Discussion with Johnson (My friend and a Youth Leader of Generation Church) - September 2nd 2010

      I think I need to make something clearer. If I'm interviewing you I consider you important and personal to me, not a data point. This blog is meant to cover my own spiritual journey, discovery and experiences. Johnson and I had a mix-up during the discussion on this issue. But it is all okay now. This is for future reference for other people I discuss their faith with. The discussion is a shared experience of growth and I learn a lot from the people I talk too. You interviewees matter to me, just by being yourself and being present in the discourse that is conversation and growth. This blog is my spiritual journey shared with everyone else. You matter and are a part of it.

    Today was the day I met up with Johnson. I am friends with his sister and see her as an adopted sibling and have met him once. But it had been years, today was the day we were able to meet and share out faith journeys and how we got to where we are today.

     Johnson shared with me his parents' back story on how they became Christians and also the moving around he experienced in his life and how it brought about separateness and difficulty to form friendships. This reminded me of my Mom's experience, her being a Navy Brat who also lived in many locations as she grew up through childhood. From experiencing racism and Alabama (and not letting racism directed towards him, poison him) to Malaysia, to Texas and here in Washington. The experience of not letting bitterness entrench itself was something I could relate to myself. The Mormon Church taught me a lot, and helped me grow, and though I could never rejoin or become a member again. I'm grateful that it was a still a part of my life and growth.

     We also talked about the importance of family, and at least for myself, however a family may be, if people can work out their issue with each other and reach peace, then there is a bit more hope for the world. How can communities and tribes get along if there is hatred between those connected through biologically and love? 

     He shared with me his personal relationship with Jesus and how in his difficult times the ways God has been there and helped him through.

     One of the powerful moments is when Johnson read me 1 Corinthians 4-7. The passage is about the definition of love, and is one of the best definitions I have heard. "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no records of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." This is how I understand love, and hope I practice it always.

    Generation Church was where he connected to God the most which was different from his Parent's Church. One of the miracles in his life was being able to move back to Seattle after being so far way from his Church community and family. He shared Psalm 18 with me, which is about a man defeating his enemies with God's help and how it had helped him through a difficult trial in his life, when it's personal meaning clicked.

      I told Johnson about my vision experiences I've had during certain services. Which I'd never told anyone except my girlfriend and a few other friends and he called it a gift. I'd' never heard it called that before, and opening up about the visions helped me grow and better accept that part of myself, a part that I may never understand.

  During the conversation we of course about Christianity, and I talked about one of the reasons I don't see myself, ever able to join Christianity. The issue is the problem of Evil. In the Bible God commits hanus acts against his own creations, from destroying entire civilizations, to allowing His people to do that to one another. Allowing the existence of Evil Incarnate (The Devil in Christianity) is also wrong. I'm unable to see how these acts and allowing evil in the world is any way loving, or makes sense when something is the perfect, personal Good.

     It was a blessing to receive his perspective and to form a friendship in our shared experiences of being an outcast and faith exploration. We also both are very aware of how much we still have learn, and are students of life.