POPULIE: It’s Just the Way It Is … April 30, 2014

Jonathots Daily Blog

(2218)

“It’s just the culture. You can’t change it.”

This is a quotation from Don Sterling during one of his recent conversations with his girlfriend about his beliefs and contentions concerning racial and ethnic issues. And even though his words and ideas were so egregious that they raised a national “stir over Sterling,” the heart of his principles exists as a cancer in our society and permeates the thinking of most Americans.

Because we have been raised with the foolish notion that “popular” means “right,” we are constantly sucked in by lies and deception, drawing us away from our better nature into seasons of temporary insanity and regression.

• Not everything in life is up for votes.
• Not everything in life is debatable.
• Not everything in life can be a button on Facebook, which you punch if you “like” and when you realize you’ve accumulated enough of these approvals, you can proceed with confidence.

It is a POPULIE: “It’s just the way it is.”

Yet sometimes, we have to say, “It’s the culture, and not only is it wrong, but we’re going to change it.”

Politics discourages this, because to maintain a platform on which to base political leanings, you often find yourself defending arcane ideas and ridiculous notions.

Religion enjoys this prospect of not being able to change matters because it takes the responsibility for “storming the gates of hell” away from the local congregation and also allows for the anemic proclamation of the “soon return of Christ” because the world is in such a mess.

And entertainment loves to hide behind the populist notion that society has moved into some sort of new acceptance of an obtuse idea which has been rejected by time so they can flaunt it and call it “reality.”

Here’s something I want you to remember:

It isn’t a way if it doesn’t tell the truth that brings life.

And every true way believes that we are together.

Truth holds us together and life brings us together.

If you’re not arguing for these points, you’re jumping on a band wagon that’s playing so loudly that you may not notice that you’re heading for the edge of a cliff.

I do not care if social, spiritual, moral or even political issues have gained a following. I only care if they are a way that tells the truth that brings life.

If they aren’t, I will refuse to believe “it’s just the culture and the way it is.”

As people line up to give a gut punch to Don Sterling for his outlandish remarks, we need to realize that we all are in danger of falling victim to the quotation that fell from his lips. “It’s just the culture. You can’t change it.”

Well, I will tell you this: if we can’t change it, it will change us–and that particular transformation will not be life-giving, but rather, suck the possibility of true humanity and joy from our lives.

The producers of jonathots would humbly request a yearly subscription donation of $10 for this wonderful, inspirational opportunity

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Quatrain of Nashville … April 29, 2014

Jonathots Daily Blog

(2217)

Country fun

Country drinkin’

Country gun

Country thinkin’

 

 

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What Do I Want? … April 28, 2014

Jonathots Daily Blog

(2216)

As I scanned the congregation yesterday morning at Highland Hope United Methodist Church, looking into the varied countenances of those attending, I was reminded of a question posed to me two nights earlier by a young man after my concert. He was a precocious fellow with a bit of edge, but a curiosity that was born of purity rather than guile.

He asked me, “Mr. Cring, what is it you want?”

In other words, if I actually had a say in the matter, what is it I would like to see happen in the spiritual, social, cultural and maybe even political climate of our country?

People who pursue good cheer

Good cheer that leads to truth

Truth sensitive to humans

Humans searching for hope

Hope grounded in reality

Reality that uses talent

Talent which grows

Growth moving towards mercy

Mercy that believes in change

Change that births better people

Yes, I would love to see a church that has followers of Jesus instead of merely observers of the after-effects of the doctrine of blood atonement.

Jesonian: excited about the announcement that Jesus still has good ideas.

 

The producers of jonathots would humbly request a yearly subscription donation of $10 for this wonderful, inspirational opportunity

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Please contact Jonathan’s agent, Jackie Barnett, at (615) 481-1474, for information about scheduling SpiriTed in 2014.

Jesonian: Heart Creatures … April 27, 2014

Jonathots Daily Blog

(2215)

Some straight talk

We are human

Humans are heart creatures

We are emotionally driven

We are emotionally entered

Emotions require clarity

Clarity allows for purity

Purity is the removal of fear

Fear keeps us from love

Love allows for mercy

Mercy obtains mercy

First for ourselves

And then others

Humans are heart creatures

It is a balance of abundance and absence

Abundance of light, the knowledge of good

The absence of darkness, the knowledge of evil

The lie is that we need to study evil to be mature and understand it

Permeated with the darkness of evil

We become frightened to share our heart

Blessed with the light of goodness

We relax and allow ourselves to be transparent

Transparency opens the spirit

The spirit renews the mind

The mind motivates the body

We are human

Jesus says out of the abundance of our heart

We speak.

The producers of jonathots would humbly request a yearly subscription donation of $10 for this wonderful, inspirational opportunity

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Untotaled: Stepping 11 (January 20, 1965) The Cardington Rule … April 26, 2014

Jonathots Daily Blog

(2214)

(Transcript)

Jimmy did all the scoring.

Matter of fact, when our seventh grade basketball team lost the previous week to Mt. Gilead, 32-26, Jimmy scored 24 of our points. The other two additional contributions were provided by our guard, Tom, who miraculously sunk two free throws.

So when Cardington arrived at our school on January 20th, they were fully aware that the only person they really needed to guard was Jimmy.

I was the starting forward but had not scored. I believe the coach had me in there for rebounding. It was not that I jumped really high to retrieve the ball, but rather that my circumference prevented other players from getting anywhere near the rim and the ball kind of just fell into my hands.

So in the first possession of the game, when Jimmy was being triple-teamed by Cardington and they knocked the ball away and it dribbled over to me in my left corner position, and I picked it up, I was nervous to the point of vomiting–and of course, very surprised.

