Jonathots Daily Blog
(3345)
DUDLEY
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PoHymn: A Rustling in the Stagnant … June 21st, 2017
Jonathots Daily Blog
(3344)
Standing There
I was just seventeen
Trying not to be mean
When I saw her standing there
Is she terrified?
I am
I brushed my teeth four times
Back and forth, side to side
Even upside down
Yet the foul is returning
My deodorant is so damn unpredictable
Was that a whiff of skunk?
I’m sweating
It’s not hot
She is
I’m not
Does she know that I’m plain?
Yes, plain
Dry toast without butter
Marshmallow minus cream
They say women are from Venus
I, supposedly, am from Mars
Could someone build a spaceship?
Maybe we could date on the moon
And gradually come down to Earth
That sounds romantic
No, wait. Corny
Corny is bad
Like my deteriorating breath
She is fidgeting
Or maybe just exercising
I am not athletic
I bounce the ball
And then watch it roll away from me in disgust
Yes, the ball had an opinion
It mocked my efforts to participate
Doesn’t she do most of the stuff I do?
Just not as noisy or smelly
Is there common ground?
Why are we on the ground?
Many magnificent wonders
I want to talk to her
No, I don’t
Talking is dangerous
It demands sentences
Verbs connecting nouns
Yet I need to communicate with her
Hand signals are out of the question.
And unfortunately, spontaneous making out is rare
Some sort of interaction is required
I wish my dog was prettier
Forget I said that
No, promise you forgot
I like girls
Even when they’re women
I just don’t want a mother
I have one
I will savor the unique experience
Why doesn’t she talk to me?
Maybe she can’t talk
A deaf mute
Why does that interest me?
Did she just check her breath?
My God, we do have things in common.The producers of jonathots would humbly request a yearly subscription donation of $10 for this inspirational opportunity
Cracked 5 … June 20th, 2017
Jonathots Daily Blog
(3343)
Five Father’s Day Gifts That Will Never Make It Out of the Box
A. A “make your own” beef jerky kit
B. A book entitled, “Finding the Mommy in your Daddyhood”
C. A week’s membership at the “Him Gym”
D. A bow tie–ANY bow tie
E. An app with replacement words for cussing
Good News and Better News… June 19th, 2017
Jonathots Daily Blog
(3342)
Dislike–deciding to “diss” liking.
In the pursuit of what we call love, and even unconditional love, we’ve reached a point where we just don’t like each other anymore. We have the appearance of Atlas carrying the world on our shoulders because we feel compelled by our civilized natures to be as calm as possible.
We “diss” liking. We claim great affection for souls around us while privately rolling our eyes, communicating that they are annoying.
So when I arrived yesterday morning at the Ruskin United Methodist Church, I was looking for people who like each other. Because here’s the truth–a paraphrase of John the Apostle: I don’t think you can love God if you don’t like people.
It seems that God is really proud of His creation.
I know we portray an anxious deity, constantly perturbed over our sins, but since He gave us the ability and even the permission, I seriously doubt that He will be terribly upset when we occasionally go errant.
The greatest arrogance, the most self-righteousness, and perhaps the sin of all sins, is to believe that human beings are not worth liking.
- It’s in our government.
- It’s in our religious system.
- It’s in our movies.
We are training ourselves to be suspicious, and failing to acquire great moments of human fellowship that just demand a little bit of mercy and grace.
I’m not one to advocate looking in the rear view mirror and assuming that the past was better than the present, but I will tell you, if there was any era when people were given the chance to excel without being pre-judged, then we might want to reach back into that span of time and regain some of that tenderness.
For the good news is, God likes people.
And the better news is, He loves those who like them, too.
The producers of jonathots would humbly request a yearly subscription donation of $10 for this wonderful, inspirational opportunity
Catchy (Sitting Two)This Young Man … June 18th, 2017
Matthew Ransley was an advertising agent but fancied himself an executive. He was a founding partner in a company called S.E.E.D.S.–an annoying, elongated acronym: “Selling Everything Everywhere, Delivering Success.”
Matthew was very good at what he did. He worked at being congenial but if sufficiently aggravated, could launch into a rampage to defend one of his well-guarded opinions.
It was Tuesday when the phone rang and Mariel, his secretary (though she preferred “executive assistant”) was not yet at work to answer, so Matthew found himself taking the call. It was from Marcus Tomlinson, an attorney—an attorney for the estate of Arthur Harts.
