Transcript
Krystal Thomas: Hi everyone. Thank you so much for joining us for this week's episode. We're going to continue our amazing series, Not What You Thought, Real Faith and Unexpected Journeys.
Krystal Thomas: Now to today we have a very, very special guest. We have John who is here to join us to share part of his story. John.
Jon Davis: Hey, Crystal, how's it going? So great to be with you.
Krystal Thomas: ah we're so glad that you're here. It's Going really well. I'm so excited. This series has been so fun to be able to just really unpack just the journeys that people have been on, ah what they've learned about God, what they how they've come to faith, all of that. And so it's just been a very sweet, and I hope for those who are listening, an encouraging time as well.
Jon Davis: I love it. And you know, i was, I was riding my bike home and I was like, wait, I get to go talk to my dear friend, Crystal. We get to talk about the Lord. This is amazing.
Krystal Thomas: I know, right?
Jon Davis: Like, yeah, after a long day at work, this is refreshing, right?
Krystal Thomas: We are in for a treat today.
Jon Davis: Amen.
Krystal Thomas: So John, for those who haven't had a chance to get to know you, do you mind just telling us a little bit about yourself?
Jon Davis: Yeah, absolutely. So full name, John Davis. Let's see. Grew up in Clearwater, Tampa area.
Krystal Thomas: Mm-hmm.
Jon Davis: Came up to lived in Charlotte for 20 years and moved up to D.C. here two years ago, year and a half ago. i found the district church and that's when I first met you. I'll never forget because I was kind of stumbling around trying to figure things out and you were like, hey,
Jon Davis: Welcome. You look like you could be new.
Krystal Thomas: You look new.
Jon Davis: you must be new. And, uh, I, I think since then, I just, I've been welcomed by so many people by the love of Christ and, you know, it's, we'll share more about my story, but it's just been amazing.
Jon Davis: Um, I, I've been an entrepreneur. um I've written a book of poems and letters. I write poetry more as praises to God now. Those are at my site, just jondavis.art.
Jon Davis: And I like taking pictures of photos. um I love gathering people. I love our district college students, um our create group, cooking, anytime I'm just gathering and and worshiping the Lord and and you probably hear pitter patters of my dogs.
Jon Davis: I love Larry, my Labrador.
Krystal Thomas: he
Jon Davis: So yeah, that's a little bit about me, I guess.
Krystal Thomas: Yeah, that's great. Like, honestly, John is the type of person that, like, you can expect a like a beautiful flow picture of a flower. You can just like he's just a very intentional and just a very kind person. And so for those of you who do know John, you're probably listening to this like, oh, my gosh, yes, that's him to the T.
Krystal Thomas: But those of you who haven't gotten to to engage, to meet him or to look at any of his art, I encourage you check him out at john.art. That's correct. Right, John?
Jon Davis: John Davis dot art. And it's J.O.N.
Krystal Thomas: John Davis.art.
Jon Davis: Now you can't put they say, why would you put an H in John when you don't and John and Donna Ron? So just that's way to remember it. J.O. Davis dot art.
Krystal Thomas: That's a really funny. And we'll also have a link in the description. So don't, don't, don't worry.
Jon Davis: Don't worry.
Krystal Thomas: So John, just to get us started, um do you mind just telling us a little bit about your journey to faith?
Jon Davis: Yeah.
Jon Davis: Yeah, absolutely. It's really, it's just been an extraordinary journey. You know, i I think the theme is pursuit of how much the Lord pursued me. You know, when I got baptized in March 2024, the poem i read in the water that day with our pastor Kevin was called he never stopped pursuing me.
Jon Davis: And so it started back, you know, I grew up Catholic, but as I've shared with a lot of people crystal, you know, I never, um,
Krystal Thomas: well
Jon Davis: you know, it was beautiful churches and services. And I did Sunday school, but without knowing it, never really had a relationship with Christ. And when you're young, you know, um it's easy to just go to church, go through the motions.
Jon Davis: And I was really away from faith in my 20s and 30s. By the time I was 30, I got really into self-awareness, leadership, culture work. And so I really made a decision then that I have a relationship with God in my mind and you know that I'm loving and kind, but I had a real aversion to the word Jesus Christ to the name.
Krystal Thomas: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Jon Davis: And um so the fact that Now, two years later from 15 years later, two years later, when I really felt the Lord picked up his pursuit of me, that we're on a podcast and I'm saying the name Jesus as my Lord and Savior is purely a miracle.
Krystal Thomas: Yeah, that's a big deal. Yeah.
Jon Davis: And, you know, that they say sometimes those of us, it was like, I think pete they say Paul, when Paul really came to Christ in the in the Bible before he was Saul, that sometimes people are at a low point.
Jon Davis: and And that's where I was.
Krystal Thomas: Mm.
Jon Davis: And it was, I started becoming an entrepreneur in about 2020. And the Lord, I believe, started putting really strong believers around me. First guy was my brother, Nate Sally played for the Panthers. He's a Christian rapper under the name progress.
Jon Davis: And I just crystal I couldn't, I just wanted to be around him. And I around that time got diagnosed with ADHD and struggle with anxiety.
Krystal Thomas: Yeah.
Jon Davis: I was doing a lot of counseling, healing from trauma in my history. um I was, you know, self-described people to just hyper vigilant, you know, really had sometimes hold on one second. Let me just get Larry.
Krystal Thomas: Don't get Larry. Let him play.
Jon Davis: let place
Krystal Thomas: He was having a time.
Jon Davis: Larry's playing for all those listening. is locked up all day.
Krystal Thomas: He was like, dad's getting too serious.
Jon Davis: um
Krystal Thomas: I got to cheer him up.
Jon Davis: Dad's getting too serious here.
Krystal Thomas: Okay.
Jon Davis: So we'll we'll just let it flow like this is the living room. But um I just felt there kept being people like that. And I was like, what is this? And Crystal, I saw 10 different counselors.
Jon Davis: I mean, I've done somatic body healing. I've done brain spotting. I've done... EMDR. i mean, you name the modality and nothing ever got to the healing and the completeness as a man.
Krystal Thomas: Yeah.
