Ask Jonathots … November 17th, 2016

 Jonathots Daily Blog

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When turning the other cheek, how do you ensure you won’t be slapped twice?

A door has two functions.

If open, it provides access to another possibility.

If closed, it creates curiosity, but also can pass along the impression that what is beyond the barrier is forbidden.

The reason most people fight is because the doors are closed. It’s the main reason that “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” fails to achieve any purpose–because slamming the door in the face of another human being does not mean they won’t try to burst through or close doors in your face.

Retaliation is a never-ending process–unless somebody opens a door.

I have relationships with people who are fruitful, even though they’ve been speckled with egregious conflict and offense. They work because doors are left open.

And I have broken connections with other folks that were halted because the door was slammed on communication, leaving behind a climate of mistrust–a grudge.

When you turn the other cheek, you refuse to slam the door on the possibility of creating peace.

Will someone take advantage of your willingness and slug you again? Perhaps. But if you push back they will certainly follow up their violence with additional attacks.

For after all, there are no guarantees when it comes to interaction with human beings, yet I can promise you that if you slam doors, strike out, or try to get even, you will certainly be in danger of escalating the aggression.

It is in that moment of turning the other cheek, refusing to participate, and allowing for cooler heads to prevail, that you thrust a mirror into the face of your enemy and let him or her see themselves as the villain.

Does it always work? Does anything?

Certainly there are some folks who will continue to beat on you once you stop fighting, but it is not the norm. Usually when you refuse to seek revenge, you will stall the vitriol of others and give them pause to contemplate.

In that moment, more than likely you will avoid the second slapping–and just possibly open the door to conversation. 

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

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Populie: Children Are a Blessing … October 8, 2014

Jonathots Daily Blog

(2374)

For every person who loves a baby and refers to the child as a bundle of joy, you will soon find that same individual talking about “the terrible twos,” lamenting “angry adolescence,” and producing an off-spring into the world of “grumbling grown-ups.”

Religion loves the populie of “children are a blessing.” Matter of fact, it’s the easiest way to get people to clap their hands in church–announce the birth of a baby.

Entertainment loves to tell stories of people who had trouble finding children, acquiring children or birthing children and have, through some miracle, been able to have one of their own or adopt one, which brought consolation to their household.

Of course, politics jumps in with its approval because being “pro-family” is a great way to get elected.

• But children are not born for our pleasure.
• Children are not jewelry created to adorn the costume of our lives.
• Children are not proof that our love is intact or that we’re virile.

Children are the means by which the natural order populates the Earth, to eventually get rid of you and me and make room for “he and she.”

To refer to children as “a blessing” and then merely sit them down in front of a television set to be indoctrinated makes us poor stewards of the opportunity.

There’s nothing special about having a kid. The whole process is very primeval. We have decided it’s beautiful because our arrogance will not allow us to admit that cows, bears and whales do it.

But after the cigars are passed around, we need to transform this pink, pudgy creature into a human being before he or she ends up acting like a gorilla.

These are the steps involved in turning the birth of a baby into the blessing of a human:

1. Nurture them.

At first, all they need are hugs and milk. Oh, yes, you may want to change their diapers, too.

2. Encourage their curiosity.

The best way to make disobedient children is to ignore their questions.

3. Channel them towards empathy and gratitude.

You cannot raise a human being if you do not teach him to feel for others and be grateful for what comes his way.

4. Force them to communicate.

Yes, I use the word “force.” A reluctance to talk will inevitably set in. When you add a computer, a phone, an I-pod and Netflix, you have pretty much eliminated their will to converse. You must intervene or you will put them at the mercy society.

5. Let them find and experience a faith which is real to them, not borrowed from others.

6. Don’t be afraid of sexuality. They won’t.

7. Have a defining moment when you have the confidence to allow your child to stop being a deduction and become your adult friend.

Children are not a blessing simply because they arrive. Actually, they are destined to become selfish, cheaters and liars … unless they are guided onto a path of human understanding.　

