I just launched journal number 40 with a thematic cover that is similar to journal 39. Usually, journal covers are different, each reflecting a theme in my life at the time. This time however, I felt I needed to correct for #40 "incorrect" phrasing on the cover of journal 39.
Notice the "Doug Walkerism" statements near the bottom of each cover.
P.S. A "Doug Walkerism" is my own coined phrase in honor of Doug Walker, the pastor of Grace Chapel, our church since mid-1997. He usually follows this and many of his "isms" phrases with something like, “The Gospel changes everything.” This phrasing derives from a greater, gospel philosophy Doug brought to Grace Chapel when he became our pastor in 2004.
Journal 28 cover by daughter, Laura - a 2006 Father's Day gift
I've been keeping some kind of notebook or journal since 1972, my junior year in high school. Thematic covers like these started with journal #28 in 2007 when our daughter Laura gifted me a journal with a decorated cover for Father's Day 2006. I liked it so much, I decorated all my subsequent journal covers.
After I locked the “Grace” version onto the cover of #39 in March (2017), Doug used the term in one of his messages. Only he used “Gospel” not “Grace.”
“Darn," I thought. "I got it wrong. How could I after hearing him say this all these years?”
Resolving to get it “right” with the next journal, I created the cover for #40 a month or so prior to completing journal #39. After replacing “Grace” with “Gospel,” I locked the cover in with a contact paper layer.
Didn’t have to wait long for Doug to use the phrase again. Except this time, he used “Grace” instead of “Gospel.”
Turns out they are interchangeable! Dah. Apparently, I'm not one of Doug's star pupils. Perhaps I should invite him to grade me on this next sentence. The Gospel is the source of Grace and Grace flows from the Gospel. Gospel and Grace go hand in hand - interchangeable as long as grace always contexts the gospel.
A two-sentence statement on our Grace Chapel monthly bulletin summarizes the philosophy, beginning with, “The gospel is the story of God’s work as He restores a broken world full of broken people through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
The gospel restores brokenness through Jesus Christ. The Gospel is the work of Jesus and Grace is the redemption we receive through faith in Christ.
So you see, Gospel and Grace build off each other.
So did I “waste” this #40 journal cover to correct what didn’t need correcting? What do you think?
Subsequent journals also "covered"
Notes:
Other favorite Doug Walkerisms:
- Upside down gospel
- Bad Heart; Bad Record; Broken World
- That every book (of the Bible) contains an entire gospel
- Real God, Messy People. Changed Lives
- Others?