Jon Davis: And when I submitted and got baptized again and gave my life to Christ and
Krystal Thomas: yeah
Jon Davis: It's just extraordinary, really. I think back to then fast, fast forward to September 2023. I just finished writing a book of poems and letters called Becoming More Human Words from the Soul.
Jon Davis: Thought I was going to become a traveling poet. And I'm really at my lowest place professionally. Um, you know, didn't know where I was going. what I was so lost, so lost.
Jon Davis: um Had blown through a large sum of money um that I got from selling my house in a year, was living off savings. um And praise God, a photographer who is a believer named Tanisha Bird, I was struggling with forgiveness. And she said,
Jon Davis: um you know, John, you could take that to God. And I was like, what? What do you like? You mean I could ah rely on something other than myself because it just got baked into me for so many years that I had to rely on me that I had to break through a behavior I needed to go to somebody a human I needed to go to and I'm a huge proponent of counseling but counts there's nothing that compares to going to God and going to Christ and understanding what that means to have your full security and somebody other than yourself and not of this human world and
Krystal Thomas: yeah
Krystal Thomas: yeah
Jon Davis: She said, yeah, John, why don't you get to know God? why don't you start reading the gospels? You know, that's how you would know Jesus. Jesus is the extension of God. And I was like, wait, what? Jesus has got, like, I just didn't even understand that.
Jon Davis: So here I am in transition. I'm ready to leave Charlotte. I'm reading the gospels now four hours a day. ah Without knowing what I'm doing, I'm repenting.
Krystal Thomas: wow
Jon Davis: i thought I was a business failure for the work I had done in community building. And then I see Luke where he says, if you have people in your home, have, you know, the poor, the sick, the lame. And not that I was having people in those categories in my house, but I was doing work at that time where I wanted to work with people who were left out of society, people who were not thought of in corporations.
Krystal Thomas: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Jon Davis: And I had a huge heart for bringing multicultural groups together, that how do we build coalitions of people that that really believe, you know, I in them and you in me, as it says in John chapter 17, verse 23. I just...
Jon Davis: so i just It was like I was being chipping away. You know, my heart had become hardened, even though I'm this community builder and know everyone in Charlotte had all the success, been on boards, but I was lost and my heart was just craving meaning.
Jon Davis: I used to listen to one song every day, a secular song called The World in Union. And I was like, is this all there is? Is there any? I didn't know there's worship music. I'll never forget.
Jon Davis: I'm in a car of a friend of mine who's of the Hindu faith, Crystal. And this is what God does. He works miracles. And I'm borrowing his car and all of a sudden Rest on Us by Maverick City Music comes on.
Krystal Thomas: Really comes on.
Jon Davis: Comes on. And I just start, I start crying. And then I was like, whoa, it says Jesus in that song. I can't listen to that. and you know, and and I resisted it.
Krystal Thomas: Yeah. Yeah.
Jon Davis: But, Praise God. I moved up here end of December, two weeks in a friend of mine, Sam, as you know, brought me to district church by the end of January.
Jon Davis: I was like, I'm committing to Christ. And again, praise God for our pastor past pastoral team. Pastor Kevin was,
Krystal Thomas: know
Jon Davis: you know, spending time mentoring, discipling me, then and Pastor Aaron just knew that there was something more. And he kept saying, I think it's time for you to get baptized. And getting baptized helped me understand the gravity of the decision I was making.
Jon Davis: And since then, it's been a meteoric rise of just how I feel.
Krystal Thomas: Hmm.
Jon Davis: as a man i've gone from just basic security in the lord to swimming trying to figure this thing out to feeling bold to understanding this is a god a transformation we worship it's you know this isn't about being steady or a christian life this is to become more like christ and i have an incredible group of community you being one of them and this has been you know the scripture written on my wall is first peter chapter one verse eight and it's probably one of my favorites because it says though you do not see him you love him and even though you don't see him now you believe in him because you're filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy and i just feel like i have of course there's not days that are challenges but i know i can
Jon Davis: rely on him and cry out to him and he'll listen and I can celebrate and treasure him. And it's ah it's extraordinary. Yeah.
Krystal Thomas: Amen. Amen. There were just so many amazing things that, that were said. I find myself, you know, especially in the series, I feel like, especially in our world today, there's probably a lot of us who, you um have a ah desire and a heart for things to be better, or you may be wired um to to have such compassion and to have such mercy. mercy and And John, I think you put it perfectly. It's like you had a heart to reach those most unseen.
Krystal Thomas: You saw injustice and wanted to fix it. And yet your heart was hard. Yeah.
Jon Davis: Hmm.
Krystal Thomas: And it wasn't until but love ah of Jesus, the like having that relationship where you were able to have a heart that returned back to flesh. um For anyone who might be in a position where um they're struggling with that, their heart is hard. they see a lot of the injustice.
Krystal Thomas: They want to have hope. They know that life can be like, or maybe they need to be reminded that life can be more. What advice would you, would you give them or even to yourself in that, in that season?
Jon Davis: Yeah, it's such a great point because i will say in a good front, when I was in that time, 2020, 2021, was doing a lot of organizing.
Jon Davis: and was working with a lot of diversity, equity, and inclusion experts.
Krystal Thomas: Yeah.
Jon Davis: We were meeting once a month. We had a group called A Call for Common Humanity that were bringing people together to continue to try to build coalitions to build more awareness and policy change around injustices towards the Black community.
Krystal Thomas: yeah
Jon Davis: And um i think we were taught to be disciples of all nations, but justice in my mind can't happen without it being rooted in the Bible.
Jon Davis: And because I used to think it was my job to bring peace, my job to bring justice instead of upholding the bond of peace that God already has for us.
Krystal Thomas: Mm-hmm.
Jon Davis: And so I think that the Lord will break our hearts for certain things. So for people struggling with things in the world, I just think I used to think I had to come up with the solution.
Jon Davis: Like at one point, I haven't told a lot of people this. I thought I could try to organize people for national reconciliation and reparations for black Americans. I just had no skillset, but I kept
Krystal Thomas: That's a huge responsibility you gave yourself.
Jon Davis: Yeah, exactly. And so there's a lot there was a lot of pride actually in that, that I had to be the answer, that I had to do it.
Krystal Thomas: Yeah.
