John, Jon, John and 1 John

My friend John and I quit our jobs a couple of years ago, to follow after Christ, change the world. In the early days of our friendship, he once told me he disliked puns. I remembered it as him 'hating' puns, but hate is too strong a word. John is thoughtful, intelligent, compassionate - the kind of man who wouldn't love a flavor of ice cream, love is a sentiment reserved for his wife, the woman God designed with him in mind. I'm often less careful with my words.

My friend Jon writes books. The book he published this year "No Will of My Own: How Patriarchy Smothers Female Dignity & Personhood" is right up my alley. "What's With Paul and Women?" is on my reading
to do list. Jon too is careful with words,
a man who loves his wife, enjoys her company. I understand Jon also enjoys golf and a nice glass of wine, but I expect he'd avoid using the word love in describing either experience. Jon and I met at the Int'l Christian Conference on Prostitution and Human Trafficking,
a gathering where careless use of "my John" when I really mean "my friend John" raises a few eyebrows, the pun unintended.

John and 1 John are books from the Bible, written by the John referred to in this prayer.

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John,
Bless the bed that I lie on.
Four corners to my bed,
Four angels round my head;
One to watch and one to pray
And two to bear my soul away.

In a summer series of podcasts exploring John's writings, for
the first time I saw the Bible as a library, a collection of books, realized that the New Testament as it is published today did not exist in the early years of following after Christ.

I've not yet read the Bible cover-to-cover. I've not even made
it through the entirety of the New Testament. I often feel ill-
equipped to discuss Biblical texts and my lack of confidence is something I've often whined about with God. This summer, God answered, and I found freedom in this discovery: early Believers in geographically diverse areas often possessed the teachings of only one author, perhaps John, perhaps one of the others - God provided what they needed. God will do the same for me.

“All people are like grass,

and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;

the grass withers and the flowers fall,

but the word of the Lord endures forever.”

1 Peter 1:24

Rw

No Will of My Own
Prayer
.