The B. S. M. G. Report

Jonathots Daily Blog

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Refusing to ever rest

From seeking what is best

BAD

You are not worthy of great opportunity unless you’ve counted the cost and decided you know how to lose.

Someone will lose.

Unlike what your third-grade teacher told you, not all of us are winners.

I saw something bad yesterday. Three or four grown men—college football coaches—turned into whiny, bitchy babies because their teams lost, and the reporters asked them questions they did not want to answer.

I’m sorry, gentlemen. You don’t get to do that. The minute you start taking millions of dollars in salary for running a football team, you lose all privilege of being snotty. If you can’t give a civil answer, cancel the press conference. Please, do not teach the younger generation that it’s perfectly acceptable to be so disappointed that you pour your poison out on everyone around you.

Play to win. Lose and survive.

That’s how it works.

SAD

Great full.

I thought it was a little sad this year that Thanksgiving was not nearly as punctuated with true gratitude as I have seen in the past. Maybe it was just me—perhaps I was at the wrong places. Could I have watched the bogus television shows?

Yet the message I heard was, “It is great that we are full.”

Anybody can smile when their belly is satisfied, their house is warm and they’re doing good on their job.

Maybe it’s true that none of us learn how to be grateful until one or more of our wishes is absent and we still have to press on.

Yes, I think that’s it.

Gratitude is always better expressed by the souls who offer their appreciation, and those around them wonder how they can be so happy with so little.

MAD

I heard it again.

Somebody told me they have “faith in their doctor.”

I know why they said this. Medicine portrays itself as a religion. Everything is white, pristine and there are all sorts of gadgets, tons of explanations, and enough pomp and circumstance to march the Pope into the Vatican thirty times.

I don’t know why we can’t just deal with the truth:

Doctors and nurses are fabulous, and also ignorant.

• We’re still doing more cutting than curing.
• We still prescribe more medication than offer solutions.
• We are still wrong much too often.

For instance, medicine has killed tens of thousands of people through opiate addiction and the misapplication of painkillers.

Everyone knows there are more infections in a hospital than there are in your kid’s sandbox.

I’m not asking the medical field to be diminished, nor am I criticizing them.

I am demanding some needful humility.

In the 1790’s, when doctors were treating President George Washington for pneumonia and they bled him with leeches, they were certainly convinced they were giving him expert treatment, and probably discussed among themselves how this particular breed of leech was ground-breaking.

All the chatter did not change the matter. And the matter was, their treatment was counterproductive. They had to learn their way out of it.

I think it’s important to go to the doctor and get checked over as best you can—as long as you realize that part of what you’ll experience is somewhat experimental, making you a temporary guinea pig.

So oink-oink. And let us encourage these people of science to grow instead of crow.

GLAD

I believe I saw it on a YouTube.

It was a little boy, about nine. So maybe not so little, but still young.

He was asked a question in his classroom by a teacher.

“What do you want your life to be?”

They filmed a couple of students talking about money, happiness, marriage, cars and such.

Then they came to this young man. It was as if he was suddenly possessed by an angel from heaven. He explained, “Life doesn’t show up fixed. You gotta put it together.”

I laughed and broke out in tears all at the same time.

Do any of us really believe that?

Even though the boy’s words were eternal, can we realize how powerful this idea truly is?

It makes me glad there is one small member of the human race out there who has it right. Maybe he’ll infect us. Here’s what we need to learn:

Inhale life. Exhale good cheer.

Then repeat the process.

3 Things… October 4th, 2018

Jonathots Daily Blog

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That Cause Great Decisions

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.

 

The producers of jonathots would humbly request a yearly donation for this inspirational opportunity

Ask Jonathots… July 14th, 2016

 Jonathots Daily Blog

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How does faith and God play a role in finances?

God is like hamburger. Everybody thinks they know the way he/it should be served.

So some people think God hates money. Others insist that if God loves you, He gives you cash. And of course, you have a large number of the human population who think that removing desire is the best way to find God.