Jon Davis: And I've learned that the hard way and it burnt me out. And then in a lot of the conversations on culture, you're always going to get it wrong somewhere.
Krystal Thomas: Yeah.
Jon Davis: Someone's going to say, you're not strong enough. You're not this enough. You're not that enough. um And God loves us so freely.
Krystal Thomas: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Jon Davis: And I learned with him, i don't have to earn it.
Krystal Thomas: yeah
Jon Davis: I don't have to exert for it. Yes, we're called to serve the oppressed. We're called to have eyes towards justice. When we serve the least of us, we're serving Jesus. he He loves how we come with him with a childlike faith.
Jon Davis: At the same time, no accomplishment or thing I do is going to get him to love me anymore. And so I think for people, for example, my heart's been really broken lately for ah how we're treating the immigrant community in Washington, D.C.
Krystal Thomas: Yeah.
Jon Davis: But the Lord's going to do things when you can't even feel like you can act. And I'll say, right. This is one of my favorite stories and how rooting ourselves in Christ can heal us when we're hurting for these causes. And I had volunteered, as you know, with our church two days at check to help get students to a safe passageway um because there were ICE agents out.
Jon Davis: um you you know picking up families when but with a presence it helped deter some of that action but i also have a new job and by the third day i was like i really have to start getting some things done i can't go again to the school at 7 30. and as i biked past 14th street my heart was broken i was in tears i just said lord i i feel you telling me i need to go be excellent at work, but there's people over here.
Jon Davis: And Crystal, I went up and with the extra time I had, I was obedient and went to work.
Krystal Thomas: Yeah.
Jon Davis: I was on the roof of our building. And as I finished praying, here's the woman I know from the building who maintains the building, who's from El Salvador.
Krystal Thomas: Wow.
Jon Davis: And she's a believer. And I told her how my heart was feeling. She showed me pictures of things she's been dealing with.
Krystal Thomas: yeah
Jon Davis: and we prayed together and god knew the desires of my heart he just said i need you on the roof praying with anya at 8 a.m m and i don't need you over there and so i think in these causes i've learned just how limited i am we are and there's a certain level of humility that i think has to happen i'll say for me of like you and i talked like i can't be everywhere
Krystal Thomas: while
Krystal Thomas: Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Krystal Thomas: yeah
Jon Davis: But you can rely on a God who's working for our good, who's working for justice. And the more we pray, um what a weapon prayer is.
Jon Davis: And he can change our hearts and get us to write action from the Holy Spirit and not from our minds.
Krystal Thomas: Yeah. Ooh, that's so good. i know like even using your example, especially those who have a heart for justice. Um, and even like for me, it's been really understanding the biblical concept of hospitality.
Jon Davis: Yeah.
Krystal Thomas: um And a lot, you know, hospitality, especially often in church context is not really viewed or now it's like more equated to like the service industry or um it's more transactional. It's all about the customer being correct. Right. It's kind of lost the.
Krystal Thomas: um relational aspect in certain contexts and sometimes within the church. And I think what has been so powerful is reading works by Dr. Christine Pulse, excuse me.
Krystal Thomas: um Dr. Christine Pohl, who talks a lot about radical hospitality and how hospitality being a practice, like a way of life, not just something that we do, how the ministry, viewing it as a ministry, forces us to put a face on injustice.
Jon Davis: Mm-hmm.
Krystal Thomas: Like it's no longer happening to people around us, but it's happening to our neighbor. It's happening to those that we see. um But something that I think also ties to what you're saying, John, is that the the call and the heart and the desire to be hospitable and to love and to see others comes from the fact that we were first welcomed and loved and welcomed into God's family.
Krystal Thomas: And so I love what you said about the passion and wanting to act and having a heart for others. What we're not saying is like, oh, I don't have to care. I'm out. like That's not what we're saying.
Krystal Thomas: um But realizing that it gets to come from the overflow, that it comes from first being seen, known, and loved by God, that you then are empowered and are able to,
Krystal Thomas: to serve and to love, in my opinion, in my experience, it's been, I've been able to do so more intentionally, um, and, uh, and more honoring because it's not about me. It's not about my own pride, but it's more to, to live out the call or the burden that I feel in my heart.
Krystal Thomas: I don't know if that makes, makes sense, but you're, yeah.
Jon Davis: Oh, that's so powerful, because i think so And this will make sense. like i Like the Bible says we have, right, of the same mind of Christ.
Jon Davis: We have the same emotions of Christ.
Krystal Thomas: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Jon Davis: And what a God, right? To say, not just like, hey, I want you to kind of follow me, but like I put you as an heir to my throne.
Krystal Thomas: yeah
Jon Davis: So it was, I just looked at my wall and it was this past May when I, just felt complete and prayer that the Lord had healed me that I no longer shared that I had a disability, I no longer shared that something was wrong with my mind.
Jon Davis: um Because I realized some of that narrative was constantly giving me an out but I finally realized, I don't have to act on my emotions. And the Lord showed me that in a really tough scenario. And so I think to your point,
Jon Davis: you know, you hear the quote, hurt people hurt people sometimes in my past and I'm not perfect with it still, but I can act on emotion.
Krystal Thomas: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Jon Davis: And I used to act on so much emotion. So I was all over the place because the Lord made me a very sensitive person. And so now I think he crucifies those things like he's done for me to say, i want your sensitivity to be in how much you sense my presence.
Jon Davis: I want your sensitivity to be in how much you feel. feel my love and exude the joy that I have. But you need to have boundaries around it. So I think to your point, when we're doing it well, we're being Holy Spirit led.
Krystal Thomas: And
Jon Davis: And that's different than emotion led because I'm sad or upset about this crisis. So I'm going to go act. And it's not that that's anything wrong. I did serving like that for years, but it can create a lot of challenges and how we, to your point, orient to people.
Jon Davis: Are we coming from an overflow and radical hospitality? Or are we coming from curing a pain I have inside that's unhealed?
Krystal Thomas: Yeah, yeah. and what does it look like to name and acknowledge the pain and giving it to God? Because what I also want to make sure is that it's not that we are saying not to feel, right?
Jon Davis: Yep.
