Why I Started This Blog

Hi, My Name Is John Clark

My name is John Clark, and I am a grateful follower of Jesus Christ.

I have believed in Jesus for most of my life. One of God’s greatest gifts to me was a faithful grandmother, Fleta Clark, who made sure I knew who Jesus Christ was and understood the importance of His Word.

I still remember the day she gave me my first Bible. It remains one of my most cherished childhood memories.

I was about eight years old. I remember lying on the living room floor with that Bible open in front of me, reading it for hours. I may not have understood everything I was reading, but even then, I knew there was something different about the words in that book.

There was power in them.

As the years passed, however, my relationship with Scripture became inconsistent. There were seasons when I read the Bible and seasons when I barely opened it.

I knew about Jesus Christ, but knowing about Jesus and following Jesus are not necessarily the same thing.

For the better part of forty years, that described much of my life.

Then one day, I made a decision: I was going to read the Bible every day, and I wasn’t going to put it down again.

At the time, I thought this commitment might be the answer to the problems I was facing. Instead, life became increasingly difficult. Eventually, I reached one of the darkest places of my life—a point where I no longer wanted to live.

But God, in His mercy and grace, did not let my story end there.

Through that darkness, something began to change.

I began to understand that Christianity wasn’t simply about reading the Bible, knowing Scripture, or knowing facts about Jesus.

It was about following Him.

And by God’s grace, that is what I began to do.

I am grateful to say that from the day I made that commitment to God’s Word until today, I have continued reading the Bible every day. Through good seasons and difficult ones, His Word has remained with me.

And, more importantly, God has continued to work on me through His Word.

Then Something Else Happened

Fast-forward to 2020.

I was continuing my daily Bible reading as I normally did when I began to sense something different.

As I read, thoughts began forming.

Verses I had read many times suddenly connected with other passages. Ideas began taking shape. Scripture started opening up to me in ways I hadn’t noticed before.

And I felt prompted to write.

So I started writing.

One thought became another. One passage connected to another. Before long, I had accumulated pages of reflections from my time in God’s Word.

This blog is the result of that journey.

I am going back through those writings, continuing to study Scripture, and sharing what God has been teaching me along the way.

I don’t write because I believe I have everything figured out.

Far from it.

I write because I am still learning.

I am still growing.

And I am still following Jesus.

Why I Write

There are three things I pray will always remain at the heart of everything I share here.

1. Above everything else, I pray that these words glorify God.

If something I write does not ultimately point back to Him, then it has missed its purpose.

“Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
— 1 Corinthians 10:31 (NASB)

2. I pray these writings encourage someone else to walk more closely with Jesus Christ.

If something God has taught me through His Word can encourage another person to open their Bible, trust Christ more deeply, or take another step in following Him, then sharing these thoughts has been worthwhile.

3. I want to remain teachable.

I am a student of God’s Word, not its final authority. Scripture is the authority.

If I misunderstand a passage or reach a conclusion that isn’t faithful to Scripture, I welcome thoughtful, gracious correction. My desire isn’t to defend my ideas.

My desire is to understand God’s truth.

Still Following

My journey with Jesus has not been a straight line.

There have been victories and failures, seasons of faith and seasons of struggle, moments of clarity and moments when I simply had to trust God without understanding what He was doing.

But when I look back over my life, I can see something clearly:

God has been faithful.

He was faithful when a grandmother placed a Bible into the hands of an eight-year-old boy.

He was faithful during the years when that boy grew into a man who knew about Jesus but wasn’t truly following Him.

He was faithful in the darkest moments when life seemed unbearable.

And He is faithful today.

I am still reading.

Still learning.

Still writing.

Still growing.

And, by His grace, still following Jesus Christ.

Thank you for stopping by and joining me on this journey. I pray something you find here encourages you to open God’s Word, draw closer to Christ, and discover more deeply just how faithful He is.

May everything written here ultimately point beyond me and toward Him.

To God be the glory.

May God bless you,

John Clark
A grateful follower of Jesus Christ