I preface with this because I’m going to share with you my beliefs about money as I have derived them from my faith in Jesus.

Jesus did not agree with much of anything that preceded him–especially in the realm of human motivation:

• He was much too practical for the Jews.
• He was much too thoughtful for the Romans.
• And much too plain for the Greeks.

Jesus’ teaching on finance and how it relates to everyday life had three components:

1. Count the cost.

Yes–sit down, add up what you spend, add up what you make and see if there’s any way to get close.

It’s not really budgeting–it’s not sticking money in envelopes, hoping the dollar bills will stretch. It is just a simple process of admitting to yourself, “This is what I spend and this is what I make.”

And don’t lie about it. If you need $50 a week for dinner and a movie, write it down.

Never come to God with a request that you have not first run through common sense.

2. Multiply your talents.

Once you’ve discovered the discrepancy between what you spend and what you owe, instead of growing frustrated with being cheated, or cheating yourself to the point of frustration, look at the talent you have. See if it has the capacity for increasing your finance.

Maybe you could start a cottage industry out of your home to pull in a little extra dough.

You should make sure your output at work is 15-20% above your fellow-workers, so when you want that raise, you have a justifiable case, and if a promotion becomes available, your qualifications shoot you to the top of the pile.

Sometimes it’s finding things you don’t need and getting rid of them.

But Jesus insisted that the victory goes to the talented, and to those who know how to expand their abilities.

3. Give and it shall be given unto you.

What confuses most people is that they expect angels to print money for them. That is not going to happen. God doesn’t pull anything out of thin air.

Jesus made wine–but he required water.

5,000 were fed–brought about by the fives loaves and two fishes.

When you give, you get respect. So we give, knowing that someday along the way we will need to have it given to us. If we are generous, “men will give unto our bosom, good measure, pressed down, running over.”

God does not write checks.

God does not have a checking account.

The giving we do establishes us as givers, and therefore opens the door for others to consider us worthy of receiving.

So as you think about God and finance, realize that He requires:

An accurate count

A positive, intelligent approach to our own talents which will bring benefit to our coffers

And establishing a pattern of giving so that people around us will be generous to us if the need arises.

When you stay faithful to these ideas instead of trying to imitate the success of others, you will find yourself rising above the crushing fear of money.

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

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Jesonian: (Part 2) The Preparer … June 7th, 2015

 

Jonathots Daily Blog

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Hearkening back to my school days, I recall four distinctly different types of teachers:

• Paul the Paycheck
• Larry the Lecturer
• Mike the Mentor
• Fred the Friend

(There were also the female counterparts of Paula, Lorraine, Michelle and Freda.)

Paul the Paycheck was a reluctant participant in the educational process, but faithful to his duties, always reminding you, though, that he wasn’t paid enough and could have gone into business and been rich.

Larry the Lecturer was in pursuit of the morality of learning, insisting that placing fine detail in a child’s brain was the best way to keep him or her from delinquency or poverty.

Mike the Mentor was pretty well aware that the best way for information to reach the adolescent brain was to provide examples which were easily understood in the teenage thinking process.

And Fred the Friend was the type of teacher who realized that students were going to learn what students were going to learn, but the lasting impression for their high school experience would be a loyal, intelligent and cool teacher.

Paralleling this to the religious system, we have a church today that teaches that Jesus is Paul the Paycheck, who died for our sins and now has become Larry the Lecturer, making sure we don’t accidentally have fun, ending up in a pit of evil.

We can certainly understand why this approach is not absolutely filling the pews.

But it only takes a quick study of the Gospels for us to realize that Jesus came to mentor his 12 disciples, and by the end of the session, called them “friends” because he shared his life with them.

So when my Mentor and Friend tells me that he is preparing a place for me, I am fully aware that he is working for my completion in the following areas:

1. Helping me find out what’s good for me here so I will know what I enjoy and what I would love to do forever.

2. He is also helping me find the perseverance and sense of humor to survive the bad that comes my way, by acquiring the ability to count the cost and avoid unnecessary conflict.