Jon Davis: yeah
Krystal Thomas: um But it's realizing that, I'll speak for me, that oftentimes in my anger and my frustration at the brokenness and the sin, not just in the world, but within within me It's easier to focus on others. It's easier to try to want to change systems and and do all these things as opposed to really addressing like what's going on within my own heart. And so for those who are maybe outside of the church and you're kind of like, I don't know about this whole faith God, this...
Krystal Thomas: My hope and my prayer is that you hear not only the journey and the realness of like, what does it look like to actually live this out and realizing how much of it is really not.
Krystal Thomas: in our own strength, like it just points to how much we are in need of a savior. um but I just to also just encourage you just to kind of lean in because as John, we're going to talk more about John's journey of faith, every path and every way um from those who have shared has looked different and yet it's still the same God, which I again am amazed and just blessed by in so many different ways.
Jon Davis: Yeah, and and I love that because what you said is so important.
Krystal Thomas: So, oh yeah.
Jon Davis: You know me well, and I want to make sure people listening you know, like, I'm a pretty emotional person. I cry a lot when I pray.
Krystal Thomas: Yeah.
Jon Davis: And so this isn't about you're exactly right. I think you actually feel more. And what I'm actually learning is to cry out to God when I'm really upset. And I actually got used to packing that down and doing what you just said.
Krystal Thomas: Mm-hmm.
Jon Davis: Well, let me just go help people and distract myself from like, I'm really hurting and but I can cry out now.
Krystal Thomas: Yeah.
Krystal Thomas: Yeah.
Jon Davis: I've got this little prayer closet to God. And sometimes he says, i I hear you and I need you to wait to act. And that happened with waiting on, you know, the students to support a check. I you know, I had worked in public education, I've been an after school teacher, so I was dying to go support a school with some back to school activity. And I wanted to be with kids, but I kept feeling the Lord being like, not yet, not yet, just wait.
Jon Davis: And I, so I was obedient and waited and probably a couple weeks later was when Leonette sent the message out that, hey, we have this opportunity to not only come encourage students, but support them in safe passageways.
Jon Davis: And by the way, you don't have to coordinate it, John. You can just show up.
Krystal Thomas: Yeah.
Jon Davis: And I was like, what a blessing.
Krystal Thomas: Yeah.
Jon Davis: So I just think he knows the desires of our heart and he's going he's going put us in the situations where where we can handle it as well.
Krystal Thomas: yeah
Krystal Thomas: Yeah. And give us the strength too, for sure. Yeah.
Jon Davis: Yes.
Krystal Thomas: So good. So John continuing to go on this route because there's just so much that's there.
Jon Davis: Hmm.
Krystal Thomas: Um, I'm laughing cause I'm like, we it's almost like 30 minutes in and we're not even on the third question and that's okay.
Jon Davis: yeah that
Krystal Thomas: It's like, you knew what you signed up for. We, we love to chat. Um, And so this next question, I think, also gets to um the the part ah that often doesn't get shared in our in our journeys.
Krystal Thomas: um So what has been something that has challenged you regarding your faith and relationship with the Lord?
Jon Davis: Hmm. You know, I thought about this one. um
Jon Davis: There's way I would describe it is like thinking I'm ready for something and I'm not.
Krystal Thomas: Ooh, that hurts.
Jon Davis: And so the waiting season, Yeah.
Krystal Thomas: That hurt me.
Jon Davis: the And I'm just like, you know, I was I just praise God, just got a new job after, you know, five years in entrepreneurship. And it, you know, it took six months, really, I had started applying two years ago, got things back going. And I just think you just don't know what God is doing.
Jon Davis: And here I am a year ago, having had this successful career, now making $17 an hour at a afterschool program and my highest happiness, cause I have the Lord, but there was a time where I got food from a food bank and was like, I don't know what job you're going to give me Lord, that I also have a $10,000 tax bill coming due that I was, you know,
Jon Davis: And he restarted my business and blessed me with a new contract beyond what I can imagine. And I had the most successful you know, six to eight months, I had an entrepreneurship, but then like last February, I was like, I think it's time to join a team again.
Jon Davis: And it took me time and there was a job I really wanted I was really upset that I didn't get it and realized I had some rejection stuff to process.
Krystal Thomas: Mm.
Jon Davis: And within a month, that entire department at the job I wanted was was gone. And so it's happening right now of just like the Lord has, you know, made a promise and prayer to me around a spouse, but that I think I'm ready.
Jon Davis: And um I'm just, that's the part I'm always like, Lord, you, I trust you. And I share that Proverbs chapter three, verse five and six, right? All the time. Trust the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. And,
Jon Davis: submit your pass ways to him and he'll make your path straight. And I'm just so struck by how much I need to trust him and continue to work on that. And I always think I'm ready for something. And then this new insight comes from him or new like, oh yeah, I definitely was not ready for that because I still have this thing and I need to be more compassionate here. And thank you, Lord, that you withheld that from me.
Krystal Thomas: Yeah, that's a that's a good. That's a good point, because there are things that, you know, I'm thinking about even in my own journey. i was telling another guest, I was like, all of us singles need to get together and talk about the realness of being single within the church because there's just it's a lot.
Jon Davis: Yeah.
Krystal Thomas: Right. ah And, um you know, like, it's like we're celebrating like babies and marriages and all those things. And, you know, many of us know what the Lord has said of our lives.
Krystal Thomas: And yet things may not be moving as fast as we had hoped or as we desired. um And like being honest about, you know, like even for me, when I think about years ago where I was, like, and it's not saying that There are things like you have to perform or do in order to get marriage. That's also not what we're saying.
Jon Davis: And then
Krystal Thomas: Because ah in a lot of like naming the fact that in a lot of ways marriage is idolized, it can become an idol within the context of the church. um But what I what i mean is there are things that as much as I wanted them so badly, had i received them too early, the blessing would have been like I wasn't ready for that blessing. Right.
Krystal Thomas: I wasn't ready for that. And not because I have to prove myself, but because there was a lot of things that the Lord was doing within me, a lot of healing that had to take place. Yeah. in order for me to be able to steward it steward it well. And yeah, I think that that is a beautiful way of acknowledging, again, it's God's understanding and his timing.
