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	<title>Conversations Journal &#187; Jan Johnson</title>
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	<link>http://conversationsjournal.com</link>
	<description>A Forum for Authentic Transformation</description>
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		<title>The Presence of a Very Good Person</title>
		<link>http://conversationsjournal.com/2012/04/the-presence-of-a-very-good-person/</link>
		<comments>http://conversationsjournal.com/2012/04/the-presence-of-a-very-good-person/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 13 Apr 2012 12:06:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jan Johnson</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Welcoming the Stranger]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://conversationsjournal.com/?p=5055</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I believe spiritual disciplines (including welcoming the stranger) are as much caught as taught. Spiritual practices can sort of rub off others onto us. Hence, the presence of a very good person in our lives has an enormous result. I saw this a while ago. As I sat comfortably nestled under a bunch of telephone [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<title>Welcoming the Stranger</title>
		<link>http://conversationsjournal.com/2012/02/welcoming-the-stranger/</link>
		<comments>http://conversationsjournal.com/2012/02/welcoming-the-stranger/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 02 Feb 2012 04:11:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jan Johnson</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Article]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Transformational Theology]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Volume 10.1 Spring/Summer 2012]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://conversationsjournal.com/?p=4670</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I liked the idea better when it was only talked about in the leadership meeting. Putting it into action was difficult. That idea, the “three-minute guideline,” suggested that in the last three minutes before the church service began and in the first three minutes after it ended, leaders would greet only people we didn’t know. [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>The Oneness of Kinship: From Gangs and Guns to Bakeries and Brotherhood</title>
		<link>http://conversationsjournal.com/2012/02/the-oneness-of-kinship-from-gangs-and-guns-to-bakeries-and-brotherhood/</link>
		<comments>http://conversationsjournal.com/2012/02/the-oneness-of-kinship-from-gangs-and-guns-to-bakeries-and-brotherhood/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 02 Feb 2012 04:20:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jan Johnson</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Article]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Intentionality Of The Heart]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Volume]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Volume 10.1 Spring/Summer 2012]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://conversationsjournal.com/?p=4678</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[To walk up to the Homeboy Industries building in the shadow of Los Angeles City Hall is to find yourself in the middle of a community with surprising similarities to a monastery. There, in gang-neutral territory, former gang members dressed in various colored T-shirts with the slogans “Jobs, not Jails” and “Homeboy Industries” sweep the [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>Seek to Serve</title>
		<link>http://conversationsjournal.com/2012/02/seek-to-serve/</link>
		<comments>http://conversationsjournal.com/2012/02/seek-to-serve/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:00:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jan Johnson</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Family Life]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://conversationsjournal.com/?p=4724</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Recently I was doing lectio divina on Matt 18:1-5 where Jesus sets a child in the middle of the disciples who had been squabbling over who would be the greatest and tells them, “Be like this!” (Mark 9:33-37). I liked how instead of chiding them for their egotism, Jesus distracts them with the absurd idea [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>Contemplation: No Better Place to Be than with God</title>
		<link>http://conversationsjournal.com/2012/01/contemplation-no-better-place-to-be-than-with-god/</link>
		<comments>http://conversationsjournal.com/2012/01/contemplation-no-better-place-to-be-than-with-god/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 18 Jan 2012 22:38:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jan Johnson</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Article]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Classical Spiritual Exercises]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Volume 4:2 Fall 2006]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://conversationsjournal.com/?p=4427</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I had a sense God was inviting me up there, inviting me to stop being mad at him. I couldn’t talk about it to anyone. After the sessions, I stayed in the chapel to gaze. I shut my eyes, knowing the window and the trees were there. No words. No tears. When I got home, [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>Scriptural Meditation: Welcoming God Each Time</title>
		<link>http://conversationsjournal.com/2012/01/scriptural-meditation-welcoming-god-each-time/</link>
		<comments>http://conversationsjournal.com/2012/01/scriptural-meditation-welcoming-god-each-time/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 27 Jan 2012 21:40:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jan Johnson</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Article]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Life Together]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Volume 3:1 Spring 2005]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://conversationsjournal.com/?p=4599</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[For years I’ve been practicing and teaching the familiar styles of Scripture meditation, but it seems that only recently I’ve begun to grasp this basic point: each time I approach the Scripture, I need to deliberately and submissively give God permission to speak to me through those Holy Spirit-breathed words. It’s actually a prayer of [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
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		<title>Gifts of Making Space</title>
		<link>http://conversationsjournal.com/2011/12/gifts-of-making-space/</link>
		<comments>http://conversationsjournal.com/2011/12/gifts-of-making-space/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 29 Dec 2011 16:50:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jan Johnson</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Article]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Front Page]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Volume 5:2 - Fall 2007]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://conversationsjournal.com/?p=4209</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Running home to Mom and Dad . . . Returning to the nest . . .In a culture in which renting rooms is no longer widespread, and relationships lack stability, adult kids are returning home to live with their parents, who have become their economic safety net. But when Mom and Dad are deceased or [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Discernment Within a Conversational Life</title>
		<link>http://conversationsjournal.com/2011/12/discernment-within-a-conversational-life/</link>