 

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

 

The Sermon on the Mount in music and story. Click the mountain!

 

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

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Jesonian: Depraved or Saved? … August 3, 2014

 Jonathots Daily Blog

(2311)

For those who are saved by grace, it would be wonderful to see them become more graceful. Otherwise, salvation by grace generates an insecure people who have lost hope, and threaten to become a disgrace.

What is salvation?

Is it as the fundamentalists believe–an admission of our entire, depraved, sinful nature, which has to be reborn through baptism so that we become acceptable in the eyes of God?

Or is it as the mainline denominational people believe–a submission to the teachings and philosophy of Jesus, while applying the traditions of the church?

I am most comfortable looking at salvation through the eyes of Jesus rather than the permutations brought about through denominations.

A Centurion once sent word to him, asking Jesus to heal his servant. He believed Jesus could do it from a distance, since he, the Centurion, felt that he was unworthy of a personal visitation. Jesus said he had never seen such great faith.

There was a woman at a well with five previous husbands, and was living with a man, but became the conduit for a revival in her town because she brought her curiosity, which was accounted unto her for salvation.

Zacchaeus decided to make reparations for all he had stolen from people, and Jesus said “this day salvation had come to his house.”

The woman caught in adultery hung around after the crowd departed, to receive a final verdict from Jesus. He confirmed her salvation by telling her that he did not condemn her, but challenged her to go and sin no more.

The woman with the issue of blood brought a plan. “If I just touch the hem of his garment, I’ll be well…”

The Prodigal Son came to himself and offered common sense. “I would be better off being a servant in my father’s house than starving out here in the wilderness.”

• Faith.
• Curiosity.
• Reparations.
• Humility.
• A plan.
• Common sense.

These are all part of the process of salvation. When we believe that the depravity of man must be established in order to prove that God’s grace has been extended, then we close the door to those who don’t require a complete overhaul, but instead, just a way to identify the source of the beautiful life that God has given them.

We must be careful that in the pursuit of proving that God is great, we allow for the disciples of Jesus to mature instead of becoming more meager in their character, to bolster the doctrine. Because as the Gospel of John tells us, “to as many as believed in him, gave he the power to become the sons of God.”

Salvation is an empowering experience. It is taking our spirit, which has been unplugged, and uniting it with the Spirit of God … to recreate the beauty of Eden in our soul.

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.

Click here to listen to Spirited music

 

 

Middlin’ … September 14, 2013

Jonathots Daily Blog

(2005)

I was sitting in the left lane on my drive over to Chesterfield, Michigan last night to share at Grace United Methodist Church, backed up behind a bunch of cars, wondering why someone had created a light that only stayed green to give enough time for three cars to turn. It was a curiosity.

I also watched carefully as some cars passed me, trying to get further up in line and stick their noses in to make greater progress. I felt my human ire rise over their presumption. And then I realized that I had departed in plenty of time, that I wasn’t any better than anybody else and that everyone was having to wait their turn–and though I saw a number of cars in front of me, when I looked behind me, I saw there were even more cars to my rear.

I was in the middle.

That’s where we spend most of our time. Usually we don’t win the race; we’re not first place. Fortunately, we’re usually not in last place, either.

We spend most of our lives … middlin’.

If we would learn to enjoy that, deal with it and find great comfort in being surrounded by fellow “middlers,” we might just end up becoming more pleasant and easier to get along with. But we live in a society that pushes us to be first place and tells us to cover up our mistakes if we end up being the caboose.

So we never enjoy where we are.

I’ve had a fantastic week, meeting amazing people. It’s been my great excitement to write jonathots to you everyday.

Yet yesterday a friend of mine asked what I planned to do to expand my work. You see, friends are not always friendly. They think they’re being ingenious when they pipe out the sentiments of our culture, which basically tells us that “we’re all good” while simultaneously applauding only those who gain notoriety. Here are the two things I know to do:

1. Find a place where you can do what you’ve been called to do, perform it excellently, don’t hurt anybody else and relish the people around you.