Krystal Thomas: But I think you've also talked about the tension of, okay, so if not now, like being honest with God about the lament and the grief. And I think that is just like something we typically don't do or we talk about often.
Jon Davis: Yeah, yeah, no, and just to just to then think you're okay, how about now? he' helping
Krystal Thomas: Yeah.
Jon Davis: Right? And, and no, i remember, you know, one of our mutual friends, and he's okay, we're sharing it when I called, you know, our brother Moises, who, who, you know, shout out to Kiro coffee, and
Krystal Thomas: well
Jon Davis: And I when I didn't get that job. um It corresponded with something else significant in his life. And we just both we wrote poems.
Jon Davis: We wrote poems of lament of sorrow.
Krystal Thomas: Yeah.
Jon Davis: And I'm so grateful because the Lord helped me see how I still had this thing on rejection. And my identity was still i was wrapped up in It's the job that will give me security.
Jon Davis: And the Lord showed me, no, no, no, I will give you security. I am Jehovah Jireh and I never want a job or anything.
Krystal Thomas: yeah
Jon Davis: Even now I, you know, at the company I'm at now, I joke with friends like you, but see, my CEO is God, you know, and the no job will ever define me.
Krystal Thomas: Yeah.
Jon Davis: and And only God has been able to do that. Because I used to be like, my whole identity was in where I worked, what I did, what change I'm working on.
Krystal Thomas: yeah
Jon Davis: And now it's just like, hey, this is a vehicle to steward to glorify God, and to get back to the church and continued great ministry work, you know, that we get to do it the district church.
Krystal Thomas: and
Jon Davis: So
Krystal Thomas: Yeah, yeah. And ah like, it's like, it's the both. And i think that I'm just in awe is that like having our identity rooted in Christ, as opposed to what we do, especially in a world where there's just so much, um,
Krystal Thomas: to process, to go through. um But then also know that we don't have to be fake before our God, that there's also space for us to sit with him in it. Like I've just been reading scripture where, you know, where, where are in my version, I love reading the NLT, but it will talk about how the Lord will bottle every tear.
Jon Davis: Hmm. Hmm.
Krystal Thomas: Right.
Jon Davis: Hmm.
Krystal Thomas: um And that every tear that you've cried, every like heartbreak, like that is captured, that is recorded, that is remembered by God. And so realizing in the disappointment, my own disappointment, or when I feel like expectations or what I had hoped for hasn't happened in the way that I wanted, i am still encouraged um and known and loved and seen in the midst of the heartbreak.
Krystal Thomas: You know, there's just something about, yeah, it's just something that we get to be both. um And I think that like what you're saying is ah is a real challenge. Like it is both realizing that we're not in control of some of the things that we thought we were. i don't know about y'all, but you know, recovering control freak is me.
Jon Davis: me I don't know anything about that. What is that?
Krystal Thomas: I know. Right. What do you mean?
Jon Davis: what is that
Krystal Thomas: Not me. What?
Jon Davis: yeah
Krystal Thomas: I was telling someone the other day, i think it was earlier today. i was like, yeah, if I read a book or I watched a movie and I didn't like the ending, I would just like rewrite it. They're like, Oh wow. You're so creative.
Krystal Thomas: was like, thank you for putting a spot positive spin on being a little bit controlling, but you know, we're working on it.
Jon Davis: Yeah.
Krystal Thomas: Right.
Jon Davis: yeah
Krystal Thomas: We're working on it. Um, But there is a freedom in realizing that it's not all up to us, but also that there is space to grieve and lament um when what we have expected or what maybe we had hoped for doesn't necessarily happen in the way that we want it.
Krystal Thomas: Or, you know, on the other side, when things far exceed what we expect, there's also moments for joy. And so, again, I think that goes back to what you were saying earlier of like being able to submit and to give the emotions and everything to the Lord and be honest and cry out to him.
Krystal Thomas: um And you get to just be your whole self at that, too, which I think is really, really cool.
Jon Davis: Yeah. No, I love that. And I love that you just talked about how like the nearness of like where God is and so close to you. And you mentioned NLT that the Psalms 116 verse one just really touched my heart the way it's worded. And it says, I love the Lord because he hears my voice and my prayer for mercy because he bends down to listen.
Jon Davis: i will pray as long as I have breath.
Krystal Thomas: Mm, that's good.
Jon Davis: And the line that just touched me is that like, he doesn't just like sit from afar, he bends down to listen, right? And it just a friend of mine said, it's kind of like an adult looking, reaching, you know, getting on their knee to talk to a child, right?
Krystal Thomas: yeah
Jon Davis: And so I just that image just was like, wow, what a what a God that we can come to and to your point, course, I want to praise and and worship, but sometimes you also have to just say things unfiltered.
Jon Davis: And I actually have had some of my best prayers when I come unfiltered and I'm not trying to like structure it or hit this or, you know, it's just like, God, I just, I got to talk to you.
Krystal Thomas: Yeah. And ah like, and I don't know if I've talked to you about this too, um John, but when I was not only learning Hebrew, but also studying in seminary, when you are confessing and lamenting and all of that to God, like that's still worship.
Jon Davis: Yeah. Yeah.
Krystal Thomas: And there's they there's there's something about, yes, we are praising God for who he is, but we're also coming to him authentically and honestly because of who he is.
Krystal Thomas: And because of where we place our hope. And I think that allows worship to take on a whole new meaning. And it makes so much sense people are like, I'm worshiping in the midst of sorrow.
Krystal Thomas: Because you know of who God is. You know his character.
Jon Davis: yeah yeah
Krystal Thomas: you know, yeah, sorry. ah We're going to, look, we've got questions. But obviously we have to have John come back. Like i'm I'm sensing like a whole episode just on worship would be really, really fun.
Jon Davis: Oh, I love it. I love it.
Krystal Thomas: I know all my guests who come are like, okay, so I'm about to be on like several other episodes. So, you know, you're in good company.
Jon Davis: that's good. I could talk all night about this. So let's go.
Krystal Thomas: Yeah.
Krystal Thomas: So ah you talked about ah something that has challenged you, right? um
Jon Davis: Hmm.
Krystal Thomas: My next question is what has been something that has surprised you in your journey of faith and or in your relationship with the Lord?
