Who is Junius johnson?

He is a man that you wouldn't expect. I mean that. He is small in stature, but his presence is huge. He made D's in high school and yet was accepted to 5 of the top theology PhD programs in North America. He's usually right and often gracious. He is black, but he plays the French horn. He owns more books that anyone I know within 10 years of us in age, but he prefers his XBox. A child of the 80s, he still wishes love to be like a John Cusack movie, yet fights with all his might when things are rough. He is a dreamer, a hopeless romantic, a lover of the imaginative, yet insanely logical. His thoughts are always linear. He makes decisions quickly, he takes most factors into account. He drives like a bat out of hell, he never gets into wrecks. He loves both the romantic comedy and the action flick. He is seriously well rounded. He likes sports, cars, books, languages, music, TV, and our Lord. That is really the only thing that makes him make sense. Junius has long known that God is more powerful and His call more lofty than the apparent ceilings in his life, like cultural expectations, available resources or lack thereof. J's worldview is bigger than his life because there is someone in it so much bigger than himself. With this knowledge came opportunity and with it came responsibility. His call is one that many won't understand. Fighting for the evangelical faith in the academy looks like fighting for inequality, for turmoil, and actually against peace to many of his colleagues. But fortunately, we serve a just and faithful Lord, who has led us to know Him that we may walk in his ways, that we may serve him faithfully, that we may be blessed in His will. So come rain or shine, come good days or bad, come fair weather friends, come family crisis, we will stand together. I have faith in him, because we have faith in God. There is a lot to recommend Junius, his knowledge, his people skills, his musical talent, the high esteem others hold him in, but honestly I have faith in him and I have faith in us, because we have faith in God.

Conversion

One of the more interesting projects we've undertaken (besides, you know, getting married) is the renovation of my current apartment to be our apartment. We don't want it to feel like she just moved in with me, we want it to feel like we have our first place together. So, I've authorized a complete redesign of every room of the house. The only space that will remain largely untouched is my office, where I spend most of my days and do most of my work.

Very little will actually happen until July--a new piece of furniture here, clearing some space there. But the plans have been largely drawn up, much of the furniture chosen, and there are paint chips taped to the walls of several rooms in the house. The transformation will be nothing short of marvelous.

I watch and participate in this flurry of imaginative activity with no small amount of appreciation and awe--I've long dreamed of living in a beautiful space, and have always settled for a decent space. My days of decency, it seems, are numbered, and I count myself lucky on that front.

Junius