Matthew knew who Arthur Harts was, and had even heard that the old man had died. He listened carefully as Mr. Tomlinson explained about the recent reading of the will and the revelation of the “Make Jesus Popular” addition.
It did cross Matthew’s mind that it might be a crank call. But the attorney established credibility because he seemed to know what he was talking about, including an abundance of information about Matthew and his agency.
“The reason we called you is that we thought that your agency’s name, S.E.E.D.S., sounded a little religious, and in doing a background check on you, we also discovered that you had some interest in matters of faith and such when you were a student back in college.”
Matthew smiled. He remembered. College–a chance to plan your future while simultaneously ruining your life. After graduation he had included every piece of resume-worthy material possible on his application to gain employment.
He had begun a club during his college years, launching a fledgling organization initially called the “Son of One” (he being the only member at the time.) His vision was to create a para-religious/party-motivated/pseudo-intellectual club, which would attract both thinkers and drinkers.
Before too long he achieved a member and they became the “Crew of Two.” Then came another and they became the “Tree of Three.” When a fourth joined, they dubbed themselves the “Core of Four.” A fifth inductee created the “Hive of Five,” and a sixth, the “Mix of Six.” When a seventh young lady cast her lot with the organization, they became the “Leaven of Seven,” where they remained throughout their university years, garnering no new converts.
Matthew assumed this was what the attorney was referring to when he mentioned “some interest in matters of faith.” Honestly, the seven young folk liked to talk about God and politics until the wee hours of the morning while indulging in “the beer and bong.” It was hardly a consecrated conclave, but rather, dedicated to the proposition that all men–and women–are created equally arrogant.
“What is it you want?” Matthew asked. It was too early to chat–or reminisce.
Mr. Tomlinson proceeded to explain that one of Arthur Harts’ dying wishes was to give two hundred fifty million dollars towards increasing the popularity of Jesus.
“How popular does he need to be?” asked Matthew. “I mean, they named a religion after him, and, if I’m not mistaken, doesn’t our entire calendar run by the date of his birth?”
There was a moment of silence. Then Lawyer Tomlinson spoke in metered tones. “Let me just say that I don’t know much about religion, or God for that matter. I am merely performing the literal last request of a very wealthy man.”
“So what do you want me to do?” inquired Matthew.
“What do I want you to do? I guess I want you to tell me that your agency will take two hundred and fifty million dollars and at least try to make Jesus more popular.”
“We could start a rumor that he and Elvis are going to get together and cut an album.”
A pause. “Sounds fine with me,” replied Tomlinson.
Matthew chuckled. It was becoming quite evident that this lawyer was merely going through the motions of fulfilling a contractual oddity. On the other hand, as unusual as the request sounded, the two hundred and fifty million dollars did offer a bit of sparkle. As a founding partner in his business, did he have the right to reject such a lucrative offer simply because it was weird?
The lawyer piped up, uncomfortable with the delay. “Perhaps you could suggest someone else.”
Matthew laughed nervously. “No, I don’t really think I could suggest anyone else. I’m not familiar with any All Saints Agency or God Almighty, Inc.”
“It is two hundred and fifty million dollars. I mean, can’t you do something?”
“Yes,” said Matthew. (He figured it was always better to say yes to two hundred and fifty million dollars. You can revise your answer later, but in the meantime, well, it’s two hundred and fifty million dollars.)
Matthew punctuated his acceptance by adding, “Maybe we could get Jesus to date a supermodel.”
“I think he’s dead,” said Tomlinson, without inflection.
“Not according to advertising.”The producers of jonathots would humbly request a yearly subscription donation of $10 for this wonderful, inspirational opportunity
Jesonian… June 17th, 2017
Jonathots Daily Blog
(3340)
Leprosy is a loser.
You lose feeling. You lose your fingers and your toes; you lose your friends. You lose interaction with the world around you. You lose control of your life. At least, that’s the way it was in Jesus’ day.
That is why it’s so remarkable that ten lepers got together and overlooked their angst to come up with a plan. They decided to go see Jesus.
I’m not so sure lepers do a whole lot together. I suppose there would be the fear that the infection in your brother or sister might even be worse than yours.
But ten of them planned a road trip. They even included one Samaritan, which all the Jews hated. I guess they gave him a free pass since they shared dying in common.
Ten lepers traveling together caused quite a stir. Everyone was frightened of the disease. Multiply that fear by ten. Therefore, getting anywhere near Jesus must have been a feat, and being granted an audience–the first miracle.
