Cracked 5 … February 23rd, 2016

 Jonathots Daily Blog

(2853)

Other Than Eve, Options Considered for Adam to Have Companionship

A. A football-watching kangaroo who can jump to get snacks.

 

B. A poker-playing dog who is really good at counting cards.

 

C. A trunkless, small elephant to alleviate jealousy.

 

D. A serpent who has really funny stories about tempting women.

 

E. A conversational, easily satisfied love seat.

 

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Jesonian: Three for the Road … May 25, 2014

Jonathots Daily Blog

(2244)

The weakness of religion is that it draws people to the ceremony of worship instead of the heart of God and empathy with their fellow-humans.

You can read it all through history. The same complaints that Jesus had toward the religious system of his day hold true two thousand years later with our particular derivation.

But honestly, it does little good to complain about religion, politics or immorality if you don’t have a solid idea as to what will work, and a pathway to the door of understanding.

In becoming a Jesonian follower instead of a typical Christian, who is constantly stirring the Old Testament with the New Testament in an attempt to keep peace, three ideas have to be placed in primary position, as the dictionary for defining the terms of our faith:

1. God created the earth without form–and useless.

Yes, kind of a mess. So He could work on it. God is a builder, not an apartment manager. He likes His universe and He likes people because we’re both fixer-upers.

2. God created people for companionship.

He already had angels to worship Him. He was already well-served. He had no intention of running our lives or even devising plans for us to discover in the midst of our confusion. Granting us free will, He gave us the ability to both walk toward Him and walk away from Him with equal dimension.

3. God created nature as a balance–an even playing field–and also as an environment for humans to take responsibility for, as their home.

Environmental issues are not “liberal” or “conservative.” They are spiritual.

I must candidly tell you, until these three ideas become our spirited journey, there will be a sensation of being lost instead of found.

It is the Jesonian way of looking at life:

• God is a Creator.
• I am His friend.
• The earth is our home.

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After an appearance earlier this year in Surprise, Arizona, Janet and I were blessed to receive a “surprise” ourselves. Click on the beautiful Arizona picture above to share it with us!

Click here to get info on the “Gospel According to Common Sense” Tour

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

Click here to listen to Spirited music

 

 

G-18: Fellowship or Companionship … April 4, 2014

Jonathots Daily Blog  

(2194)

It’s not enough

I don’t know how to tell you

You have given me so much

I value your love

I treasure our relationship

I feel you inside me

I am thrilled with my work

I am enthralled by my home

I adore the creatures around me

If perfect is possible, then here it is

At my fingertips

In my pulse

Yet sadly, my friend, it is not enough

I simultaneously feel a vacancy and a sense of shame over the lack

I really tried to make a go of it

I felt as if work, fellowship and purpose should be sufficient to my need

I was wrong

I do not want to lie to you

I do not want to sneak away in a corner and pretend

I yearn for companionship

What is that?

Someone to hold in my arms

To confirm my presence

Someone to share blessing and blame

Someone for me to pleasure, and in turn, draw my pleasure from

Someone who disagrees, but remains

Someone who is like me but in a different sort of way

Someone who is sometimes stronger

Sometimes weaker

Honestly, someone who isn’t you

Someone who is, well … me

I don’t want to complain

But it is not enough

 

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

Click here to get info on the “Gospel According to Common Sense” Tour

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

Good Lord… August 21, 2013

Jonathots Daily Blog

(1982)

Of the two choices provided I do not like either.

It happens to me sometimes.

I’ll go to a dinner and they’ll offer me baked chicken or chef salad, and I run pictures through my mind of the two entrees, and realize that I’m not particularly in the mood for either one.

Yet we live in a society emphatic that we follow a pre-packaged thinking which has been stuffed in a box just for us, rather than allowing individual tastes and ideas to come to the forefront–to see how they would actually fly.

I bring this up because tonight I head off to Lord of Life Lutheran in Portage, Michigan.

I like the name, even though I’ve never been comfortable with the word “lord.” It harkens images of King Arthur and the knights or very religious inclinations towards servitude rather than companionship. But that’s just me being picky.

I am greatly blessed by the fact that it’s Lord of LIFE and not the other two options which are more prevalent in our society: Lord of the Bored and Lord of the Horde.

Sometimes it feels like I’m being pressured to be either religious or to be an atheist. I can join the ranks of those who file in and perch themselves in a pew and snooze through a worship service or I can accept the agenda of a mob that has no sense of history or personal responsibility, but careens down a superhighway at 90 miles per hour, unable to see through the fog.

What makes matters worse is that the bored and the horde are at war, accusing each other of alienation and crimping freedom of expression.

Here’s what I think:

• Don’t talk to me about rights until you’ve dealt with some wrongs.
• And don’t preach against the wrongs when you’re not prepared to give your fellow-humans equal rights.

As you can see, this often causes me to be stuck in the middle between the Lord of the Bored and the Lord of the Horde.