Jon Davis: Hmm.
Jon Davis: You know, i think it's it's the joy and the simplicity of a life in Christ. You know, i think I just feel especially this past year where I was, you know, more in kind of auxiliary mode with my finances and just being more thoughtful.
Krystal Thomas: Yeah.
Jon Davis: it I'm like so happy with peanut butter and banana and ah journal. And instead of going to I don't, I'm fine going to a nice restaurant, but I'd much rather have 10 people over for pasta.
Krystal Thomas: yeah
Jon Davis: And so being in the presence of the Lord and his joy, i think of kids at our church who just after church want to say time me and they want to run around.
Krystal Thomas: Oh my gosh.
Jon Davis: i i know.
Krystal Thomas: All that energy. I just want some, just a little, I tried to play tag once and I like almost hurt myself.
Jon Davis: And this like,
Jon Davis: it And it just, it's it's true. It's just like, and I think I probably had some of that just as like, I i cared about people, but the joy I have now where people are like, your face is different.
Krystal Thomas: sir
Jon Davis: And the other thing I think that's been surprisingly amazing is, is peace. I don't think Crystal, I ever understood like real peace as in like, this is enough, I'm enough, I'm at peace, I don't have to change things.
Jon Davis: And this is coming from a guy who in 20 years of Charlotte lived in 15 different places, including a van house.
Krystal Thomas: Yeah.
Jon Davis: So I just, I think sometimes when we're discipled by the enemy in the culture, it's like, nothing's ever enough or change or go do this. I mean, I live a lot of the life people glamorize, right? I mean,
Jon Davis: had houses i had traveled the world i did all these things but it was always never enough and i always was out empty and so now you know, with success and other things coming again in in business, that's just, it's just like everything is overflowing now.
Krystal Thomas: yeah
Jon Davis: And so I think the joy and the peace of even like being on a plane last Sunday and the flight attendants being like, what's going on with you? Like you have a lot of energy. And I was just like, so i was just praising worshiping the Lord the last two hours. So I'm filled with light.
Jon Davis: And they're like, oh, okay. And, and so people see that you don't know it because we don't see it, but it's just like, that's, and there's, that there's a simplicity and joy and peace that I have never experienced that only goes deeper.
Krystal Thomas: Also, that is fantastic, though. Like, you ask me, wow, you have a lot of energy. It's like, I've been praising the Lord for two hours. And that, like, their response, I was like, that's awesome.
Jon Davis: Yeah.
Jon Davis: yeah
Krystal Thomas: Because you want it, like, I mean, again, it's like, what is the fruit, right? And, like, even, you know, like, um for me in a season of transition, like, there are a lot of times where, you know, I'm feeling joyful and I'm happy and I'm, like, ready. And then there are other times where I'm, like,
Krystal Thomas: am I ruining my life? Like what is happening? And like having to be reminded, like, no, wait, I'm stepping in obedience. I'm operating. I'm trusting in the Lord in a new way. And it's very stretching.
Jon Davis: Amen. Yeah.
Krystal Thomas: But I think what you said about like, one of the biggest surprises is like when you will experience, like when, like the, the peace that you will feel, and the joy that you will feel in situations where like old you would be like, what are you doing?
Krystal Thomas: You know I mean?
Jon Davis: yeah
Krystal Thomas: Like, do you mean? Like, And like, even what you said about like, yes, I've traveled the world. Yes, I've done all these other things, but like, I can just be so at peace and so at home having people over for pasta.
Krystal Thomas: I have been one of those people over for one of John's dinners and it's fantastic. I'm just saying.
Jon Davis: ah
Krystal Thomas: ah But there is just, it's like you it's like you unlock a way to live a fuller and like just savor life more, right?
Jon Davis: Yes.
Krystal Thomas: um Both the highs and like being really real with the lows. um While also like it's still also simpler. And simpler doesn't necessarily always mean like easier.
Krystal Thomas: I just want to like kind of clarify. I think it's like a lot of the things that we will prioritize or like put a lot of um our focus or our identity in in the past that shifts.
Krystal Thomas: um But it just becomes like, like, like one of the prayers that I've been praying lately is like, Lord, I just want to be aligned with your spirit today.
Krystal Thomas: and don't know what that's going to look like. I don't know what moments are going to come.
Jon Davis: Yes.
Krystal Thomas: But like something as simple as that, like the day will unfold in ways that I couldn't even imagine. I'm just thinking about you on a plane worshiping and sharing faith with with the flight attendants and the people on the plane. Like you never know how it's going to unfold.
Krystal Thomas: And I think that that is just a beautiful aspect of some of the the surprise that we can experience. Yeah.
Jon Davis: Oh, yeah. Yeah. And I think there's that contentness. You just kind of you alluded to that in every moment. I mean, look, I just was with friends from high school in Park City and we were having nice dinners. And so you can be content there, but you're not dependent upon that.
Jon Davis: And I see so much sometimes in conversations in my neighborhood of like, people so disillusioned because they went to some really expensive place and it just didn't live up and it's they're down it's like gets them down for a couple days and like but i i forget the exact scripture but how paul says you know he's had a lot and a little and he's gets through it all because of his foundation in christ and i feel like that's such a powerful scripture because you can enjoy
Krystal Thomas: Yeah. Yeah.
Jon Davis: the nice things and you can also have a lot less because we're not bound by anything and i used to be bound by the nicer place bound by the nicer building bound by this and now i'm just not i can enjoy it if that's where the lord wants to provide for me but i also can have nothing and very little and be just as happy because the same foundation is going is happening
Krystal Thomas: yeah
Krystal Thomas: That's awesome, John. I'm learning a lot and i yeah I'm realizing there are certain things where I'm like, yeah, me too. And i was like, there's certain things where I'm like, lord I'm gonna be a little upset if this is not, if you take this, right, right.
Krystal Thomas: That's a prayer point. I'm just being completely honest and real.
Jon Davis: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Krystal Thomas: um But that's a, that's a beautiful, the, you can just see the fruit of the time that you have spent with the Lord, um, to have that confidence and that, assuredness.
Jon Davis: Hmm.
Krystal Thomas: That's awesome.
