What is truth?
This is my favorite lyric from Clem Snide’s Find Love. It should be the motto of everyone in Christ. You have found the most incredible love you’ve ever experienced, and once you’ve received it, you need to give it all away.
There’s no reason to hoard your love anymore when you’re in Christ. You have this unlimited overflow from God so it’s not like you ever have to worry about it running out. You will never give away so much love, attention, care, joy, compassion, and have nothing left for yourself. You don’t have to save your love for just the people you know can reciprocate and give you back the same amount of love. You never have to worry about that again.
Give love to those who will never love you back.
Luke 6:32-36 says:
You have found the perfect love in Jesus. Now it’s time to give it all away.
Lemony Snicket said:
I love this Lemony Snicket quote because it reminds me of my grandpa.
When I was a kid every time my grandpa would visit he’d always have a new joke, riddle, and magic trick to show me. It was always something I always looked forward to.
This is a great rule to live by. We should all have tricks and quotes in our back pocket just in case we need to fill a dull moment. Keep things interesting.
Over the last few days I’ve been trying to memorize Shakespeare’s To Be Or Not To Be speech from Hamlet for this very reason. I just want to have it up there in my brain rattling around in case it could ever be of use. Who knows. If nothing else it’s a nice brain exercise and it makes me feel more interesting.
That’s how I want people to feel about In the Altogether. I want people to be afraid of how much they love it.
I returned to KHEA Radio for the third time! It’s always fun talking to Gardy. This time I talked about my book, Popeye’s, being single, and the greatest French toast I’ve ever had.
This fall has been so much fun. I’m excited to continue speaking in the spring.
If your church is interested, contact me!
This message isn’t just for the youth!
This short clip of Ira Glass is such an important key to good storytelling.
A story is just a series of events. “This happened, which led to this, which led to this…”
That’s the only crucial element you can NEVER sacrifice. Everything else is extra. If you’re going to add emotions, humor, themes, lessons, rich descriptions, you have to make sure it doesn’t completely derail what makes the story a story.
It’s like a Christmas tree. The series of events is the actual tree. Everything you’re going to add to spice it up is decoration. You have to be careful with your placement because you don’t want to completely hide the tree. You also don’t want to put so much on that the tree falls over.
This happened, and then this, and then this, and then this. Keep the action moving. Take short pitstops to add some fun to the trip but never forget that the most important part is that you’re actually going somewhere.
Someone’s not impressed.
I might not be the most conventional school assembly speaker, but I’m sure even this teacher would agree I’m better than this:
And please give Kenan Thompson a million awards for being so consistently funny in every SNL sketch.
Inviting someone to church doesn’t count as evangelism
— Taylor Johnson (@taylordson) August 24, 2019
Oh, if I just get my friend to visit my church, they’ll want to follow Christ. If you ever catch yourself having this thought, it’s important to pause and examine it. Why do you think that is?
Is it because you think your pastor is an incredible communicator who can share share the gospel so much better than you? In 1 Corinthians 2, the apostle Paul writes about how he purposefully preached a simple, non-flashy sermon.
All he did was preach Christ crucified, shared from his weakness, didn’t have all these pre-worked out arguments for debate, and showed the power of God. And he says that that’s actually better for them because their faith was placed on Jesus and not this incredible speaker. Sounds like you don’t need to drag someone to a fancy preacher for them to meet Jesus.
Do you want to take them to church because you think If they just met this wonderful community, felt accepted by these loving and grace-filled people, they would want to join. You’re part of that church. They’ve met you. They can experience those things by knowing you.
Discipleship and evangelism aren’t the responsibilities of only pastors. We ALL are called to share and to help others grow. Inviting someone to church doesn’t count.