So imagine my delight–tonight I get to go to Lord of Life–what Jesus described as abundant, non-condemning, willing to be creative and having a great sense of good cheer.

Is that what I will find tonight? I’m not sure. But since they’ve encased themselves within this delightful name, I will exhort them to live up to their own standard.

Sometimes the choices are not sufficient to the needs of my heart.

I have no intention of being bored–and I will not join the horde of stupidity simply because they offer an open bar.

Lord of Life — yes, my dear friends, that’s for me.

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Please contact Jonathan’s agent, Jackie Barnett, at (615) 481-1474, for information about personal appearances or scheduling an event

The Carlisle Connection (a simple story)… August 14, 2013

Jonathots Daily Blog

(1975)

Nothingness cried out into the darkness, and …

God appeared.

God created man for fellowship.

Man requested woman for companionship.

Woman sought knowledge and uncovered confusion.

Confusion stumbled about, probing for intelligence.

Intelligence acquired experience.

Experience persevered and accumulated information.

Information repeated itself and became boredom.

Boredom gave up … and was left with nothingness

We begin again.

This time, let us hope that we seek wisdom instead of mere knowledge.

A better choice always saves time.

Carlisle Church

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Please contact Jonathan’s agent, Jackie Barnett, at (615) 481-1474, for information about personal appearances or scheduling an event

Du Quoin in a Fountain … June 12, 2013

(1,90)

Burned.

Burned out.

I once was beckoned to a burn ward in a hospital to see a young man who needed prayer because he had been scorched severely in a fire. I had never experienced such devastation. There were five youngsters on the floor, all injured beyond human recognition. The parents, when they heard there was someone on the floor willing to pray, beckoned me to the bedside of their child. The grotesque features, the pain, the anguish and the doom that hung in the air was almost incomprehensible and nearly unbearable.

I felt no need to be glib. The poetry of prayer escaped me. My tears became the ointment of hope–that these children might have a chance. Each one had lost a battle with fire.

But my dear friends, every time I walk on a stage and look into the faces of the audience, I see the same anguish. The American public is burned. We are burned by the fires of a raging debate that seems to have no end, which slices its way through our society, minus resolution. We are burned by viciousness, racism and religious bigotry, touting that “our God is bigger than your God.”

We are scorched by political rhetoric rattling on with meaningless statistics, promoting its unending agenda with no regard for the immediate needs of humanity.

So because our nation is burned,  we must be careful not to use fiery words to ignite great ideas.

• We need to stop preaching. It’s too pushy. Even teaching can be condescending.
• We are incapable of debate without division.
• We seem to be unable to talk about God and promote His love more than His judgment.
• We take the beauty of man and woman–the sexual pleasure they can achieve together and the companionship manifested–and turn it into a running joke on how the sexes are incapable of communication.
• We set ideals, our goals and our lives on fire with a series of ridiculous arguments which never promote inner peace and are only set ablaze to initiate our superiority.

I am coming into a burn ward and it is my nation. It seems to be up to me to bring the salves and the pain killers necessary to promote healing instead of continuing to do more damage to the flesh, blood, spirits and hearts of my fellow-citizens. But you see, once you’ve been burned, the last thing you want is to be touched. Your life is a living nightmare–a reminder of the horrible incident that has disfigured you.

It’s going to take patience, gentleness and reasonability to actually bring about a ministering force to our people. It is not an issue of marching, protesting, fussing, arguing or even lobbying. It’s finding the next person who’s been burned by the fires of a national indignation–and to sooth the wounds.

I’ve inserted a picture of a field which has already been harvested and now the remaining stems merely dry out in the sun. I was drawn to the scene because it reminds me so much of our country. We have harvested a great bounty of freedom and progress, but now the dried stems stick out of the ground and no one has the mercy to plow them under and prepare new seed for the earth–gently, please. But we must take all the dead stalks which are protruding from the ground and inter them in the earth, making room for new seed and a new crop of possibility.

The other picture is of my set, which I used as  a healing station last night with the folks in Sunfield, near Du Quoin, Illinois.

It’s what I’ve got. It’s small and to some may seem insignificant. But from that tiny operating room, I plan on promoting healing. Gone are the fiery sermons, replaced with the water of the Word, dousing all the heated rage.

It’s the least we can do.

By the way, I found out later that three of the five young people in that burn ward died.  It hurt me deep in my soul. But it also let me know that it’s important to keep the fire away from human beings if you can bring the water.

I will bring the water again to the folks in Sunfield this evening. I can only hope that those who’ve been burned by the inferno of a careless society misusing its book of matches will come out … to be soothed.

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******

 Jonathots, Jr.!

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https://jonathots.wordpress.com/jonathots-jr/

******

Please contact Jonathan’s agent, Jackie Barnett, at (615) 481-1474, for information about personal appearances or scheduling an event