ManOnAJourney

I am a rather complex individual. Reading my posts will provide a start to understanding me. Beyond that, feel free to message me with questions. I will answer most of them.

More About Me
I am a Christian, with roots in Wesleyan theology. I grew up as a pastor's son in the tradition of the Church of the Nazarene. My family was Free Methodist until the summer of my birth. I generally avoid politics, but I would describe myself as a compassionate conservative. I become passionately involved in the causes in which I believe.

I completed a Masters in Christian Leadership from Fuller Seminary in 1999 and am taking doctoral classes now. I worked in Christian higher education for 19 years and am now a program officer for a Christian foundation. I hold the Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy designation from The American College. As I have extra time, I enjoy geneaology and gardening.

The views expressed on this blog are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.


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2011 Kiwanis (Randy DeLay-The Eliminate Project Message) (by TheEliminateProject)



On the way to Cozumel on board Carnival Ecstacy, August 26, 2011, traveling through the Gulf of Mexico at 21 knots (24 mph).

On the way to Cozumel on board Carnival Ecstacy, August 26, 2011, traveling through the Gulf of Mexico at 21 knots (24 mph).



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As evidenced by people living in Oklahoma, West Texas and South Texas and ever-increasing areas in other parts of the country, the drought condition is reaching critical status. Cattle are being auctioned off, crops have burned up, and drinking water is becoming a concern. Please join us in this prayer circle. Let’s make this one of the largest prayer circles ever, as though we will be holding hands around the world.

“Father, You said if two of us agree on earth concerning anything that we ask, it will be done by the Father in heaven. We come to you, humbly, and ask that you bring down rain to our parched lands. Our farmers and ranchers need it desperately, as do our firefighters and all citizens. We ask this humbly in Jesus’ name. Amen”.

This is not purely academic, and it is not someone else’s problem. The water pressure in my office building today is nearly nil. Pray!


I do love iris , which bloom about the time when we say, “He is risen indeed!”

I do love iris , which bloom about the time when we say, “He is risen indeed!”



The view out my front window on February 1st. Go away, Winter!

The view out my front window on February 1st. Go away, Winter!



Doing God's Work in Oklahoma City

(Click on the title to link).  I am proud of my church, OKC First Church of the Nazarene, and of my pastor, Jon Middendorf.  I think the church really gets it, and my church will use this new facility as a tool to that end.  At OKC First, we seek three things:  Friendship With God, Friendship with Each Other, and Open Friendship for the Sake of the World.  Churches are used to hearing about the first point, and sometimes they actually try hard to develop friendship with each other.  But open friendship for the sake of the world?  Look out!  THAT pushes me out of my comfort zone.  It may demand too much of me.  It may play on my vulnerability and take me to places I have never been asked (or been willing) to go before!  Somewhere I hear God saying, “Umm, excuse me.  That’s exactly the point.  Church is not primarily for YOU.  It is for THEM. I will move heaven and earth if I need to, in order to reveal myself to them and in order to teach you to rely on Me.”



The Virtue of Stick-to-itiveness

Stick-to-itiveness!  You have probably heard it before, and now the Merriam-Webster dictionary includes it with this definition:  “dogged perseverence: tenacity”.  When this virtue is displayed, it seems to me it looks a lot like fortitude.  Fortitude is defined by the same dictionary resource as “strength of mind that enables a person to encounter danger or bear pain or adversity with courage”.  The word is Middle English, derived from Latin, and it came into usage in the 12th century. 

The likes of C.S. Lewis wrote about it.  Here is what he said, “Fortitude includes both kinds of courage—the kind that faces danger as well as the kind that ‘sticks it’ under pain.  ‘Guts’ is perhaps the nearest modern English.  You will notice, of course, that you cannot practice any of the other virtues very long without bringing this one into play”.

To be persons of virtue then, as most of us aspire to be, fortitude must be developed within us. Ask yourself: how will I do with fortitude, with stick-to-itiveness today?