Jon Davis: Hmm. Hmm. Praise God. He's amazing. Hmm.
Krystal Thomas: Yeah. So, the next question, what is the biggest misconception about being Christian? I know these questions are really, i went, I didn't shy away from them.
Jon Davis: Hmm.
Jon Davis: No, that's so good. ah thought about that. just going ask the Holy Spirit for some help here. I think there's this,
Jon Davis: I guess sometimes, and this may be an indirect way of answering it, like people don't like one thing or don't understand one thing about the Bible.
Jon Davis: And so they don't aren't open to it versus what you have access to and in the full kingdom.
Krystal Thomas: Mm.
Jon Davis: And I think the other thing is that because the question was on misconception, right? Is that everything's obvious that once you've read the Bible, you understand it.
Krystal Thomas: Yeah.
Jon Davis: And I'm you know, a part of our good friends from the church, you know, in a ministry called fullness about accessing the fullness and that God doesn't,
Jon Davis: make everything obvious is that he wants us pursuing him. He wants us after his heart.
Krystal Thomas: Yeah.
Jon Davis: And as you pursue and get closer to him, there's more fruits and ways of living that are just like, for me, like surprises.
Krystal Thomas: yeah
Jon Davis: Wait, really? This? i have access to a sound mind? i don't have to be anxious anymore. i don't. And so I feel like the biggest misconception is you just go to church on Sundays and that's like, now you're a Christian versus this is a whole lifestyle and a way of pursuing not religion or a certain denomination, but Christ likeness.
Jon Davis: And I just, I'm reading this devotional and it really helped me because as a person who's been a student of leadership and
Krystal Thomas: Mm-hmm.
Jon Davis: way too into self-awareness. He said, no, the journey is about Christ awareness. And that was so freeing for me, Crystal, at this new job where I'm like, gosh, did I upset this person or that and was kind of coming home tired and how am I coming across to people? And, and then I just, through prayer, just the Lord freed me of all that.
Krystal Thomas: Mm-hmm.
Jon Davis: And that would have been, i would have been bound by that for years. And here I am two months in. And of course I got work on, on those things to continue to do. The the Lord is, is like he says, he's perfecting us. So the day of Christ Jesus, but,
Jon Davis: It's just different, you know? And I feel like there's this misconception of like tightness or it's not fun. Like a Christian life following Jesus is the most joyful experience. And you're talking to a guy who tried almost every religion, every way of living.
Jon Davis: And not that I'm some authority, but I have, I joke with all our grad school degree people. I've, I've gotten a PhD in mistakes. So I, I can,
Krystal Thomas: like i just hilarious
Jon Davis: I can tell you what, I don't have the Harvard degree and this.
Krystal Thomas: I really was out here like, when did this man get a PhD after all this?
Jon Davis: I got a PhD.
Krystal Thomas: You got me.
Jon Davis: that um I haven't gotten into 20 grad schools. So I just feel like that's what I hope to impart on people is like, give it a try.
Krystal Thomas: Yeah.
Jon Davis: And all the other things, whether it's other religions, ways of thinking, self-help books, it's it's always going to leave you at some point empty.
Jon Davis: And it's it's fleeting.
Krystal Thomas: Yeah.
Jon Davis: And there's just a, it's just so fulfilling that that's why I like, you know, I, I, it's like, I can't stop talking about it. I got to censor myself at work. They're like, what'd you do this week?
Jon Davis: And it like, well, I kind of,
Krystal Thomas: That is, yeah, it is a pivot.
Jon Davis: Yeah. but yeah I had this church group on Saturday. i call it, I can't say the rated J version. geez I can say the rated G, which is, well, I did a volunteer group and was at church, but I also don't cloak that because think it's important. They know, but I'm not going to overdo it because I want them to be drawn like I was to, to what's going on in the foundation that's different in that person, which is how the Lord drew me in, you know?
Krystal Thomas: Perfect. Yeah, I love that. And like, I will say, especially even being in seminary, i find that every time that I'm reading the word of God, it's like you realize the less that you know, like the more amazing God is and his character, right?
Jon Davis: Oh my gosh.
Krystal Thomas: Yeah. And like, it will be like moments where it's like, I'm in one particular season, like I have a Bible that I it's in the back there but I have a bible where it's like I'll have like annotated notes from different seasons of life and like even how certain passages will speak and everything um and so i love that it's like I feel like a lot of times when people see um Christians or believers it's always like what they can't do or what you know what mean it's not so much as like the life, the new life, the joy, the breakthrough, the healing.
Krystal Thomas: It's more of, um, the cost, which there is a cost in some ways, like where, where there's a life that your life shifts.
Jon Davis: You're little.
Krystal Thomas: Right. Um, but what you get in exchange, like we're coming out on the, Now, as winners on the end, for sure, because I just think about um what life used to be for me and where I am in life, especially in this transition. It's a lot of the things that God had given me a heart and a passion for years ago.
Krystal Thomas: um but I wasn't in a place to steward it well. ah Travis Green has this, I remember um being at one of his worship events and he says, God wouldn't allow my gifts to take me where my character wouldn't keep me.
Jon Davis: hmm
Krystal Thomas: And like now I'm coming like full circle in this moment where I feel like in a lot of ways, the Lord is calling me to step out in new ways and to write more and to share. um Whereas before it was very much a pride thing.
Krystal Thomas: And I was seeking my own self um worth and value. A lot of those things that we've been talking about. Right. And so I just, i think it's so amazing. Like even as you were sharing and you're in this,
Krystal Thomas: new job and all these things, like you can see um those desires and how God has wired you, like that has not gone away. It's only been enhanced. And there's a now a freedom in knowing, okay, all I have to do is just be.
Krystal Thomas: um And I trust, I trust the Lord that it's going to unfold in the way that he sees fit, but I still get to be authentically like me and how he's wired me to be. I think that's just so...
Krystal Thomas: I think there's a lot of people that need to hear that because ah I think there is this misconception also that everyone at church is perfect. And it's like, nah, we're here because we know how much we need the Lord.
Jon Davis: Oh, my gosh.
Krystal Thomas: um You know, you know.
