Jonathots Daily Blog
(3815)
1. Disconnect your faith.
You have some work to do before you pass it off to heaven.
2. Engage your brain.
Count the cost–see what you have and what you can do with it.
3. Welcome back your faith.
Now you know where you are, so invite help.
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Jonathots Daily Blog
(3583)
Music is how I heal my heart
When my soul can’t touch my brain
Mercy is what I grant to you
To escape from going insane
Grace is the hand of love
Caressing what’s condemned
The law, drenched in kindness
Ready to amend
Laughter, the way I dry my tears
Compassion the pathway, allay my fears
Faith my only substantial hope
To bolster my trust, learn to cope
This morning I continued my personal story
Another day blessed this side of Glory
Do this, do that, do nothing at all
Catch my breath, cushion the fall
Inhaling the truth, made so free
Find my peace
With me…then thee.
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Jonathots Daily Blog
(3406)
I had the night off from my gigs.
I decided to take in a church service at a small pioneer work where I’m staying. It is called Renaissance Fellowship. It touts the uniqueness of being a Christian church focused on the arts. Since I’ve been known to have a brain cell or two tuned in that direction, I was titillated.
The church is held at a community center and has about twenty-five folks who attend. The people are typical “church.” About 35% of them are excited, involved, busy scurrying around, and the rest of them have the appearance of folks arriving for a seminar on an unknown subject, with the promise that they might get free passes to a restaurant at the end.
Renaissance suffers from what every church suffers from. In trying to find God, they accidentally kill passion.
The pastor, a young man in his early forties, has a delightful desire and talent for sharing his thoughts. You can tell he is still deeply involved in the pursuit of God and the salvation of human souls, but growing a bit worn around the edges in all the well-doing. It happens to all of us.
But I heard something I liked. I heard rumblings that sounded like possibility.
Even though his message was plagued with too much preaching to the soul and teaching to the brain, I sensed that he’s beginning to reach for the heart.
For you see–human beings are not really spiritual. We aren’t thoughtful. We are emotional.
It doesn’t matter if it’s about work, play, a football stadium or church–the evidence that we are impacted is always an emotional outburst.
So I speak with great clarity to this pastor and tell him to keep reaching for the heart. Go ahead and abandon preaching to the soul and teaching to the mind. No one cares what Abraham, Moses, Joseph or any of the old patriarchs did. If the stories do not relate to family, Wal-mart and the Internet, they will not touch the hearts of American people.
Instructing the brain by pointing out clever pieces of information may once have been a path of probability, but no longer. Our brains are inundated with too much information, and of course, way too many posts on Facebook about nothing.
It is the only way people are healed. As Jesus said, “If you say to this mountain, be removed, and you do not doubt in your heart, it shall be done.”
The soul, the brain and the body have nothing to do with moving mountains. It is a heartfelt action.
Although I’m sure they are delightful and blessed people, many of the folks at Renaissance were doing their best imitation of being church cardboard cutouts. But becoming a church of artistry will require that the congregation that’s already there–tiny as it is–become emotionally excited with its own faith.
If it doesn’t, they will be just an average church that occasionally puts on plays.
The good news is that the Gospel is an experience of the heart.
The better news is, the pastor of Renaissance Fellowship and his congregation have a great opportunity to become heartfelt.
I have confidence in them.
For you see, the pastor is my son.
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Jonathots Daily Blog
(3201)
Jesus knows us because He was us. (What a great title for a praise band song).
He didn’t come to Earth to stand afar and consider our befuddled actions from his undergirded, divine nature. He was human.
He learned, he grew and he found favor through trial and error. I didn’t make that up. That’s what the Gospel of Luke says.
So by the time he reached his thirty-first birthday and was sharing the Sermon on the Mount, he had a firm comprehension of the human reaction to life.
It is in four phases:
There are folks who reject their feelings, muse over their failures and go to their brain–only to find it a library chock-full of old information, and therefore end up doing things repetitively, wondering why they can’t change.
Our emotions exist to tell us what we feel. They are not definitive, they are not final–they are sensors.
Our spirit is there to muse–to add that gentle balance that “all things will work together to the good.” Muse is the root word of music. The spirit should be the soundtrack to our solution. Sometimes it takes an hour; sometimes it takes a year. I suppose there are even things that take a lifetime.
But when we enter the third phase, we must be careful. We think.
Contrary to popular opinion, the mind is dangerous. Why? Because it is already programmed. It has our culture, our bigotry, our training, our prejudices and our false statistics. It’s the reason Jesus told his disciples, “Don’t think so much.”
Because if you come across a problem, feeling it may be a difficult one, and you muse over it in your spirit, but then decide to seek an answer in your brain, you’ll consider data that is often only worthy of the trash bin.
But do we put it in the garbage? No.
So when we start thinking, we start worrying, which negates our spirit and frustrates our emotions. We literally do the first thing that comes into our head–and it’s often wrong.
So what did Jesus suggest? What is the Jesonian?
Take your feelings to your spirit and muse over them until you get the music of wisdom–either from God, your own fresh experience, or even the counsel of others. Then move on that tuneful wisdom and do what’s right. At this point you can come back and renew your mind. It’s like putting another book in the library.
Your brain starts gaining flexibility.
The Sermon on the Mount is not a wish list by a religious boy who came from God, possessing an advantage. It is the observation of a man who lived in a household with at least six other brothers and sisters, worked as a carpenter, flushed out some bad demons in the wilderness, and was prepared to look at life as it really was … instead of trying to think he could handle everything.
