The Journey: Lessons To My Younger Self

By Michael C Johnson

"Man is Mind in Being, He is Thought in Becoming; whatever man believes himself to be, that is what he is." The proverb mentioned reflects the spirit of this book. The book has been written for those who have sensed that behind the hustle and bustle of life, there is a deep, ancient and abiding order of things, that calls them to a greater purpose and meaning for their life. Drawing on the mystery of the immanent presence of God in the creation and written in the style of the great wisdom traditions, this book is written from the perspective of a master to a disciple, who seeks to guide his charge in the journey of life.
Using the age-old concept of life being a journey, through the medium of proverb and wise sayings, it instills the necessary wisdom to travel well on that journey.
The work is divided into ten books of observations, wise sayings and proverbs which reflect on the nature of God, reality and the human soul and its relationship to them. Many points are reiterated for emphasis of importance from different perspectives to bring balance in the overall understanding of the vision of the book. Following the lessons, there are confessions which draw from the belief system of the lessons and amplify their message to bring mind renewal. The overall purpose of this book is to help those that read it to come into a deeper level of awareness of the core of who God created them to be.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Michael C Johnson
• Release date: Jul 2, 2020
• ISBN: 9781838091408

Michael C Johnson

Michael Johnson is a Christian thinker and philosopher, who is always seeking to understand the wisdom of God in its various forms of expression. He is married to his wife, Deborah Johnson and between them, they have nine children. He is an associate pastor, serving under the senior leadership of Bishop Michael Hutton-Wood of House of Judah City Church. This is his first official publication.Michael is also an accomplished musician, who plays and records under the title The Chief Musician. He has released seven albums of Christian improvised solo piano music and instrumental meditative long play music to aid prayer, meditation, and contemplation. He says of the reason for recording under the title of the Chief Musician “...The Chief Musician is anyone who has mastered music as a form of expressing the inexpressible glory of God.” His musical vision is expressed in the following statement “An inspirational and improvisational artist, Michael Johnson as the Chief Musician composes and improvises from his musical tradition of the Christian Church, his studies in modal jazz and the modern minimalistic school of classical music. His sound world is a musical collage with hymn tunes, modern jazz harmony, gospel music and the old Gregorian church modes, that juxtapose against the improvisations of Middle Eastern modes. In this melting pot of music, an eclectic sonic worldview is formed, which helps the individual to center their thoughts whilst engaged in time with prayer, reflection, and thoughtfulness. The music itself is an act of prayer, meditation, and reflection to God. As you engage with the music, you will recognize snatches of hymns, songs and themes in a pastiche of sound; the music itself will rise and fall in mood and content as often prayer does in personal experience.”

Book preview

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my children, that they may have the Wisdom of the Fathers to guide them through the Journey of their lives.

Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore, get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.

Proverbs 4:7

FOREWORD BY

DR. MICHAEL HUTTON-WOOD

I’ve known Pastor Michael Johnson and his lovely family since 2006 and I can describe him without equivocation as a man of integrity, discipline, humility, honor, loyal, faithful, spiritual, dependable, of great intellect, intelligent, brilliant, noble, respectable, with a sense of duty and of impeccable character. A great leader indeed. Now, from this book, a deep philosophical and powerful author. 

Some of the very thought-provoking questions that will arise in your mind from this book include: 

What could you have been if with what you know now, you had an opportunity to be your younger self all over again? 

What would you attempt to do or achieve if with what you know now about life and about yourself, you had an opportunity to be your younger self all over again? 

What better person would you be, if with what you know now, you had an opportunity to be your younger self all over again? 

Who is the real me, considering I am really created in the image of God?

Understanding is very powerful. It is understanding that makes one outstanding in one’s field. No wonder the wisest king in his day, King Solomon advised in Proverbs 4:7, Get wisdom and in all your getting, GET UNDERSTANDING. 

Miseducation is terrible. As the author indicated in this book, it was Carter G. Woodson who stated in his seminal book, Miseducation Of the Negro the following: If you can control a man's thinking you do not have to worry about his action. When you determine what a man shall think you do not have to concern yourself about what he will do. If you make a man feel that he is inferior, you do not have to compel him to accept an inferior status, for he will seek it himself. If you make a man think that he is justly an outcast, you do not have to order him to the back door. He will go without being told; and if there is no back door, his very nature will demand one. 

He concluded that the place of practical and lasting change of human lives therefore is the informing of the understanding, because he who lacks understanding, remains in the congregation of the dead. (Proverbs 21:16)

I agree with the author when he says, This book should not be rushed through in one sitting but be savored like a fine wine to get the best out of it.