Jon Davis: Yeah, there's a great there's a great recent sermon from um John Tyson and Church of the City of New York. And he talks about um like what the church is that, hey, we're there to heal. We're all healing, right? We're all going through something in some way. And um But I think like what's on the other end, like sometimes it's amazing. Sometimes it's like, look, two days ago, I saw how I was probably putting a relationship with people that I cared about sometimes in their opinion ahead of the Lord.
Krystal Thomas: Yeah.
Jon Davis: And I didn't realize it, but it was creating a lot of pain. It was having me saying yes to things I shouldn't be saying yes to.
Krystal Thomas: Ah,
Jon Davis: And yeah, You know, the Bible is very clear, but such a person's praise is not from other people, but from God. And um that's he's still working on me. But the freedom I had crystal once I had the realization, and once I'm now learning in a lot of ways to say no, and that as knows, right?
Krystal Thomas: ah what a gift.
Jon Davis: It does. right
Krystal Thomas: It feels are weird. Like it's like those recovering from people pleasing, like saying no, it just feels.
Jon Davis: guys
Krystal Thomas: Oh, but it's so necessary. Sorry, I cut you off, John. We'll talk about this forever.
Jon Davis: No, no, no, you're dead on.
Krystal Thomas: Yeah.
Jon Davis: It's just it it's so it's like I had another brother and I were talking Sunday that like we're thinking, oh, I just, if I, if I just got my exercise routine and this, and I was like, no, I actually just need more time with the Lord in the morning.
Jon Davis: I need more time to write with him, to create with him, to soak into scripture, to study like his word. Cause it does change the mind. And that is what creates for me wellness. Of course I want to move my body and do those things, but focusing on some new things,
Jon Davis: routine for me hasn't been it's like he's like, I have everything your best interests at hand, and no one could care more about us.
Krystal Thomas: Yeah.
Jon Davis: So I'm just I'm still learning. Yeah, I'll be learning. So i'm obviously, and in my life, but I think to learn in community and to do it with such a gentle God.
Krystal Thomas: Same.
Jon Davis: You know, someone I think it was you or someone I forget, I remember someone earlier on like, God is not gonna show you everything at first because you couldn't handle it. Right? Yeah. Hmm.
Krystal Thomas: That is very true. But the the way that it's so gentle. And I think that kind of goes into the next question of what is an aspect of God's character that has impacted you? So if you wanted to talk, if it's gentleness for you, or if there's another aspect of, there's so much that you can do speak about, but maybe share one or two that have really resonated with you would be great.
Jon Davis: Yeah, I think
Jon Davis: when earlier when you were talking, when you said character, the the i forget exactly where it is, but it's just it's just that the kindness with the eyes as a force of love.
Krystal Thomas: Hmm. Hmm.
Jon Davis: And I think back to the scene where he was passing someone who was blind and his disciples were shooing him away. And the blind man said, son of David, son of David, have mercy on me.
Jon Davis: And they kept going. He said, son of David, son of David, have mercy on me. And he just walks up to the man and he says, you know, what can I do for you? He said, Lord, I want to see. And he says, your faith is healed. And when i read that passage, I just, that's just so kind, you know, stop like that to just how he was there to, to heal, to see people that no one saw that people,
Jon Davis: rushed past and that it's not kindness like you hear out in the world it is kindness as in like piercing love heart kindness and that just touches my heart that that gentleness touches my heart and then also the the firmness there's a there's a firmness in denying ourselves and
Krystal Thomas: Yeah. Yeah.
Krystal Thomas: Yeah.
Jon Davis: carrying our cross that really inspires me.
Krystal Thomas: He corrects those he loves.
Krystal Thomas: He corrects those, he disciplines those he loves. That's when I was like, ooh.
Jon Davis: Yeah.
Jon Davis: Amen.
Krystal Thomas: yeah
Krystal Thomas: Oh, so, so good. so good. Well, John, again, this has been so amazing having you on this week's episode. and wanted to also open it up. Is there anything else on your heart to share or um that you would want maybe someone to know who is, you know, thinking about the church, thinking about faith, maybe has still more questions, but would you, anything else on your heart?
Jon Davis: I think the thing would say to anyone questioning or maybe is that, and you and I have talked about this, that you know church hurt is real, but Christ doesn't hurt.
Krystal Thomas: Yeah.
Jon Davis: And um that we have to acknowledge pain. We have to acknowledge things that have happened to us.
Krystal Thomas: yeah
Jon Davis: But I would just hope and invite people into a pursuit like I was. And um to anything past two years ago in the past, i again, I mocked the name of Jesus.
Jon Davis: i I wouldn't talk about it. And here I am on a podcast with you, and it's a miracle.
Krystal Thomas: Thank you.
Jon Davis: And so I just, I guess I would just invite people to be curious and to read more about the character and not hear what they hear. Cause there's lots of things we hear about Christianity. There's lots of really negative things you hear, but there's, there's a beautiful, beautiful thing that can happen to the mind and heart.
Jon Davis: Um, when we draw closer to and and nothing gets the Bible is the Bible. You can't can't change the word. So it's, it definitely has changed my life. So yeah, just to be curious and to know it's a an amazing journey.
Krystal Thomas: Amen. Amen. Well, guys, thank me. Thank John for sharing his story with us today. Please join me in thanking him. Sorry. You can tell it's like time for another cup of coffee.
Krystal Thomas: But John, you share.
Jon Davis: That's great. Wait, don't forget this.
Krystal Thomas: So.
Krystal Thomas: John's wearing our swag.
Jon Davis: Let's go.
Krystal Thomas: represent Barra. Created to create. Come on.
Jon Davis: United, not uniform. Don't make me be the the only guy who's got the best hoodie in the world.
Krystal Thomas: Just wearing it. Yes.
Krystal Thomas: But as always, John has just been such a huge supporter of both me and United Uniform. So John, it just means so much for you to be here, to share your part of your testimony. And we definitely have to have you back. Okay.
Jon Davis: Amen. I can't wait to see how this grows. And thank you for being such a ah amazing person, leader, and creative and friend in my life.
Krystal Thomas: Oh, you make it so easy to do, John. ah Thank you all so much for joining us this week. Remember, there's more than enough space for you to be seen, known, and loved.
Krystal Thomas: We'll see you next time. bye
