It's the beginning of week 4 in Lombard. These weeks have flown by, but not easily by any stretch of the imagination. While life in general has been discouraging, we've been blessed the last few days/weeks to spend time with a lot of our loved ones. 

Time with friends and family

On Labor Day Weekend we made our way down to St. Louis to visit both Andrew's sister, Ally, and our good friends Nick & Jen. Ally started a master's program in Counseling at a seminary down there, which also happens to be the seminary where Nick is finishing his Master of Divinity. We arrived in St. Louis on Saturday afternoon, just in time to watch the end of the Iowa game at a local sports bar. Then we spend a few hours at Ally's house meeting her roommates and walking around campus. For our evening entertainment we went with a group of people including some of Ally's friends and Nick & Jen to the St. Louis City Museum. This is not your average museum. Somebody decided to take a deserted shoe factory and convert it into something like an adult playground. The whole factory is full of slides, crawl spaces, and basically glorified jungle-gyms. It was really busy, being a holiday Saturday night, but still a lot of fun. On Sunday we were blessed to worship with Nick & Jen at their church, Grace and Peace. It was awesome to get to meet their new church family after hearing about it for a few years. A family from church had all five of us over for waffles after church. We were going to make a stop at the Greek Festival in the afternoon but instead decided to walk around Nick & Jen's neighborhood. We ended the day with Ted Drewes' famous frozen custard. Jen and I spent some time in downtown St. Louis on Labor Day morning, then Ally made Andrew and me brunch before we hit the road. We had a wonderful time hanging out with three of the people we love most in the world. 

Last Sunday, Andrew's dad made a stop at our apartment on his way back home from Maine. He brought us fresh lobster and prepared them for our dinner. I've never had lobster before, so it was quite an experience for me. The three of us  went to church together, then had brunch at a cafe in downtown Wheaton before he completed his trip back home.

This weekend our good friends, Fro & Angela came down Friday night and Saturday to visit. Kuyper's volleyball team had a few games in the Chicago-land this weekend, so the four of us were their travelling fans. It was great to spend time with good friends, again, and cheer on Cougars volleyball! Andrew and I took the train into the city to meet Fro & Angela at the Friday night game, then rode back out to our apartment together, picking up deep-dish pizza on the way home. We hadn't yet used the public transportation system together, but managed to look like total idiots while buying tickets, making transfers, etc! 

Job update

Last Saturday Andrew had what we understood to be the final interview with a church for their youth pastor position. He taught a twenty minute Bible Study and led a twenty minute activity for three of the youth and nine adults. Andrew left his time with them discouraged, not feeling confident at all in the way things had gone and their reaction to his presentations. It only took two days for them to let us know that, while Andrew was still being considered, they decided to re-open their search. Their decision causes us a lot of mixed feelings. Andrew understood why they made that decision after his interview, but expressed to their search committee that he would appreciate another opportunity to lead a teaching session. We have not heard back from them on whether or not that is a possibility. 

Our biggest frustration is that they haven't provided any sort of timeline for us. While we're sure they're trying to be thorough and open to God's leading with this whole process, we are left in this limbo. On the one hand, they decided not to hire Andrew once, so why would they change their minds? It would have made more sense to just say that he didn't get the job. On the other hand, he is not out of consideration, so there is a chance they might call him back. 

It's a very confusing and interesting process, particularly from this side of the situation. How does a committee of people who don't know any of their candidates come to decide? What should ministry job-searching look like? Where does the element of knowing and trusting candidates come from? As a candidate, how do you try to make yourself known to a committee over the course of a few short hours? How do you separate affirmation in your calling from your "hire-ability?" 

I also have been interviewing for a job in the area with an organization called the Communication Institute. This organization works with a European organization to host an annual European Leadership Forum, where Christian leaders from all over Europe come together for training, professional networking and teaching. The position I'm interviewing for is responsible for overseeing the volunteers that help run the annual forum. I have my second interview on Friday. I'm excited about the possibility because the job combines working with people and detailed administration. 

Church 

Last week Andrew and I thought we had found the church we wanted to attend. We went back today, and while there wasn't anything in the service that bothered us, we both walked out just knowing that it wasn't the right place. Not having a church home has been the most difficult part of the move for us, particularly as it was tied up with the possibility of Andrew getting a job. We can't go much longer without a church community,  but aren't sure where to put those roots down just yet. Please pray for us.

The End

Two of my wonderful friends from Michigan are coming down to visit on Tuesday. I'm looking forward to spending time with them and showing them around Lombard and Wheaton. We're heading back to Michigan this weekend for my sister's birthday and are looking forward to more time with family as well as checking out this year's ArtPrize!

Please continue to pray for us.

With much love.

...our "scenery"

Greetings Ladies and Gentlemen. We are so pleased to have you visiting "whichjohnsons" today! Please follow me as we take a brief tour of the new Johnson apartment...er...basement...er...room...

