Notes to My Kids (and Grandkids): On My Personal Exploration of the Laws of God's Love.
A six-volume exploration of the spiritual laws governing Christian formation: Vols 1–2 articulate the laws pastorally, Vol 3 reframes them in quantitative-systemic terms, Vol 4 designs the testing program, Vol 5 holds the consolidated references and the analytical Periodic Table, and Vol 6 carries the governance for the work's continuation by the Council.
Intentional Journey of the Heart (IJH) began as a father's notes to his kids and grandkids — on what he has come to see, over decades of formation work, about how God forms a heart. It is a six-volume exploration of the spiritual laws governing Christian formation: Vols 1–2 articulate the laws pastorally, Vol 3 reframes them in quantitative-systemic terms, Vol 4 designs the testing program, Vol 5 holds the consolidated references and the analytical Periodic Table, and Vol 6 carries the governance for the work's continuation by the Council.
If you have not read IJH before, the project's breadth means you'll get more from it by picking a path that fits why you're here than by reading strictly front to back.
Start with the Read Me First, then the Introduction, then Volume 1: Laws of the Spirit in order. The other volumes assume Vol 1's framework.
READ ME FIRST → INTRO → VOL 1Go directly to The Periodic Table of Spiritual Laws in Vol 5. The Reader's Path callout and HOW TO READ block at the top of the chapter tier the entry; the Essential metadata is enough to use the table at a working level.
VOL 5 → PERIODIC TABLEStart with the five Formation Documents (TA → HFT → SST → MSFIG → FC), then Volume 2: Knowing to Doing for the pastoral practices, then Volume 4: Testing Framework if you want the measurement program.
VOL 5 FORMATION DOCS → VOL 2 → VOL 4Start with Volume 6: Governance — Part 1 (Governance Model), Part 2 (Council), Part 3 (Succession Letter) — and the Catalog History appendix for the catalog's revision arc.
VOL 6 PART 1 → PART 2 → PART 3The four volumes form a dependency pyramid rather than four independent works. A change anywhere in the graph has visible consequences elsewhere — which is precisely the structural feature the governance must steward.
| Volume | Claims | Minorities | Open Q's | Tier mix |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vol 1 — Foundation | 15 | 1 | 0 | Working & anchor |
| Vol 2 — Therapeutic | 13 | 0 | 1 | Working & anchor |
| Vol 3 — Quantitative | 12 | 1 | 2 | Frontier, working & anchor |
| Vol 4 — Testing | 36 (+10 instruments) | 1 | 0 | Anchor + inherited |
| Total | 76 | 3 | 3 | — |
This work is licensed under CC BY 4.0 per Volume 6 §10. The operative governance artifacts — GOVERNANCE.md, CONTRIBUTING.md, PROPOSAL_TEMPLATE.md, SUCCESSION_LETTER.md, and SCHEMA.md — live in the repository root; Volume 6 itself, which describes them, is on this reading site.