2. Don’t be afraid to try something new if it comes your way–but don’t be frustrated if beautiful things continue to happen, yet they don’t seem to be terribly expansive.

There you go.

Tomorrow I go to First United Methodist Church in Mount Clemens. It isn’t, by the way–I mean it isn’t the first United Methodist Church ever, and it certainly won’t be the last. The truth of the matter is, it’s the Middlin’ United Methodist Church, filled with middlin’ people, who will have great lives if they learn to enjoy their surroundings and the folks standing next to them … as they wait for their turn in the road.

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

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

Climbing In — October 5, 2011

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Dollie just returned from Miami, Florida, with the new van we purchased.  (Of course, I’ve already told you two things that aren’t exactly true.  It is not a new van, but rather, the newest model we can afford. And secondly, we didn’t exactly purchase it–we put some money down on it and now we have an addressable monthly installment.)  Dollie had spent two weeks playing “Grandma” while my son and daughter-in-law were in Europe.

Now, the main concern with this van was whether I would be able to get into the driver’s seat easily. Having acquired two bad knees and a body which does not have much will to lift itself very high anymore, there was a question about my portability for such a maneuver.  I know to some of you this may seem strange or maybe even pathetic, but of course, I might be equally concerned over your apprehension about writing a daily 1,000-word essay for the Internet.  Bluntly, we all have enough “weird” in us to make us normal.

So before the van arrived, I was curious about my ability to ascend to the throne. Once curiosity has been visited two or three times, it transforms itself into doubt. Doubt is where we live until the actual threat to our being arrives and then suddenly, we sprout a full dose of uncontrolled fear. It’s sneaky stuff.

If we were smart, we would speak our concerns aloud during the curious phase and get many of them relieved by other fellow-travelers sharing their experience and faith in us. But usually we keep curiosity to ourselves until it mutates into doubt. Now, doubt it really hard to share with anyone–because as good Americans we have been taught to free ourselves of negativity and always look on the bright side of life and to “believe, believe, believe.”  So if we can’t sprout that crop of energetic hopefulness, we tend to want to keep it to ourselves. But when doubt sits in our hearts, it is just waiting for an excuse to become afraid.

So when the van pulled up and it was my time to go out and climb in, my curiosity, which had become doubt, exploded in a burst of fear.  So my attempts to get into the vehicle were really feeble.  I cast aside everything I knew and tried to climb straight up into it, which forced me to use my knee to pivot in the seat, causing pain and making me begin to believe I would be unable to use this blessing which I had acquired. The second attempt was even worse–fear was now in control.

Anyone watching would have had a great hoot and holler over my contortions, especially if they were the types to be drawn to sideshow events–a two-headed frog in a mason jar.

I stopped trying. 

No, that’s good. Attempts made in fear only reinforce the idea that we are helpless. Instead, I went backwards. I sat in my room overnight and addressed my doubts. Why did I think I wasn’t going to be able to get in that van? Why did I feel that something I had accomplished before was now beyond my ability? Dealing with those doubts returned me to my curious phase. I realized that my curiosity was more about the fact that I did not want to dread driving.  Good point!

So the next morning, with no audience around, I opened the door of the van and looked at it. I allowed my brain to work instead of my trepidation. I discovered there were two steps and even a handle to assist me to enter. It was inspiring and hilarious at the same time, as I simply followed a pattern of thinking and entered my new van without any trouble. I haven’t perfected it yet, making it a part of my mental bank, but that’s just a matter of time.

Progress is all God asks of anybody–and the only enemy of progress is fear.  And the mother of fear is doubt.  Doubt is allowed to hang around because we have not thoroughly answered our curiosities.

Will I be able to transfer this information I learned about climbing into my van to the next adventure? I hope so. 

But of course, hope only works if you don’t allow your curiosity to kill your cool cat.

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Jonathan sings “Let”

Jonathan Sings “Spent This Time”

Jonathan and his partner, Janet Clazzy, play “The Call”