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Jonathots Daily Blog
(3172)
G-Pop was considering unusual circumstances.
What would he do if he found himself in a parking lot and a gentleman with a gun ran up, demanded the keys to his van, pushed G-Pop inside, started the vehicle and took off down the road, G-Pop in the passenger seat?
A strange situation–yet it demands more calm than action.
All good questions that need answers before G-Pop would try to struggle with him to take control.
First, there’s a gun involved. Secondly, since the fellow is now in charge of the van and driving, it could be dangerous or lethal to interrupt his process.
People always admire heroics, but the truth of the matter is, lots of heroes die.
G-Pop doesn’t want to die.
G-Pop doesn’t want to be foolish.
G-Pop doesn’t want to make a point just so he can claim bravery.
You see, much of the same situation is facing our nation:
Some think President-elect Donald Trump is crazy.
Some folks believe he’s an economic genius.
There are those who insist he’s a lewd, vulgar predator.
Then you have his supporters, who claim he’s a family man with nothing but good intentions.
All of this debate is useless.
President-elect Trump has the keys. He has the guns at his disposal. He’s in charge.
So what should G-Pop’s approach be?
What should an intelligent American do, given the information we have of an authorized election which established the will of the people?
The same thing you would do if you were in the van being driven down the road.
1. Find your seat.
It is not wise to be stupid.
2. Buckle up.
Just in case this ends up in an accident, it would be a good idea to be protected.
3. Get as comfortable as possible.
The human brain does not work well when it’s festered by confusion.
4. Talk common sense.
Yes, talk to the person who’s driving. Hell, pray for the person who’s driving your van. Let him know who you are, what you feel and why you feel that way.
5. Help if you can.
The last thing in the world you want to do is disrupt someone who may feel intimidated.
6. See if he knows what he’s doing.
If he is a policeman and just needed your van, then everything will probably be alright.
The foolishness of trying to fight against what has transpired instead of finding a way to live our lives in decency and order is not only self-defeating, but contrary to the philosophy of this country.
Every four years we elect a leader. Our leader is Donald John Trump.
Before we become frantic, we should at least see where this is going to take us.
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Jonathots Daily Blog
(2999)
Yesterday I was bestowed the great honor of sharing my traveling message with the dear hearts of the Reformation Lutheran Church in Reading, Pennsylvania.
There are certainly folks who would contend that Martin Luther did very little to reform the Catholic Church, but instead, ended up starting his own ecclesiastical order. Matter of fact, some people will tell you that he retained the worst of the Mother Church while losing the more endearing portions–like Bingo and delicious fish frys.
But undoubtedly, there is a need for the religious system to be reformed and become more like the church that Jesus envisioned. What would that church be?
If you recall, after his resurrection Jesus gave Peter a simple instruction about how to empower the believers: “Feed my sheep.”
Although it’s true that politics, entertainment and religion attempt to feed the populace, each one tends to focus on only a part of the human experience, leaving other aspects unattended.
Humans are heart, soul, mind and strength.
Emotions need to be fed. This is what Jesus meant by “blessed are the pure in heart.” We must cease being afraid of our feelings, and air them out to see if they have any validity.
Feed the soul. The spirit of humankind lives off of a truth that makes us free to pursue wisdom. When the truth is diluted or hidden, we become religious instead of soulful.
Feed the mind. The brain retains. To get rid of faulty retention, there has to be a renewing, with fresh information and invigorating dialogue.
Feed the strength. We have bodies. They run on fuel. The more we feed our bodies the correct fuel and exercise, the healthier we feel.
As I spoke to the folks in Reading yesterday, I realized that they had arrived at the church weary from a week filled with bad news. They needed to be fed.
So emotionally, we told them that nothing happens until we show up, and nothing is over until we give up.
Spiritually, we shared that nothing of quality begins on Earth unless we understand that judging one another closes the door to fellowship.
Mentally, we challenged them that a God who loves us wants us to be happy instead of sacrificing our dreams to restricted religious regulation.
And physically? Well physically, we told them that the doorway to good health is to start off by enjoying the life God has given us and finding pathways to make it more abundant.
We can become the reformation church if we realize that those who come through our doors need to be fed–heart, soul, mind and strength.
That’s the good news.
The better news is that we don’t need to make up a program or draft a fresh constitution. Jesus has already laid out a terrific platform for complete human growth through his Sermon on the Mount.
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Jonathots Daily Blog
(2826)
Looking for just the right fella
Is my dear friend, Isabella
Constrained within the narrow alley
Betwixt the mountain and the valley
She refuses to merely resort
Desiring a better report
Keeping the wolf from the door
Considered sweet and light
Her brain can be a fright
Ablaze with choices to make
Trying to escape the fake
Lurking in the beanstalk climb
Then a nasty wisp of fate
At a mall with a greedy mate
Leaves her hands caught quite red
Her soul cold and feeling dead
Wishing to give it back
But God gave a voice
To the sparrow, a choice
Sing to find your mind
Laugh to release the kind
And soar above the damage.
So after memories sixteen
She faces another fresh scene
Is she child or woman born?
Closer to one, the other torn
She bleeds to know the ending.
But life is much less eager
The answers are quite meager
Just slow down, Burning Star
Tuck your dreams in a jar
Where you can view them before fading.
So happy journey, princess dear
Relax in the warmth of your good cheer
God has given you everything
He’s just waiting to hear you sing.
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A voice writing in the wilderness