My wife and I visited the Turner-Ingersoll Mansion in Salem, Mass. last Saturday, July 24.  Built in 1668, it is known as The House of the Seven Gables and was the inspiration for the Nathaniel Hawthorne novel.  A big shout out to our tour guide, Jeff, who showed us the secret staircase!  Find out more about this house, which is its own national historic district on The National Register of Historic Places, by visiting www.7gables.org.

My wife and I visited the Turner-Ingersoll Mansion in Salem, Mass. last Saturday, July 24.  Built in 1668, it is known as The House of the Seven Gables and was the inspiration for the Nathaniel Hawthorne novel.  A big shout out to our tour guide, Jeff, who showed us the secret staircase!  Find out more about this house, which is its own national historic district on The National Register of Historic Places, by visiting www.7gables.org.

“ What we call real estate—the solid ground to build a house on—is the broad foundation on which nearly all the guilt of this world rests. Nathaniel Hawthorne, The House of the Seven Gables


Surviving Complexities By Standing on the Rock

If I didn’t know it before, I have decided that my life is complex!  The challenges of my life have exceeded any likely prediction from my youth, based on any indicators at that time.  Across the years, complexities surfaced for many reasons too lengthy to enumerate here.   A few trusted individuals who know me best would even verify that most of these trials are not of my own making.  They just happened.  Difficult life events just come our way.  Rain falls on the just and the unjust alike.  Living in a fallen world can sure wreak havoc in our otherwise potentially peaceful lives, and sometimes even the activity of God in our lives seems like a confusing chaos.  I don’t know.  Maybe some people still grow up in Beaver Cleaver-type families and then go on to live glib, untroubled lives in adulthood, but that number is rare and shrinking, it seems to me.  For the rest of us whose troubles remind us we live in the real world, the Scripture of the Psalms can be extremely comforting, especially when we realize we are enduring life’s toughest times.

It was exactly such a time for me in a hotel room near Manhattan, Kansas a dozen or more years ago.  My all-to-frequent visitors of self-doubt, grief and pain bordering on clinical depression had confronted me once again.  I was on a business trip, and while the many activities of the day kept me busy and completely occupied, the remnant of an evening spent alone seemed to leave me no other choice than to face the hopelessness of my situation.  Alone and feeling blue I recalled that I had once heard my evangelist friend, Nathan Covington, preach a sermon from a portion of Psalm 18.  Specifically, he liked the imagery of 18:33. 

He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights.

The image of being sure footed and steady, even on the extremely narrow path of the very highest mountain trail lifted my spirits momentarily.  I could imagine a deer stepping ever so gently at every point along a narrow mountain path, with only an expanse of nothingness for miles below.  From heights such as this, a careless mis-step could bring certain disaster.  Maintaining a secure footing because of the presence of God seems to have been the promise, not only for the deer but also for the Psalmist.  I felt hope from that thought, but I had yet to connect with the rest of Psalm 18.  As I read them that night, they became words I desperately needed to hear.  I clung to words and images such as these:

The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.  He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold….  The cords of death entangled me;  the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.  The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me….  He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters.  He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me.  They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the Lord was my support.  He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me….  You save the humble but bring low those whose eyes are haughty….  It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect….   He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze….  You broaden the path beneath me, so that my ankles do not turn.  The Lord lives! Praise be to my rock! Exalted be God my Savior!  … Therefore I will praise you among the nations, O Lord; I will sing praises to your name.  (18:2,4-5,16-19,27,32,34,36,46,49). 

That night, in the darkness of my angst, the words of this Psalm began to speak volumes of comfort, hope, peace and wisdom to my soul.  I began to feel fresh and new encouragement pouring back in, and I wept warm tears of hope.  Though spiritually and emotionally exhausted before, now I felt I was arriving at a new and better place.  I hope you will find the words of this Psalm as solidly encouraging as I did.  Though years have passed since that first stunning encounter with Psalm 18, I still need to accept this truth and believe it now more than ever.  The Lord is still my rock, my fortress and my deliverer.  Believe it for you!

— John Martin