Jonathots Daily Blog
(3577)
1. Be honest about who you are
2. Measure who you are in comparison to those who are successful and happy
3. Change (without shame) one thing at a time
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Jonathots Daily Blog
(3456)
I am not what you think I am
Always good or mostly bad
I am more than I appear to be
Sometimes happy, often sad
I am a believing soul
Filled with guilty doubt
I am usually half, rarely whole
Plagued by this childish pout
I know more than I recall
Fat I am, insisting I’m tall
My knack for offering sexual pleasure
Is rather limited, not beyond measure
I’m cranky when sweet is required
Full of fuss, rarely desired
I believe in myself to a fault
While questioning you and your result
I’m never nasty, but tart and sour
Squabbling over minutes, I then lose my hour
I am my father’s son and my mother’s little boy
I’m reminded things are good
But refuse to walk in joy
Yet yesterday a whisper caught my ear
I mustered the function to stop and hear
You were in need, I understood
Reaching out, did what I could
You called me an angel–I had to smile
Recounting my temper and fits of guile
Even though I’m riddled with delusion
I was truly uplifted by your conclusion
So a prayer I offered to the open sky
A humble plea, a dreamer’s cry
Lord, guide this chump to be
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Jonathots Daily Blog
(3069)
It is utterly amazing how many potholes on the highway of progress can be gloriously filled in with the marvelous cement of enthusiasm and repentance.
Although many people tout the power of thinking and prayer, our thoughts are often stuck in the past, and our prayers can be pious.
When I arrived in Marlette, Michigan, to meet up with Pastor Dave and the human beings who inhabit that region, I was looking for enthusiasm and repentance. Nothing of any significance is going to happen without this pair of miracle-workers.
Enthusiasm has a simple message: “I want to be happy.”
And repentance comes along cleansing the process by offering, “And I realize I may have to change to get it.”
Without enthusiasm. we eventually regress to complaining. And absent repentance, we always become “makers of great excuse.”
I was so pleased to encounter one friend after another in this gathered array of Michiganders, who expressed enthusiasm, and with tears in their eyes, realized the necessity of repentance.
Throughout my journey I have discovered that politics does not work because it’s so afraid of failure that it lies.
Education is limited because without the spunk of perseverance, it may not survive.
And religion is nearly comical because it pursues salvation without revering personal responsibility.
But the magic of enthusiasm followed by the anointing of repentance turns the human race into a livable sort, making folks able to co-exist with one another without gossip and murder.
I think this begins with how we answer the question, “How are you?”
We can decide to hide our feelings and say “fine” with varying degrees of apathy, or we can launch into a series of woes about our present condition, hoping for sympathy.
But I have found the perfect answer to “how are you?” Here it is: “At first, a little overwhelmed, but by nightfall, kind of surprised at how well things turned out.”
I shall always remember the folks in Marlette with Pastor Dave and his evolving outreach. They brought to the sanctuary enough enthusiasm to welcome repentance.
That’s the good news.
The better news?
It turns out that enthusiasm and repentance are much easier to work with than defeat and stubbornness.
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Jonathots Daily Blog
(2791)
I am not a terrorist
Nor angry, avid Baptist
Not a bloke on a “watch out” list
Just overweight.
I am not a vicious killer
Won’t find me a Hades filler
Sometimes even a “God willer”
Still, often dumb.
Never lost to hesitate
Got some good things as I wait
Chasing sense instead of fate
Somewhat forgetful.
My soul is never just “all’s well,”
Yet far from a devil’s hell
I zip my lip more than I tell
I can be quite boring.
Life is not about the race
Who we follow or do we chase
Sometimes wool and others, lace
I rejoice in my common.
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Jonathots Daily Blog
(2784)
Discovering I’m not so smart
Is the more intelligent start
Shedding a needful tear
Dispels some lingering fear
Quelling the push to win
Relieves the greedy sin
For an appetite of reason
Flourishes in every season
Stopping to feel compassion
Shall always be in fashion
To escape the festering mean
By having a heart that’s clean
While replenishing the broken road
Lifting the burdensome load
Refusing to be ignored
By those cynical and bored
And dodging the critic’s choice
Maintaining a hopeful voice
For happiness is not what happens to me
But rather, the person I choose to be.
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Jonathots Daily Blog
(2459)
I want more
Less is available
I am beautiful
Others, insist plain
I can sing
Where’s the audience?
I can love
Find the loveable
I am happy
Keep sadness away
I am lonely
Are you home?
I am valuable
See my worth
I am white
You have color
I am believing
You question me
I am laughing
Stop your mourning
I am crying
Cease the show
I am hungry
Fed, see more
I am earthly
You are heavenly
I am religious
You are irreverent
I am prejudiced
You are sensitive
I am weary
You are well-doing
I am here
You are there
I am absent
You are available
I am tired
You look exhausted
I am ready
How about you?
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Jonathots Daily Blog
(2345)
Once again, the religious community has blown up over the wording shared by a lady in Houston, Texas, as she attempted to explain how she believed that God “wants us to be happy.”
Was it simplistic? Perhaps.
Was it completely unbiblical? Of course not.
Was it unbalanced? Indeed.
The thing we have to remember about the Bible is that it offers us six thousand years of spiritual evolution, as human beings have come to grips with the heart of our Creator.
We start out in the book unwilling to speak His name, and by the time the volume is finished, we’re calling Him “Daddy.”
So it’s important that we learn the difference between content and context. Fortunately, if we’re willing to accept scriptural inclination, that direction is provided by giving special emphasis and recognition to the words of Jesus.
When we do this, we have an arbiter who literally does fulfill the law and the prophets, as he also teaches us to “render unto Caesar.”
But if you happen to be of a denomination which favors a specific doctrine and searches the Good Book to confirm that contention, then you probably will find yourself at odds with others on occasion and a bit zealous about proving your point.
So in my awkward way, allow me to take a series of the social issues of our day, and rather than addressing them by content, offer you the context I have found based on the inklings, words, personality and mission of Jesus.
1. Abortion.
“Don’t send them away.” Children are the closest thing to heaven that we have on earth.
2. The Internet.
“The light of the body is the eye.” Therefore if you fill your eyes with darkness, you will dicover darkness within.
3. Conflict between men and women.
“In the kingdom of God there is neither male nor female.”
4. Marijuana.
I think Jesus would say he wished we could get high on our own light.
5. Capital punishment.
“Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.”
6. Poor people.
They aren’t going away. “Do what you can for them.”
7. Culture clash.
God doesn’t have favorites.
8. Facebook.
“Don’t do your deeds to be seen of men.”
9. Homosexuality.
Why are you leading with your sexuality?
10. Guns.
“They that live by them shall die by them.”
11. Pornography.
Lust is emotional adultery.
12. Racism.
“Love your neighbor as yourself.”
13. Family.
“If you only love those who love you, you’re no better than the heathen.”
There’s my offering.
And when it comes to the issue of happiness, Jesus made it clear that it is primal in God’s mind. The Sermon on the Mount begins with “blessed,” and then it takes the rest of the time to explain our responsibility to ourselves, others and God in a quest to maintain that bliss.
So if we are going to live in a society filled with confusion, we must stop contributing to the baffling conflict and begin to simplify things down to a context which will clarify situations instead of further complicating them with more stipulation, legalism or “popcorn philosophy.”
This is why I use the word “Jesonian.”
It’s an attempt to find abundant life … through discovering the heart of Jesus.
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Jonathots Daily Blog 