3. He’s placing his spirit deep within my being so I begin to recognize in the world around me what is growing towards the good, what is stagnant and what is determined to be dark.

4. He has placed the confidence in me that because of his mentoring and friendship he knows exactly what to provide for me in the life to come. to keep the joy of goodness flowing.

So my heaven will not be your heaven. My heaven will be a glorious expansion and explosion of the good I’ve already found here, thrilling my soul.

It will be prepared for me by my Preparer.

It will be a home where my Mentor and Friend can join me in freedom, fullness and pleasure.

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

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Three Ways to Start Fresh… January 1, 2015

  Jonathots Daily Blog

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Dream and scheme.

It is the dual approach used in the United States by those who are pursuing success.

We are told to have “big dreams” and be prepared to scheme our way into the marketplace using cunning–everything short of illegality.

The pundits of this philosophy sit back and smirk at its ambiguity. In other words, how realistic are dreams and how proficient is it to scheme for what we want?

The “dream and scheme” tactic is not only inefficient but also dangerous–inefficient because it leaves us at the mercy of hope, and dangerous because we are tempted to cheat.

As we begin the New Year, we often have the sensation of wanting to improve our lives. But dreams put us to sleep, threatening nightmares, and scheming puts us in a competitive arena with those who may be more ruthless.

Here’s how you can start fresh:

1. Don’t fret over what you haven’t done.

There’s a reason for it. Don’t study the reasons so much. The past only gives you a certain amount of input before it turns into a nagging mistress.

2. Set your aspirations based on what you can do instead of what you want to do.

If you’ve never done it before, although you tried, your next attempt will probably be no more illustrious. Instead, winnow down your talents to those you can perform when sick, inspired, depressed, under pressure or handicapped. After all, these are your gifts. Use them well.

3. Don’t blame anyone.

That includes yourself. Circumstances always arise to bring tribulation. We have two defenses against such onslaught:

A. Count the cost.

In other words, don’t budget in what you don’t have. Only consider what’s available.

B. Be of good cheer.

And here is my definition of good cheer:

Nothing happens until I show up. Nothing is over until I give up.

If you will escape the “dream and scheme” apparition which is haunting our culture, you can begin a fresh, new life–working with your abilities, doing what you can do, and not taking things so personally.

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Jesonian: We Are Not the Bread … September 28, 2014

Jonathots Daily Blog

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We are not the bread, we are the yeast.

We are not the world, but rather, the light.

We are not the meat. Salt, we are.

We are not the soil, but seed to be sown by the sower.

We are not the wineskin. Behold, new wine.

What does Planet Earth need?

• Spirit: God is with us if we are with each other and sensitive to his creation.
• Life: abundant possibilities producing the opportunity to use what we have instead of lamenting our lack.
• Joy: be of good cheer. Nothing happens until we involve ourselves in the process.

Jesonian is not a religion, a belief, a system of worship or a moral code for judging others. It is when we add our lifestyle of effort, mercy and love to what is available.

It transforms entertainment into inspiration, business into creativity, faith into living works, politics into compassion that counts the cost, family into an every-growing inclusion of our brothers and sisters, and relationship into eternal connections.

We are not the bread.

We have not come to be served … but instead, to serve.

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

 

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A Moving Experience… August 30, 2012

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I didn’t expect to stay this long.

When I arrived in Michigan twenty-four days ago, I had a full calendar of events taking me all over the central and eastern parts of the state. I devised a plan. I was going to move to a new headquarters every Monday, nearer to my business and engagements. But when I arrived in Lansing I found lodging so well-suited to our needs that I took a closer look at my plan and realized that I was already centrally located, and could just drive out to fulfill my obligations. So I settled into this one place for the past twenty-four days, which gave me my requirements, and I jettisoned myself around the Wolverine State via my van.