		<comments>http://conversationsjournal.com/2011/12/discernment-within-a-conversational-life/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 28 Dec 2011 21:38:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jan Johnson</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Article]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Volume 6:2 - Fall 2008]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://conversationsjournal.com/?p=4180</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The E-mail read, “So which graduate program do you think is best for me?” I winced as I typed out my more-than-sound-bitesize reply: “It depends on what you really want to learn and how you want to learn it. Write that down. Pray and wait. Refine it. Then do some research and line up the [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://conversationsjournal.com/2011/12/discernment-within-a-conversational-life/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
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		<title>Surprised by God</title>
		<link>http://conversationsjournal.com/2011/12/surprised-by-god/</link>
		<comments>http://conversationsjournal.com/2011/12/surprised-by-god/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 30 Dec 2011 21:46:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jan Johnson</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Article]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Honesty About the Journey]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Volume 5:1 Spring 2007]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://conversationsjournal.com/?p=4270</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Several years ago, a woman came to me after I finished teaching a series of writing workshops. She took a deep breath and explained that she had wanted to come to the first workshop, but refrained because she’d attended one I led ten years earlier. She had sensed back then that I was angry with [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Progress, Not Perfection</title>
		<link>http://conversationsjournal.com/2012/01/progress-not-perfection/</link>
		<comments>http://conversationsjournal.com/2012/01/progress-not-perfection/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 03 Jan 2012 12:10:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jan Johnson</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Lectio]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://conversationsjournal.com/?p=4310</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A confession:  I was unable to write anything on the blog topic:  “Lectio My Life (Instead of Resolutions or Reflections, What Do You Hear From God When You Practice Lectio with the Past Year of Your Life).” I tried.  I began reading my prayer/lectio journal entries in January and February, 2011, and stopped.  Yuk—too much [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://conversationsjournal.com/2012/01/progress-not-perfection/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Rhythm of Retreat</title>
		<link>http://conversationsjournal.com/2011/11/the-rhythm-of-retreat/</link>
		<comments>http://conversationsjournal.com/2011/11/the-rhythm-of-retreat/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 29 Nov 2011 20:38:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jan Johnson</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Article]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Volume 7:1 Spring/Summer 2009]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://conversationsjournal.com/?p=4096</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[To get out of taking a PE course in college, a young friend of mine enrolled in a ballroom dancing class. This six-football, stocky young man with a shaved head explained to us how it wasn’t so bad, and then he left to buy dancing shoes. We didn’t dare laugh because we saw that he [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://conversationsjournal.com/2011/11/the-rhythm-of-retreat/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>A God Who Weeps</title>
		<link>http://conversationsjournal.com/2011/10/a-god-who-weeps/</link>
		<comments>http://conversationsjournal.com/2011/10/a-god-who-weeps/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 11 Oct 2011 15:11:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jan Johnson</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Article]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Intentionality Of The Heart]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Volume 9.2 Fall/Winter 2011]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://conversationsjournal.com/?p=3752</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[One  reason Rebecca found trusting God so difficult was that Christians had tried to move her out of grieving by saying, “But you have another child,” and “God wanted your son in heaven,” and even, “God thinks you’re strong enough to handle this.” She said to me, “I don’t think I like their god.” She was not so much angry as she was confused. We [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>A Confession About Illustrations</title>
		<link>http://conversationsjournal.com/2011/10/a-confession-about-illustrations/</link>
		<comments>http://conversationsjournal.com/2011/10/a-confession-about-illustrations/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 10 Oct 2011 11:12:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jan Johnson</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Sermons]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://conversationsjournal.com/?p=3682</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A confession:  Illustrations have been my downfall.  I used to use a story about myself that brought the house down but I began to see that I was showing off.  I was making my speaking about me.  It took me a few years to give it up because people loved it. Once I did, I [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://conversationsjournal.com/2011/10/a-confession-about-illustrations/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<title>Unhurried Life at Its Best</title>
		<link>http://conversationsjournal.com/2011/09/unhurried-life-at-its-best/</link>
		<comments>http://conversationsjournal.com/2011/09/unhurried-life-at-its-best/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 12 Sep 2011 11:45:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jan Johnson</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Retreats]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://conversationsjournal.com/?p=3546</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[For many people this summer included  vacations, enrichment tours, hiking trips, or pleasure cruises—all crammed with pressure-packed schedules. What about a day or two of rest and renewal? Personal retreats are just that. But people wonder how to take one. You might begin by spending a morning in the park or out in the woods [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://conversationsjournal.com/2011/09/unhurried-life-at-its-best/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>Relief From Guilt</title>
		<link>http://conversationsjournal.com/2011/07/relief-from-guilt/</link>
		<comments>http://conversationsjournal.com/2011/07/relief-from-guilt/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 13 Jul 2011 11:57:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jan Johnson</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Discernment]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://conversationsjournal.com/?p=3326</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Many people think guilt is God’s way of motivating us to behave better. Not until I heard Dallas Willard make the blanket statement that “Guilt never helps” did I realize guilt just makes people hopeless.  It fixes my eyes on me (what I’ve done wrong) moves me away from God. What’s interesting, however, is that [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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