Sit Down Comedy … September 11th, 2020

Jonathots Daily Blog

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I don’t feel good.

But I’m suspicious.

Both about feeling and about good.

Feeling seems to have such great promise until it arrives with its anemic personality and unnatural bend to the dark side.

It can’t be trusted.

First and foremost, it is not satisfied to just have a feeling—but instead, offers a diagnosis.

What I feel may be just a burpless bouncing of discomfort between my shoulder blades but is interpreted in my strain of brain as a pending heart attack.

I may just be a little breathless, but this is translated as respiratory failure.

Maybe lazy has won the day but it’s so much easier to declare it a pending crazy.

But I definitely don’t feel good.

How can I tell?

I’ve altered my schedule—my Holy of Holies.

Normally, after my kitty-kat nap, I go into the bathroom, piss and brush my teeth before heading into the music room to begin my afternoon writing session.

I did not piss, nor did I brush.

I came right to the music room and was no bettered by deleting efforts.

Something’s wrong.

Now, there is a beauty to this—and there is an ugliness.

Let me begin with the ugliness.

The ugliness is that I can accidentally sustain this feeling of uncertainty by fostering self-pity.

I can baby myself right back into the nursery.

I can convince myself of all sorts of pending gloom and doom.

Why? Because I’m fat.

That means every chest discomfort could be a coronary.

Every breathless exhibition is my BMI trying to smother me.

And every single pain that might exist in my legs is my aging, tackling me for the grave.

So you see, if I don’t get out of this mode, it will turn into a bad mood and it can mold my whole evening.

So I come into the music room to talk to you about it today.

I am not anticipating sympathy.

I’m not requiring that you confirm your mercy in my direction.

I’m using you as a sounding board. Maybe abusing you would be more accurate.

Because I don’t feel good.

But I will tell you that even as I talk to you about this, I feel a little bit better.

That little tiny headachy part in the front of my brow is gradually dissipating.

I know it’s nothing serious—I know I’ve underdone something, when overdoing would have been welcome.

Or I’ve overdone a plate of something when a saucer was in order.

But it doesn’t make it any easier.

I am fully aware that I am childish about my concerns and need to at least deduct the “hypo” off of my “chondria.”

Also—I owe myself a piss and a brush.

When will that happen? Is that gone for all time? Have I robbed my self of a urination and a tooth cleansing?

You can see, it can become very complicated.

I don’t feel good.

I don’t think it’s going to end with my demise.

But I have to admit, there are times it does reprise,

And is important for me to know how to surmise.

 

Good News and Better News… January 9th, 2017

 

 Jonathots Daily Blog

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It is reported that animals can smell fear.

I do not know if this particular “sniffology” is passed along in the human family, but I am fully aware as I travel and interact with my brothers and sisters, that there’s a strong apprehension in the air.

It’s not so much an odor as it is a loss of confidence and a disconcerting sense that doom looms too close to the home fires.

So in a season when the church should be rallying from its stagnancy because of the yearning of the human spirit to relieve tension, our ranks still seem to be filing out the back door.

There are those in theology who conclude that it’s due to a lack of serious religious reflection, and others who believe that we’ve not yet struck the right chord with the younger generation concerning traditions and the teaching offered for their children.

If you will allow me, I will tell you:

• We have too much God and not enough Father.
• Too much Christ and not enough Jesus.

It’s similar to a chemistry teacher who constantly gives tests on formulas while never having the students do lab work.

Church is boring because the idea of God is stifling.

Church seems insipid because a Christ who offers eternal salvation doesn’t give us a Jesus who offers us Earth solutions.

We are stymied.

For fear of losing our “worship credentials,” we have sacrificed our human appeal.

The heavenly Father is a Creator, not a manufacturer. Not everything can be taught in a six-week series from the pulpit as we expound upon every reference in the Bible about love, and hope that folks will draw a pious conclusion.

Jesus was our brother–tempted as we are in every way and touched by our infirmities long before he became salvation through the cross. Thirty-three years of life can not be ignored because of three hours at Golgotha.

Until we have more of the Father and an abundance of Jesus, our churches will be full of dead men’s bones and promises that seem to have been “rain checked” until after death.

The good news is that God is our Father, Jesus is our brother and the Holy Spirit is not a ghost.

The better news is that the Holy Spirit has come to remind us about the goodness of our Father and the genius of Jesus.

 

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

 

Populie: It’ll All Work Out… July 16, 2014

 Jonathots Daily Blog

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It’s popular to encourage one another–yet a lie sneaks in when we tell people things will get better without their involvement.

Thus the populie, “It’ll all work out”–it, in this case, normally referring to God, country or destiny.

Religion loves “Happy Heaven travelers.”

Politics adores happy voters.

And the movies certainly favor happy endings.

What’s wrong with that? Is it bad to believe in a positive outcome instead of dwelling on the negative gloom and doom that threatens the horizon?

No. It’s just an issue of how we get there.

If we get there through deception, then we’re not only going to be disappointed, but defeated and ill-suited to take on tomorrow’s adventures.

I do believe in the power of faith and the notion that things can work out. It’s just that I honor a three-step process–because God, my country and certainly a destiny which is failed to be written in the stars can’t guarantee me anything without me showing up prepared.

For things to work out:

1. Nothing happens without a person or people.

I have found that my prayers are much more effective when they’re linked with both supplication and the intelligence of others joining me. I have discovered we have a better country when we include everyone and take others into consideration instead of bullying them because they’ve fallen out of favor. And my destiny is achieved based on how well I handled today, without worrying about tomorrow.

2. We need to get started in order to receive inspired ideas.

Even though we like to believe that every vacation should be paid for up front, each project should be endorsed and funded and our relationships guaranteed for a lifetime, deep in our hearts we know that’s not human.

Inspiration is given to those who are inspired to do something now. The minute we take it to a committee, we’ve already decided not to do it. If you don’t believe me, just look at Washington, D.C.

3. Endurance is knowing when to change and when to continue.

I run across people who think they’re doing a good thing, while they repeat the same mistakes, mistakes dashing their hopes.

And I run across individuals–including myself sometimes–who pull up one block short of completing the trip.

Endurance is what is necessary to save us from calamity, but it is acquired by being inspired with ideas on the move and finding out whether those notions are encouraging us to evolve, or press on with the same path.

• God is not a solo act. He travels, unites and bonds with human beings to perform His will.
• Our country is “we, the people” instead of “we, the whim.”
• And since there is no tomorrow until we create it out of free will, destiny is a modern-day Mother Goose created to comfort folks who have decided to give up.

Watch out for this populie. It’s sneaky.

Sometimes you might feel like the ogre under the bridge, scaring off all the little children by being realistic. Yet we have to speak the truth with love.

Great things demand a person or people, inspiring ideas freshened by effort, and knowing the difference between keeping on and changing course.

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.

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