So when Jesus tells all ten lepers to go and show themselves to their priest, they launch off together on a mission of questionable potential. They are not immediately healed, nothing is changed and they’re on their way to see an aged rabbi who certainly possessed no remedy..
But along the way, suddenly each one of them is restored to wholeness, with beautiful pink flesh (or whatever color they originally had). We don’t know how long it took.
But being faithful, and even more aggressive to achieve their mission because of their restoration, they plunged ahead to come in contact with what would surely be a dumbfounded clergyman.
All except one.
The Samaritan–that renegade outsider–decides to turn back to see Jesus and thank him for the miracle. The other nine shake their heads in disbelief. They view themselves “the good ones”–the souls being obedient. They trudge on, praying for their errant companion as he races back to express his gratitude.
When the grateful, healed man from Samaria arrived and worshipped Jesus for giving him back his life, Jesus had a very interesting response.
First, let’s look at what he did not say. Jesus didn’t say, “Why are you here? I told you to go to the priest. Just like you Samaritans to not follow the rules.”
Or, “Because you didn’t do what I said, here’s your leprosy again.”
No–Jesus says something surprising. “Where are the other nine?”
This strikes me as a bit hypocritical, since Jesus sent them on a specific task to show themselves to a religious fellow to confirm their healing. But Jesus not only asks where they are–he mocks the nine for not having the gumption of the Samaritan, to return and express appreciation.
I view this as a warning–a gunshot in the air for all the righteous rowdies in our world who think because they follow some verse of scripture or some isolated command that they are viewed by the heavens as supernally superior. They tell you everything they are sure God finds unfavorable, and cite verses to prove their point.
They are wrong.
Jesus makes it clear–there is something greater than the written or spoken Word of God. It’s called “being led of the Spirit.”
And when the Spirit confirms to you that you’re healed and no priest had anything to do with it, and that the most valuable thing in life is to be grateful, you will bypass the initial command in order to follow the greater calling.
You don’t have to look very far in the life of Jesus to see that the scribes and Pharisees constantly reminded him that he was breaking Jewish law. His response was always basically the same: “You pursue the traditions of men instead of the heart of God.”
A Samaritan former leper broke a rule to fulfill a promise. Because he did, he was praised. And those who did everything by the book were mocked.
If you’re not prepared to go against the rules to fulfill the righteousness of where the Spirit is leading, don’t call yourself a follower of Jesus.
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G-Poppers … June 16th, 2017
Jonathots Daily Blog
(3339)
G-Pop welcomes all his children to the jungle called “today.”
It is possible to negotiate the experience as long as you avoid over-optimism or a nasty streak of pessimism.
First and foremost, G-Pop wants his children to know that coming into the jungle anticipating “good, better and best” is a futile, if not cruel, perspective. Human being s are not geared for such an agenda. Your friends will crumple if you place this regimen upon them.
What you have in the jungle is 1) the reluctant 2) the mediocre and 3) the available. Just realize this. It is the key to survival, which allows for success.
Reluctant people have one message: “leave me alone.” To pursue any further with a reluctant person will ignite their inner rage instead of awakening their potential. They will need to see much before they do anything.
On the other hand, the mediocre communicate clearly, “Why should I change?” They can explain why others need to alter their course and repent, but they feel deeply that they have done as much as they possibly can without sucking on their last straw of sanity.
Then you’ll come upon a clearing and meet the available. Those are the human beings who realize, “We need something.”It doesn’t mean they’re highly motivated to be productive, but they will admit that something needs to happen, or the same mediocre reluctance will render all of us vulnerable to the creatures of prey who devour the weak.
So what is your job? Are you called to turn a reluctant person into an eager one? God forbid. When you run across someone who’s reluctant, just encourage them to keep rummaging. If you see anything of quality, praise it.
Likewise, when you interface with the mediocre, G-Pop wants his children to leave them with something to think about–that good, old-fashioned food for thought with a lot of relish and mustard. Just tell them what you’re considering, and admit that you don’t have the answers, but you’re curious. Mediocre sometimes gets stirred, and in the process, can turn into a bubbling stew.
And of course, when you stumble upon those who are available, urge them to wonder. For instance:
- How much could a little change accomplish?
- How about if we just painted the fence?
- What if we just purchased a welcome mat for the front door of the house?
- What power does a little creativity bring, which might stimulate the passion to do more?
G-Pop must warn his children that the search for good, better and best is only suited for when we walk among the angels.
Enter the jungle called “today” knowing how to deal with the reluctant, the mediocre and the available.
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