Why? Because it is loaded with knowledge, insight, wisdom and understanding which, when acted on, will catapult you to all you can become in life generally and specifically.  

Some of the truths in this book are: 

"Always know this... Man IS rich: Regardless if he has many financial assets or if he is poor and beggarly, He is rich because of who he is, not because of what he has.

The manifestation of prosperity or poverty of man is a generated reality; but truthfully Man in his being, is never poor; He may choose to deny it, but to be made in the image of God is to BE rich.

Man, the spirit is like God; Man the body is like the environment it was formed from; Man the Soul chooses what environment he will live in.

God limits Himself because He chooses to; man limits himself because he chooses to. So, we are who we choose to be despite who and what God has made us.

God wrestles with man the body to wake up man the spirit; God cripples Jacob so that Israel will come. 

If you constantly get others to do for you what you must do for yourself, eventually you will lose the ability to do for yourself what you should do for yourself.

If we believe that someone else is the cause of our downfall, we will never ever rise to the greatness of being the image of God.

A smartphone which is not used to develop the image of God in the owner only produces a foolish mind.

Men only must work for things because they are ungrateful of that which God gives freely.

Even if we forget our words, our words do not forget us – they still go to accomplish what they are sent to do. Herein lies many people's undoing."

These are serious, bold, courageous, insightful unapologetic observations and hard statements of truth, difficult to swallow but must be told. 

I highly recommend the author, this book and its contents to you and anyone else any day, anytime, anywhere.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank the many people who have helped me on my journey of life, especially the following -

To my awesome and truly amazing wife, Deborah… You have been the instrument of God's blessing in my life and I could not imagine this journey without you.

To all my nine amazing children, I pray that as you read this book you will start your individual journeys into all that God would have you be.

To My Mother, Pamela Campbell, who through the years has been the defining marker of the image of God and Christ in my life.

To My Pastors, Bishop and Pastor, Michael and Bernice Hutton-Wood for providing the spiritual environment and motivation for me to grow in and be able to write this book.

And to all the many people who have blessed me in the many diverse and various forms over the years - thank you!

And last but not least, to My Father in Heaven, my Elder Brother, the Lord Jesus Christ and my Senior Partner in the business of my life, the Holy Spirit - words cannot really describe how truly grateful I am for all you have done for me. Thank you for my life and all you have placed in me to give to the world.

Michael C Johnson.

INTRODUCTION

Before you start reading this book, I would like to explain what this book is and is not about.

The book is not a book authored by someone who is passing on the wisdom of their experience to a younger generation, gained from reflection on one's successes and mistakes. Though this is an admirable goal, this book does not aim at that, on the presumption that we have parents, pastors and teachers who can wisely guide us in that area. Also, this book is not a book of metaphysical thought, just done for the sake of being deep; again the world is awash with many such books. Over time the multiplicity of such books has caused the Wisdom of The Ages to say ...of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh...

The main title of this book, The Journey points towards what the real goal of the book is. For all humanity, life is a journey where we discover who God is, discover who we are in relationship to God and ourselves and respond accordingly in our various environments. Like all journeys, directions are essential to successfully navigate our way to our various destinations and this book aims to give the wisdom and understanding for the directions to the journey of life. The analogy of life being a journey reflects the Bible's use of the word Way as a symbolic reference to the recognized universal concept of an overarching moral universal order. This universal order is called 'Torah' in Hebrew and is represented in part in propositional form by the ten commandments. But these commandments do not begin to reveal the profound vastness of the Way or Torah; at best they are shadows of God's universal order. The famous Lao-Tzu refers to this universal order as the Tao (an approximate translation of this word in English would be, surprisingly, Way) and says of it in his famous book, Tao Te Ching in its fourth chapter Dimly seen, yet eternally present, I do not know who gave birth to it, It is older than any concept of God. He points towards to the Universal order's vastness by saying in the same chapter The Tao is like an empty pitcher, poured from, but never drained. Infinitely deep, it is the source of all things. This book will draw from this universal order, this Torah, this Way to guide and direct us in the journey of life to its consummate end. The mystery of the Christian faith is that the Way is not just an 'artificial' code of conduct or metaphysical musings of the profundity of the nature of reality, but that the Way is a Person. Christianity reflects that the moral Universal Order, the Tao, the Torah is the Person of God and that God manifested the multiplicity of His Being in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. This book then essentially looks to how we should align ourselves to the