But today is moving day. It is time to move closer to Detroit where I can finish up my tour of this delightful location with these blessed people.

Moving day used to be a problem. You can imagine–if you had to lift your life out of your home every seven days, put it in a van and travel down the road to a new abode to set up camp, it could be a maneuver filled with indecision, frustration, labor and strife. Let’s look at those four things: indecision, frustration, labor and strife. Anyone over the age of ten will quickly inform you that all of those things are unpleasant, if not useless. But still we pursue them. Doggone it, sometimes we even feel grown-up, mature and sacrificial because we suffer through them.

I don’t agree. I sat down one day and looked at the things that made moving difficult, and rather than accepting them as my lot, I changed them. It really all boiled down to having just too many things to carry. So I made two important steps: I got rid of what I did not need and I incorporated the rest into fewer containers.

For instance, we were carrying around five clothes bags for our stage outfits. Clothes bags are not suitable for long-term travel. They are difficult to get into and they don’t exactly keep your clothing wrinkle-free. We got rid of the bags and substituted a lovely clothes trunk with wheels. We fold them up nicely, and when it is time to use them, we remove them and iron them as required. We also had our food and utensils spread through too many bags. I simplified that by moving into one case on wheels, also. So eventually, what used to take three or four hours to pack up can now be achieved in about forty minutes.

It removes the dread from my head. And when you take the dread from your head and instead, move towards solutions, you clean up mental pollution. You stop being afraid. It’s powerful.

So I woke up this morning looking forward to a move. Of course, something will come up that I am not expecting, but as long as it’s not mingled with my own inefficient disorganization, it probably won’t take me down.

I bring this up today not because I think you are horribly interested in my packing patterns. It is because I would like to introduce you to a simple four-step process for anything you will ever do in your life.

1. Have fun. If you think that such advice is cute and trivial, then you don’t understand anything about what makes our journey on Planet Earth successful. If you don’t find a way to make things fun, you will remove the joy from your existence–and the Bible makes it clear that “the joy of the Lord is our strength.” (No wonder most people look like they’re exhausted and it’s only eight-thirty in the morning…)

2. Make a plan. It doesn’t mean you’ll get to use it. It just relieves your brain of the tension of believing that everything is hanging out in the air without any resolution. Jesus said you should “count the cost.” Sit down and figure out what you can do, what you can’t do, what might come up, what has come up in the past–and blend it all together into a concise idea that you can pursue … while having fun.

3. Keep it easy. The minute you begin to complicate your life, you are mingling your arrogance about your talent with the unpredictability of Mother Nature. Jesus said that his yoke, which is basically his way of doing things, is easy–and his burden is light. The contortions that religionists put their congregations through in the pursuit of divine favor may truly be the only thing worthy of hell. Keep it easy. Don’t flatter yourself by thinking that you can handle it if it becomes hard. You can’t.

4. And finally, don’t worry. I was trying to think of a mental process or reaction that was more worthless than worry. I decided that a tie for first place might be wishing. But I still think worry would beat it out. Worry is the fussiness of simultaneously believing that life “should be easier” while trying to make it harder. Talk about double-minded! Jesus said,“Take no thought for tomorrow.” Don’t worry. And don’t come back with some cute little phrase like, “That’s easy for you to say. You don’t have my problems.” I not only have had your problems, I’ve had mine. The Bible tells us there is no temptation that is not common to all men. Worry is what we decide to do when we really don’t want to do anything about something that demands effort.

So there you go. As I move out of my Lansing location and travel to Detroit today, I am fully implementing this quartet of possibilities.

• I will have fun.
• Because I have made a plan.
• And even though that plan may change, I am still going to keep it easy.
• And I refuse to complicate the myriad of twists and turns of life by worrying.

This applies to everything. It would even apply to solving the economic problems in this country–that is, if we had Republicans and Democrats who could have fun with each other, make a plan, keep it easy and not worry.

A moving experience–it happens every time I go from Point A to Point B without becoming frightened about Point Z, looming in the distance.

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