But I looked up and there was my favorite shot. I always used the shot from the left corner baseline when I played Horse, to put somebody away. It was my preferred weapon.

I had lots of time. No one realized where the ball had gone. So I looked up, arched the ball in the air, and nearly wet my pants when it swished through.

The players looked over in shock–and those were my teammates.

I ran down the court to guard for the next series and before I knew it we were back in possession of the ball and I was in my left corner, unguarded again, but this time Jimmy threw it to me and I sank another basket.

Yes. I did three baskets in a row, plus got three foul shots. (For after all, they did eventually decide to send somebody over to distract me.) We weren’t even a minute and a half into the first quarter of the game and I had scored nine points.

The coach called a time out, more or less to allow me the opportunity to catch my breath from excitement, and everybody pounded me on the shoulders as we headed for the bench. I’ll never forget what he said.

“Cring’s hot. Get the ball to him.”

Glory be to God, I was hot.

So my team did try to get the ball to me. I missed a lay-up, fumbled a pass, was double-teamed, and therefore never scored another point.

But it did give Jimmy a chance to get free–and he scored thirty.

We won the game, 39-18.

After that I did not become our leading scorer. But I wasn’t afraid anymore. I put some points up in every game.

I know it sounds silly, but that day I experienced The Cardington Rule:

If you’re going to play the game, you’d better be prepared to make points.

The producers of jonathots would humbly request a yearly subscription donation of $10 for this wonderful, inspirational opportunity

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G-21: Blame or Bloom… April 25, 2014

Jonathots Daily Blog

(2213)

… and then a remarkable occurrence …

Man and woman, expelled from the Garden by choosing the knowledge of evil and good over life, were thrust back out into the jungle for survival.

They were ill-suited.

Being monkey-angels, they had limited capacity for the grit of everyday sweat and pain involved in scrounging on their own. This introduced many scenarios–most of them dire.

But the remarkable part of the story is that rather than becoming extinct in an environment contrary to their natures–instead of sitting around blaming one another for misdeeds and weak character–they took the one enduring ingredient of the Garden which was formerly their home and carried it into the next part of their experience.

Love.

Man and woman loved each other.

Escaping the foolishness of finger-pointing and accusing arguments, they returned to the essence of why they came together in the first place. Realizing they knew too much and that this burst of information only made them feel despondent and worthless, they turned to one another to discover purpose.

• They didn’t blame.
• Instead, they sought to bloom.

Like “grandparents” of the entire human race, they acted out a living lesson of what makes our species valuable:

1. Who are we?

Not “who do we want to be?” Nor “who do we think we should be?” But instead, “who have we become?” minus shame over our nakedness.

2. What do we know?

Lacking pomposity and false bravado–just a simple inventory of the knowledge we possess that enlightens us instead of diminishing our capacity.

3. Where do we start?

First with each other. We aren’t going to make it out here in the jungle, to someday be worthy of the Garden, if we are constantly alienating ourselves from one another.

Man loved woman. He called her “the mother of all living.”

Woman loved man.

They trusted each other to be strong and were fully cognizant of each other’s weaknesses. They undergirded one another’s efforts.

And even though their bizarre selection of choosing to include evil in their thinking set the human race on a precarious journey into unnecessary failure, their love sustained us, pointing in the direction of life.

I know it is popular to glorify the Creator for His genius and generosity. Certainly He is worthy of all praise.

But let us not forget that our salvation story did require human beings to survive and prosper until such a time that the restoration of all things could be offered back to us … from another tree on a hill far away.

 

 

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Twenty-eight Years Later… April 24, 2014

Jonathots Daily Blog

(2212)

In my calendar of life, 1986 was a year that arrived, determined to leave its mark and remembrance.

I was in my sixth year of being a paternal care-giver to my twelve-year-old son, who had been struck by a car in the summer of 1980, leaving him in a persistent vegetative state.

• State–no change.
• Vegetative–present but uncertain response.
• Persistent–no end in sight.

I also discovered that my wife was pregnant with our fourth child. It dawned on me that in short months I would be traveling on the road around the country speaking and sharing my heart with an entourage of a sixteen-year-old, a ten-year-old, a disabled child, a recuperating wife and new-born baby.

Honestly, I just chose not to deal with it.

It was in the month of June that Joshua, my “special” child, suddenly contracted pneumonia and died.

My new baby was born two months earlier than expected, in a hospital in Peoria, Illinois, and shortly after that, a promise given to us to use a house for the holiday season was removed one hour before we arrived to occupy and be a celebrating family.

We were stunned by it all.

We ended up in Lexington, Missouri, in motel rooms, feverishly attempting to generate yuletide cheer.

But 1986 was not yet satisfied with all its provided turmoil. On Christmas Day, my wife slipped and broke her ankle, side-lining her for two months, while I took the two older fellows back on the good ole’ gospel trail.

Tonight I return to Lexington, Missouri, for the first time in twenty-eight years.

I have good news for these delightful human travelers: I can tell them of a certainty that we, as people, can not only survive, but prosper in our trials.

It’s not that there’s a silver lining to every cloud or a new dawning after the blackest night.

It’s just that sometimes, each one of us needs to know what we have inside of us–or we assume we are empty.

The trial of your faith worketh patience. And patience intends on doing a perfect work–showing us that struggle is the only thing we all share in common.

I am of a belief that this realization should be a valuable contribution … to my Missouri friends.

The producers of jonathots would humbly request a yearly subscription donation of $10 for this wonderful, inspirational opportunity

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Please contact Jonathan’s agent, Jackie Barnett, at (615) 481-1474, for information about scheduling SpiriTed in 2014.