Introduction
Hello friends, my name is Jonathan O'Connell and this is my blog for my podcast as well as I'll be posting revelations, Christ based thoughts, prayer requests, advice, and much more here on my website.
Glory to Glory Designs is my second woodworking company. My first one serves the cannabis industry with high end vaporizers and accessories. I've been getting closer and closer to Christ and He and I have decided that I need to move on from things that more so serve the flesh and do more that honors God. So Glory to Glory Designs was born and I've not built much with that name branded on it, but my goal is to build small furniture, desk accessories, woodturning protects, and much more. So far I've built many cutting boards, some coffee tables, end tables, floating shelves, trays, bottle carriers, serving trays, charcuterie boards, dice boxes, lathe turned pens, desktop organization trays, and Keychain whistles.
Before building my first woodworking company, I worked for a government contractor company that manufacturers equipment for EOD teams to defuse explosive and chemical devices with. I began building practice devices that imitated a package with explosives, and chemical agents, then my last six months there I assembled and programmed and tested the cameras and monitors that they sell to the EOD teams. I worked there for over 5 years. It's honestly a very cool sounding gig right? It was cool, but it lacked one very major thing, an actual feeling of spending my life in a meaningful way. Sure, it has certainly saved the lives of people held hostage or attempting to murders innocent people in the name of some agenda or belief. It's commendable to be a part of such a thing such as saving lives. It mostly just lacked Jesus in the center of it all, though. Fleshly desire to please and to be praised seems to rule most of this world. People serve their egos before even considering serving God, their creator. I began to drown the thoughts and feelings of not being where I needed to be with cannabis and I eventually got myself fired for arguing with my boss. I was uncomfortable, I felt unappreciated, unloved, unsatisfied, and out of place. I knew my life needed to go a different direction.
Little did I know that Jesus is what I needed, so before I found Him, I searched far and wide in many other worldly things before I eventually stumbled into Christianity, even though I grew up with a Christian family and Father who was a pastor. I sought truth, and I found Him. I wanted to know the meaning of life, what could fulfill me, and what brought satisfaction and peace to my life. In my podcast and here in my blog I will share stories of myself and many others, how we grew up, where we were led to in life, what struggles we experienced, and how it all led us to Christ. Guilt, shame, regrets, mistakes, good times, bad times, worse times, redemption. Here we will share our testimony and spread the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ and the works of the Holy Spirit.
Plan for how each interview will go:
background. Upbringing, parents, childhood memories, friends, all before finding Christ.
How they found Christ, after finding Christ, what changed, remaining difficulties and how they were overcome or what they still struggle with.
Some interviews will contain much more questions and commentary than others dependent on my own relationship with them as well as their age and experience. Not to mention dependent on how much each person may be willing to share as some questions I ask may be difficult to think on and talk about for some folks. We will dive deep into the full on interconnectedness between us all and the fact that we all bear the image of God himself and deserve love as well as correction when we do the wrong thing.
Jesus told us in Matthew 22:36-40 that the most important commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. And second is to love your neighbors as you love yourself. We must die to the flesh and pick up our cross, bear our suffering, and walk with Jesus despite the pain and difficulties that we will inevitably endure in our walk with Christ. The fulfillment in walking with Jesus and having a relationship with God, the creator of our universe, is a tremendous blessing! To be still and quiet enough to hear his voice is the most difficult part about building that relationship.
I look forward to exploring with you all as we dive deep into our souls and the Holy Spirit. Let's find truth and love together, and see what the love of God is all about and how to give it to others in our walk with Jesus.
-Jonathan O'Connell
https://open.spotify.com/show/0cd1XRDEQmeDMUvUw0basG?si=a3qQ-n1yS-6V0xHrJGGm4Q
