Getting Up When You Are Down

Do the issues facing you in life overwhelm you? Are you on a treasure hunt for significance, satisfaction and cure-all answers that can lift your human fear and the burdens you carry? Getting Up When You Are Down explores one, and only one, remedy that can push back against the woes of life---HOPE! 

Getting Up When You Are Down offers: 

HOPE! 

Hope is too strong to quit. 

Hope does not have to be first to finish its race. 

Hope is at the tip of every mountain top waiting for champions to arrive. 

Hope is too brave to give in to defeat. 

Hope is too wise to keep making the same mistakes. 

Hope is too trusting to complain and doubt Hope is too inspiring to linger at the bottom. 

Hope is too outstanding to be overlooked. 

Hope is too brilliant to be a thoughtless. 

Hope is too much of a winner to stand on the sideline. 

Hope is shallow enough for a baby to crawl around in but deep enough for a grown person to take a dive into. 

Hope is high enough that the wicked cannot get to it but it is low enough for the righteous to reach it as they need it. 


Author Bio: Since October 19, 1977 at 9:40pm the Holman Street Baptist Church has been under the dynamic leadership of the illustrious Manson B. Johnson, Shepherd-Teacher.  He was born in Nashville, Tennessee during the senior year of his father's schooling at American Baptist Theology. After birth he spent his entire life growing up in Starkville, Mississippi.  His father was a well-respected seminary trained pastor and his mother is a retired historic public school teacher and a graduate of Rust College, Tennessee State University and Mississippi State University.  He left Starkville the next day after graduating from W. C. Henderson High School in the Class of 1966 and went to Houston, Texas in pursuit of a college degree.  Shepherd Johnson earned a Bachelor's degree in History and Government Education from Texas Southern University and a certified teacher's degree in mathematics from Prairie View A & M University.


Upon earning his degree, Shepherd Johnson went into the field of education and began teaching at Cullen Middle School in the Houston Independent School District.  There he served in the Mathematics department.  He quickly earned the reputation of a no nonsense teacher who was committed to raising the academic performance level of his underserved students in basic math skills.  Many of his students have come back to tell about the powerful influence he has had on their lives. Other college peers and students are now faithful members of Holman Street Baptist Church.


During his college years, Shepherd Johnson united with Holman Street Baptist Church, a thriving church in the inner City of Houston, located between Texas Southern University and the University of Houston in The Greater Third Ward community.  Over the years college students have flocked to the church on Sunday mornings to hear powerful preaching and soul stirring singing.  He became an active member of the choir, mission, and Sunday School.

 

Shepherd Johnson's ability to communicate the Bible and make it relevant to everyday life is a gift from God.  He is a sought after speaker and conducts revivals throughout the country annually.  In addition to being a dynamic preacher, Shepherd Johnson possesses extraordinary gifts for teaching.  Shepherd Johnson conducts various seminars including Financial Stewardship, Leadership and Church Development and Community Development.


Since July 24, 1976 he has been married to Zelda Gray Johnson and the father of three loving and gifted children:  Manson III, Matthew and Michelle.  All of his children have college degrees.