A little about myself
I was born in Japan to missionary parents… That may reveal a lot about my upbringing. I spent most of my childhood in the Carolinas, and after getting a couple of graduate degrees in Chicago, I spent 10 years in Calcutta, India, trying to help the poor while driving myself into a very deep depression.
I married my wife Kimberly in 2007, and changed my name then to symbolize the life transforming redemption that found me when my life was in a great chasm of darkness. Douglas Kent McQuilkin became Janathan Kent Grace. Janathan in Hebrew means “God gives,” so my name means “God gives grace.”
Janathan Grace Reflections This is my journey of self discovery shared with you
Janathan Grace
Janathan Grace Reflections 
Just praying for you today. Your dad was telling me yesterday about your journey in Calcutta and beyond. As I prayed for you I thought about Daniel 3:16ff. Your name and story cause me to reflect upon the Word’s promise of grace…Eph. 2:4-10, 2 Corinthians. Blessings, Philip Blankenship
Thanks, Philip
How often I’ve wished my name was Grace – or at least wished that I lived as if it were. How fascinating that you actually renamed yourself to fit your heart. Wonderful! May God continue to encourage you as you grow into that glorious name! 🙂
Debbie, thanks for dropping by. I stopped by your blog as well. Glad for all the companionship I can find on this journey of grace.
I am so relieved to meet ahnoter Christian like you! I’m new at this church going thing and the thing that always made me weary was the culture of condemnation I felt from other Christians before I was one. I wanted Jesus but didn’t want his people, if you knw what I mean. I’m learning to love around that but I got to say, I like your kind of people Thanks for being so real. (I betchya hear that a lot).
Bob, glad to hear you are on the journey of grace as well.
I got some opportunity to work with you while you were in Calcutta………but were you deeply depressed then? Nice time with you ……you have changed a lot…..change is just beautiful part of life.
Karunakar, I fell into depression in 1996. I don’t remember what year(s) we worked together. Yes, change is a beautiful part of life.
Remember rooming together on Wellington St. in Chicago with a guy who needed much help at the time. Grace has brought me this far. Currently teaching at a fundemental Christian church in Mt. Prospect, Illinois. Do you keep up with Paul ?
Hey, Chuck! I went looking for you on the internet sometime back, but couldn’t find you. How on earth did you find me here? Paul is a professor at a University in FL., writes books and lectures on apologetics. Good to hear from you. Are you on FB?
Good stuff. I always appreciate and resonate with your posts. I was in a phone conversation with a friend out here in Portland recently, who started telling me a story that sounded eerily familiar, long story short, it was the story about your dad and your mom in A Promise Kept. He had never no affiliation or ever heard of CIU. It brought much joy to my heart to tell him that I had met your dad and sat in the backyard with your mom and dad. Thanks for staying strong with the Lord brother. Hope to be able to see you face to face again one day……
Glad you find some good in what I write, Brett. I hope you are well and growing into all you were designed to be. Be blessed.
Thanks for following my blog. I’m already intrigued and inspired by your story, just from what I’ve read here. The year after I graduated from college, I went to France to do missionary work, where I also drove myself into a severe depression and had to leave early. In the past year + I’ve been on an incredible journey of becoming an entirely new person…well really…it’s the true me finally coming to life. I had no idea how incredible grace is.
Katy, you are starting young, so perhaps you can make faster progress than those like me who discovered true grace later in life. It has been a very slow process for me since I had (have) so much baggage to work through. It is delightful to find others who have a similar take on life as my wife and I have. Yes, grace is amazing!
Hello Janathangrace – thank you for reading my blog and for the like. I read your most recent post and your about page. I am thankful you are discovering and learning to live in the freedom Jeshua has purchased for you. My passion is for people to be able to be real with themselves, real with God and find unconditional hope. That is my prayer for you. Here are a couple of links from past blogs that I hope will help. When There Are No Answers http://wp.me/p2hybl-22 and Building Blocks http://wp.me/p2hybl-1T . God bless you and your wife with more healing, freedom and hope!
And may God grant the fullness of your grace in Him
Reading your posts this morning has blessed me, and I’ve been also touched by grace, drenched by grace actually, at least a few times in my life, mostly upon finding Jesus where I least expected Him, in the Catholic Church, of all places, just down the road! I’m on FB, too. God bless you, and your wife, Janathan.
Thank you for reading and commenting, Susan. Though I’m not Catholic (at this point I’m not sure what I am), I have been greatly blessed by many of their writings. Would love to hear about your “drenchings” of grace. May you be tickled with grace today.
I came across this quote today and thought you might like it, Janathan. If you’d like, please find me on facebook, (Susan J Melkus) and send a friend request. 🙂 God bless.
‘Initially grace arouses the conscience in a divine manner. That is how even sinners have come to repent and so to conform to God’s will.’
St. Mark the Ascetic
Love your story and how you took charge of your journey and now even your name is full of grace 🙂
May I more and more live up to that name!
Remember having a meal with your did and my wife Janet and me?
Uh, make that your “dad,” not “did.” We were in Chicago then.
Yes, I do. Good to hear from you. My wife Kimberly happened to pick up your book on prayer from our local library recently and found real encouragement there (incidentally, she’s from Chicago). I hope you are keeping well. Janathan (Kent)
Hello Janathan! I “just happened” to search for you using K.McQ and Overwhelmed by Grace. I’ve kept a copy of your 2002 manuscript. My wife and I recently moved fr our home for 11 yrs and had to do some major “d-sizing” to make things fit onto a U-HAUL. “Marvelous Grace of our loving Lord! Grace that exceeds my guilt and my shame….”. You probably know the hymn, but I am so glad to have found you on FB! Believe it or not but I did recognize your likeness and maybe your wife also. My beloved wife and I will have been married 50 yrs this June> That’s taken a lot of grace which I didn’t even realize until the last few yrs. Psalm 84:5 is one of our Father’s tools to fashion my heart for His purposes. May you continue to experience the joy of His grace! I still remember the short time we visited with you in Calcutta in July,1999! Bill and Barbara Carr
Hey, good to hear from you Bill. Hope you are both well.
Hello, Janathan! You may not remember me. I worked at Ben Lippen School your Junior year. I lived in the boys dorm, etc. Of course I knew you as Kent.
Through the ever present graape-vine, I think I have learned that you and I had similar experiences with our fathers. Would love to get to know you now. Some of what I have read that you have written on this blog, leads me to believe that you may have God’s understanding of what the Christian life is all about. And I am glad that you are sharing it with others. Love in Christ, George
Hi Janathan Kent- you may know by now that precious Momma is with Jesus and hearing “well done….”
Mom& Dad both loved you so much! What a treasure you were to them!
I wasn’t sure what the best way was to get in touch with you, (I rarely go on Facebook) hope this is ok for now.
In His vast love, libba
https://everloved.com/life-of/jane-melton/obituary/
Libba, thank you for the kindness of reaching out to tell me. I don’t often visit my blog as I have been too busy for several years to write, so I am just seeing this now. Some time back I connected with Lisa on Facebook, so I learned of your mom’s death when she posted about it. Your parents were such a wonderful blessing to me, not only for the year I lived with them, but every time I thought of them, which has been quite often. I lost their contact information and did not know how to reach out, and I have been struggling for several years with emotions which seem to keep me at a survival level so that I have lost touch with almost everyone from my past. I think I grieve most the lost connection with your parents. I love them dearly still. Thanks again for reaching out, Janathan