We have just entered the main residence and are looking in on the main living area. You'll notice the lovely futon straight ahead waiting patiently for guests. To the right, in the darkened corner of the picture, the bedroom "wing" is separated from the living space with bookshelves.

Immediately to the right of our entrance is our kitchen/dining "wing." While this kitchen has less counter and cupboard space than Salerno, it has more actual floor space, making it more comfortable to have both a washer and dryer when doing dishes by hand...I say this not because we do dishes together, 

but because if, I mean when, we have visitors who ask to help with something in the kitchen there will actually be space for them, I mean you.

We are now facing out from the kitchen wing looking into the living area. The main entrance to the apartment...er...room is right on the left of "Sunflowers." Notice again the inviting futon. Ignore the crooked lampshade if you're OCD.

We have now arrived in the office "wing." We each have our own desks, mine being the brown one in the front and Andrew's  is around the corner on the left. The white doors lead to the hot water heater and other utilities. If you notice the door handle on the right side of the picture (between the blue chair and wood), you see the door to our closet and expansive storage space, affectionately known as "Narnia."

We have now made a 180degree turn and are looking out at the living space. You can see in the background a flight of stairs which lead up to the actual house. Right behind the lampshade is our private entrance, which actually opens into a workshop/laundry room before opening to the side yard.You'll also notice a door underneath the staircase which opens into our "pantry." This pantry is unique because the vent from our bathroom shoots the bathroom air (humidity, smells and all) into this enclosed space that holds all our food. YUM.

Closing our tour, we'll make a stop in the bedroom. As you can see, there is not much to it. Like I mentioned before, it is partitioned off from the rest of the room with our bookshelves. An exciting edition to our bedroom suite that came along with the move is a bed frame. Whereas our bed used to sit directly on the floor, it is now on a bedframe, opening up space for under-the-bed storage, making our shoes and extra dishes easily accessible.

As we leave the bedroom to exit through the door straight ahead, you'll notice a white room divider which we put up to separate the living from bedroom if, I mean when, guests occupy the futon. 

There is also a bookshelf against the wall in the middle of the picture, which holds the games we will all play together when you come visit. The bathroom is around that bookshelf. It has not been included in this virtual tour because it can only be accurately experienced firsthand.

I hope this brief tour of our new residence is intriguing and exciting enough to compel you to make a visit to the greater Chicago-land. If you look closely in the last picture, you'll see Andrew playing NCAA2010 Football on the Xbox. He will also be here when you visit and promises to stop recruiting virtual football players to and winning virtual national championships for the University of Iowa long enough to enjoy your company.

Yesterday and today we were blessed to share, in a small way, the suffering of a family we love. Mourning the loss of another young father near to us (or to others we love) has left us both frustrated and confused. With a deep sense of indignance and pain, we both want to exclaim "This is not right!"

Sons should not grow to be men without their fathers. This is just not right! We are groomed to be able to say "It is well with my soul," but I am not there, and hope I will never be. Witnessing teen-age boys bury their father will never be well with my soul. Death is not well with my soul because death is not God's design for his children.

I believe that instead of calling ourselves to some sort of placidity in the face of death, such a cutting experience with the result of the fall should cause us to labor more furiously toward the redemption of all things, including the souls of our fellow men.

As Andrew and I were processing our pain, guilt, and inner-chaos, I remembered this piece of writing from another tumultuous time in my life. Perhaps it's not as theologically developed as my thoughts are now, but it expresses many of the same emotions...

So where is it? Where is life when all around you there is death? Where is happiness when you are surrounded by grief? And where is love when hearts are too broken to feel? It's not a question of if, it's a question of where.

Life is in death as a life has to be lived to be ended. Death is the end of earth, and every end has a beginning. So in death, may we rejoice in the sheer humanity of the one gone and in the faithfulness of the creator. No life is perfect and no death is pure blessing. May we remember the moments of grace given and the moments of grace needed. And may we continue to live, lest we be overcome by death.


Happiness is an illusion easily emptied by sorrow. Perhaps it is not happiness we should be searching for, but joy. For joy is deeper than happiness. Joy exists alongside grief and sorrow. The beauty of joy is that happiness is not required. So when we cannot even see the illusion of happiness, may we turn our backs and search for genuine joy. Once we have found joy, grief becomes second best of the eternal emotions. And in our grief, it is that very joy which becomes the foundation on which we build our hope.


When hearts are shattered, bruised or deflated, love is nearly invisible. Love is nearly impossible. Therefore, love cannot live in hearts, it must live in souls for hearts break and hardly remain constant. When love has been lost among the pieces of a broken heart, we learn to store that love in our souls. And when hearts are too tired or too hard to feel, it is the soul that comes along to renew what was once whole, open and alive.


Even though there is death, and there is sorrow and there are broken hearts, there is life and joy and love. And there is heaven.


All shall be well.
All is well.
Blessed be the name of the LORD.