Jonathan Franzone

How Far is Too Far in Sanctification?

What exactly is “sanctification”? This is the process whereby God works in our lives to change us and to transform us in many degrees so that we are like our elder brother, the Lord Jesus Christ. I know this on an intellectual level, but what does it mean in my life? I’ve known that this was a hard process, that sanctification can hurt. I also know that it is necessary. I thought I’d experienced the pain of this process. To… Read More »

We Are a Happy, Little Family

I wrote this little poem for our adoption profile book, but realized that I didn’t have it recorded anywhere else. I figure it would be nice to save it for posterity, and I hope that you may be encouraged by it. we are a happy, little family with room in our hearts to grow we were bound together by God the Creator our Savior who loved us and called us His own we believe in extravagant love in piggybacks and… Read More »

Firm Through the Fiercest Drought and Storm

We live in the Northpointe neighborhood in Pensacola, FL… the one that got hammered with a tornado Tuesday night (February 24, 2016). Aubrey and Ragan were away from home, babysitting for some friends while I held down the fort with my younger two children. We knew that a fairly large stormfront was coming through, but I had no idea that we would be in the center of it.

Preparing Room For a Newborn Child

Sovereign Grace Music produced a Christmas CD last year called, “Prepare Him Room: Celebrating the Birth of Jesus in Song.” It is a really good album and I would commend it to you. The title song, Prepare Him Room, speaks of the wonder and mystery of Jesus, the Son of God, coming to be born as a baby. It calls the listeners to prepare Him room, in our hearts and minds. This theme has had extra significance for us this… Read More »

Adoption Update: Home Study Packet Done

Hello friends and family. We are happy to announce that earlier this week we submitted our Home Study Packet to the adoption agency. What does that mean, you ask? Well, it was a large packet of documentation which had to be completed and turned in prior to our home studies. It was an exciting moment for Aubrey and I as we checked off one more requirement between us and meeting our new child. So, what’s left? How soon can we… Read More »

Our Quiver is Not Quite Full

Aubrey and I have an announcement… we have decided to pursue infant adoption. Allow me to add some context… Broken Hearted Aubrey and I have three wonderful children. We started having children after being married for three years. It was our intention to wait to have children. We also stopped having children after our first two and then decided later that we weren’t quite finished. After a miscarriage God blessed us with our third. We arranged to have a tubal… Read More »

Email Subscriber Update

Dear friends and family, We are hoping to provide more updates about our family and parenting in general in the near future. To enable us to better communicate with you, our friends, family and readers, we have upgraded our email subscription provider to use MailChimp. If you are reading this in an email, then do not be alarmed! Hopefully the layout is a bit better and will provide a better reading experience. If you have any issues with the new… Read More »

I’m Not Home Yet

I recently discovered this folk band called The Gray Havens (thanks to Tim Challies), who borrow a lot from C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien for their lyrics. The above song titled Far Kingdom really struck me as I remembered the Pevensie children along with Eustace Scrubb riding on the Dawn Treader to the end of the ocean towards a “far kingdom,” the kingdom of Aslan. Continue reading I’m Not Home Yet

My Reading List for 2015

One of my resolutions for this year is to read 25 books. According to Goodreads, I read 18 books last year so 25 should be attainable, especially considering I have some friends who read well over 100 books each year. In order to have a plan of attack, I compiled a list that I’d like to work on. The list ended up being longer than 25 (51 to be exact), but it gives me a framework from which to choose.… Read More »

2015 New Year’s Resolutions

Looking Back 2014 has been a milestone year in my life. God sovereignly transformed my life sometime around Easter in the biggest way possible… He saved me from my own self-righteousness and unbelief. What I had previously thought was the Christian life, was really a false sense of hope and a works-based religion. You can read about that in My Personal Testimony. Consistent with being a “new man”, my desires have changed radically this year. I spend a lot of… Read More »