Entries by Ryan Johnson
To Those Who Need Hope – Part 3 – Grace
It’s one thing to profess that you are a Christian, to commit good deeds, to participate in worship on Sundays, and to claim to believe the Gospel. It’s another to fully understand that we are sinners and totally reliant on the love and mercy of God, and to fully trust in His Grace. These are […]
To Those Who Need Hope – Part 2 – The Pursuit of Perfection
We are broken people—all of us. We live in a culture that continually tells us two opposing things: 1) that we are perfect just the way we are (look at the popularity of the “self help” genre of books and articles) and that it’s society that needs to change, and 2) that we are doing […]
To Those Who Need Hope – Part 1 – Introduction
Let me preface by stating something that’s obvious but not always clear, something that’s unavoidable and good to be reminded of: We all need hope. This series – To Those Who Need Hope – is addressed to all of us. There isn’t a single one of us who doesn’t need hope in his or her […]
The Way of Love
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. […]
Hardwired to Give
Giving back doesn’t just help those in need; it also helps us. Many of us realize that giving is better than receiving, that we are instructed by God to give generously, and that giving makes us feel good. Let’s focus on that last point. Giving makes us feel good. Is that why we give? It […]
We Are All Neighbors
At Fairhaven, we like to use the word neighbor. Why is that? Neighbor is a word to describe everyone we interact with, including our clients, our staff, our volunteers, our donors, our friends, our family, our community members, our church members, grocery store staff, bank tellers, restaurant workers, gas station attendants, mortgage lenders, coaches, […]